Atoms Have Soulmates Too!

The first real chapter of the book discusses the far-right column of the periodic table: the noble gases.  Everyone knows they're called "noble gases" because their valence shells are full and don't need to interact with other atoms to get or give electrons.  Sam explains this in a very interesting way by using Plato's The Symposium. Plato said that everything wants to find its compliment.  The most common example is people.  We want to find someone who completes us, with the goal that once we are together, our flaws will be filled in with the other's strengths.  Plato also came up with the concept of "forms". A form is the perfect possible form of something. For example, the perfect example of a dog exists somewhere. It has no flaws, and the subconscious goal of every other dog is to become like that one.  There are forms of everything, animate and inanimate.  This concept is supported by the tee-shirt experiment we learned about in biology class. Women chose the most attractive man by what his tee shirt smelled like after he wore it for a day with no deodorant or cologne.  The women chose the men whose immune system differed the most from their own.  If they were to reproduce, the child would have a stronger immune system because the flaws of the parents would be filled in by the other's strengths.  Sam says this is true of atoms. Atoms are looking for their compliment, another atom that will fill their need for more or less electrons.  When they find that compliment, both atoms will be much more stable and strong.  I thought it was an extremely creative way to explain all that, and how the noble gases don't need someone to complete them. They are lonely, but content to be on their own.  I find myself sympathizing with them . . . even though they're just atoms. Maybe if passionate theories were used to explain science more often, people will become more passionate about the subject.  That's just a theory.