Molly The Molecule
The Exciting Adventure of Molly the Molecule by Rodrigo Muñoz
Once upon a time there was a carbon dioxide molecule named Molly. She lived in a drink machine at Wal-Mart, where she and her family had jobs helping carbonate a diet Pepsi. Molly was happy in the drink machine, but as they say, “nothing gold can stay.” One day a small thirsty boy came up to the drink machine with seventy-five cents jingling in his pocket. Clink! Molly heard him put the change in, but wasn’t worried because small children usually preferred the Hawaiian Punch to the diet Pepsi. Unfortunately, the small boy accidentally hit the diet Pepsi button and inadvertently brought about the beginning of the end for Molly’s carbonation days. Molly felt the can rising as the machine whirred to life. Up, up, up it went, then, with a horrible teetering, the can fell over the edge and down the chute.
Molly and the other carbon dioxides went flying around the can. She tried desperately to grab onto the sides of the can, but she would just rebound off the edges. Then, with a heavy thud, the can stopped. The boy picked the can up, disappointed to see that it was a diet Pepsi. It slipped through his small hands, so he picked it up and struggled to open it. Inside, Molly was frantically trying to slow down. She kept bumping off the other carbon dioxides, unable to make heads or tails of the situation. Then, with a pop, the top of the can came open.
Molly rebounded off the side of the can and flew out the opening, diffusing with the air outside. She flew through millions of unfamiliar oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen molecules, bouncing off of them like she was inside a pinball machine. She tried frantically to get back to the diet Pepsi can, but she couldn’t maneuver herself through the gaseous mass she found herself in. Even though the individual molecules in the horde were a good distance apart, Molly still found herself regularly colliding with the others. She wished she could be back with her brother in the diet Pepsi can. Since he was a water molecule, she had always teased him about how much denser he was than she. Now she resented her low density, still fighting to get back down to the ground. After several minutes of bouncing around, Molly resigned to the fact that she was never going to get back to her beloved can again. She also became sad when she realized that she would never see her brother again. That made her think of her parents. They had had an explosive relationship, which eventually led to the creation of Molly and her brother. Her father had been the average organic molecule, a pentane, and her mother was an airhead, composed of two oxygen atoms.
With a start, Molly came to notice that she couldn’t even see the ground anymore. It was getting chillier, and the molecules had begun to slow down. She drifted off into a light sleep, but soon awoke. She was angry and sad at the same time. Why me? She asked herself. I know I’m not your ideal gas or anything, but I don’t think I deserve this. When the sun came up, the molecules began to quicken their pace once again. She looked down and saw that they were above a carnival. A gust of wind blew her down into the crowd, but not low enough to where she might be inhaled. She was looking down at the people when smack! Molly had run right into a large balloon. She could see gas molecules escaping the confines of the balloon, and realized that they were helium molecules. Oh! Noble gases. Maybe I can get a signature. However, Molly was taken away by another gust of wind, and continued her voyage.
She grew tired of the constant endlessness, and longed to be back in her dark diet Pepsi can. Molly didn’t have much longer to think about her can, for at that moment, she was sucked into a tube and passed out. When she woke up she found herself in a compression chamber with many other carbon dioxide molecules. She was on the verge of asking one of the other molecules where they were when the ceiling began to come down on them. They were compressed together, tighter and tighter. After a few seconds, Molly had a most peculiar feeling. She had just liquefied! She looked at the others and saw that they too were liquid. Then, a sudden freezing sensation took over her. She began to shiver. Soon she could not move at all. She was now frozen. When the mass of frozen carbon dioxide was remove from the compression chamber, another molecule explained to Molly that they had just been made into dry ice, and that they were going to be put in a supermarket to be sold. Molly was very happy upon hearing this, for she was very tired of flying about the place and bouncing off other molecules. She felt content with her new job, and hoped that her brother would have the same good fortune she had experienced.