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The Pocket Chemist was designed by Genius Lab Gear to help chemists and chemistry students quickly and neatly draw chemical reactions so they can spend time thinking about the chemistry, not how to draw polygons. If you are a lucky holder of The Pocket Chemist, the below instructions will illustrate how to use every single feature, even some you might not know exist!
Use these stencils to quickly and neatly draw cyclohexane, cyclopentane, cyclobutane, cyclopropane, benzene rings, chair conformations and boat conformations. To complete your chair conformation and a ring flip, see our other post on “The easiest way to draw a cyclohexane chair conformation and ring flip.”
To effectively use the benzene ring stencil, first start by drawing the outer hexagon using the cyclohexane stencil. Then, slide The Pocket Chemist to the left so that the hexagon you drew is visible in the three outermost sides of the benzene ring stencils (upper right, left, lower right) and the laser-engraved thin lines overlap the other three lines that are hidden. When it’s aligned, draw the three inner bond lines. You can adjust the spacing to the outer ring by tilting your pencil inward or outward as you draw. If needed, use the carbon chain stencil to continue your molecule!
The left front contains a 180 degree arc for measuring and drawing bond angles. Every 20 degrees are annotated. The long lines are every 10 degrees and short lines are every 5 degrees. The straight line cutout denotes 90 degrees and can help to quickly draw right angles.
To draw or measure your own angle:
The through holes lined up with major inch and centimeter markings are for drawing arcs and circles of the corresponding radii.
To draw a 6 centimeter radius 60 degree arc:
To draw an arc with a 0.5 cm, 0.5 inch, 0.25 inch or 0.125 inch increment:
The back of The Pocket Chemist contains a full periodic table. The Lanthanide and Actinide series’ are at the bottom and a double-thick vertical line denotes where they are inserted in the upper periods. The left side contains a quick reference atomic number for the Group I elements and the space above the table shows the full electron configuration for Krypton to help you decipher configurations of elements before and after it. For Group and Period, simply count left-to-right and top-to-bottom respectively.
The centimeter side is marked to each 1, 5 and 10 mm while the inches side is marked down to the 1/32nd inch where each smaller unit has a shorter mark line. Note that the origin (zero) side starts flat (flush) to the edge of the tool. This allows you to easily measure the height or depth of an object on a flat surface. For the highest precision on paper, start your line at the “1” marking instead of the edge.
The end of the inch ruler is an angled flat for use as a flat head screw driver when you’re in a pinch. It won’t work will all screw sizes, shapes and depths but will be useful in most situations. The card is stainless steel and quite sturdy but take care not to over-torque it or it may start to bend.
Scan the QR code with your phone each calendar month to view a private page just for card holders. This QR code is obscured in product photos online, so think of this as an exclusive bonus of being a card holder! Each month, we’ll replace the page with new content such as fun science nuggets, science jokes, new resources we’ve found or created, news or upcoming events and discounts on new product launches just for card holders! Our goal is to bring you value, fun and happiness with every scan.
Did you know we also have an "Exam Edition" without all of the reference info so you can use it on exams? Grab it before your next one from The Pocket Chemist product page!
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Amal
October 12, 2022
I have had my pocket chemist for a few weeks now and I love it! My structures look so clean and professional! My favorite aspect is the chair! Could never get those right, now I don’t have to worry about it!