Dr. Free-Ride is pinned down in committee meetings for a while.
There will be a conversation with the Free-Ride offspring posted later today. In the meantime, here are whiteboard traces of a science-y conversation the sprogs had recently with Dr. Free-Ride’s better half.
Yeah, I find the “sand” thing worrisome, too.
I think Dr. Free-Ride’s BH suffered from “suggestive thinking” on that one. The Na and the Cl could look a bit like “N” and “D”. Reminds me of this exam wherein on one question, students were asked to draw all possible stereoisomers for 1,3-dibromocyclopentane, and on the next question, to draw the structure of (3S)-3-methylhexane. Guess how many drew a cyclopentane ring on the second question.
Maybe they were thinking “sodium = silica = sand = salt”. I can see the alliterative connection.