Valerie and Conrad both wrote the structure of NH3 like a triangle, and they bot looked at the adults waiting for their judgment.
"You both made the same mistake." Elie said, and tried to do it very carefully, not to sadden the twins.
The twins were saddened anyway. They both thought they had solved the task well.
"The intertwined arms should also be depicted." K.O. helped them.
"How?" Conrad asked.
"With a line, lying on the top of the central atom."
"Is it the reverse of the Iodine?" Valerie asked.
"What do you mean?" Elie asked back, because she didn't understand what the girl had asked.
"The Iodine has three lines lying around, and one line apart. It is the reverse. Three lines apart, and one lying on the atom."
"Yes. Exactly like that." She nodded as she had understood the girl's thoughts. "But every apart line has a Hydrogen on the ends. That's it!" Elie praised Conrad.
"The H2O will be a piece of cake!" K.O. laughed, as both of the kids drew the right form.
"HCl?" Elie asked.
"Is it really this simple?" Valerie asked a bit of disappointed, watching at the simple, single bond between the two atoms.
"There are simple things in life." K.O. said, smiling. "You don't always have to overcomplicate things. Simple things are often the most beautiful ones."
"Maybe..." Valerie sighed. "But, is drawing the molecules' structure really this simple?"
"Not always. Do you want a more complicated one?" Elie asked, and the girl nodded. "What about HCN?"
"This one...how?" Valerie asked after some thinking, and stopped.
"There could be three covalent bonds between two atoms, couldn't it?" Conrad asked, and the adults nodded. He wrote three lines between the atoms of C and N, and hesitantly drew the fourth one on the other side of the Carbon atom, and wrote the Hydrogen to the end. He looked to the adults to check whether it was all right.
"Good, but one thing is missing." K.O. stated.
"I don't know what it is." Conrad shook his head after thinking for a while.
"The Nitrogen has only six electrons." Valerie said.
"It has one pair of non-bonding electrons." Elie nodded.
Conrad was thinking for a while, and he drew the line the farthest possible position, to the end of the molecule.
H-C≡Nl
"Great!" Elie and K.O. praised him.
"Next one, please!" He smiled to their friends.
"CS2"
The kids wrote one C and two S atoms, they wrote the dots around them, and quickly connected. Valerie was the faster one in this case.
"It is easy."She smiled confidently.
"The basic things are easy." K.O. smirked. "But when they evolving, that's a bit of difficult."
"What do you mean?" Valerie asked.
"Try to draw the structure of the SO3 molecule!" He said mysteriously.
The kids didn't notice the trap in his voice, therefore they both went to find a piece of seashore, to draw the structure of the molecule. It really wasn't easy, because all of the atoms had six electrons, and needed only two, to bond. But the twins finally solved the problem, and they both drew a square, with one atom each corner.
"Sorry, but they look like totally different." K.O. shook his head.
"It couldn't!" Conrad protested loud. "I really don't know how could they make other bonds, and form a different shape!"
"Do yo remember?" K.O. asked him. "I told you, that from the Phosphorus, the atoms became gluttonous."
"Are they eat each other's electrons?" Valerie asked.
"It also happens, but not in this case." Their old friend answered. " In this case the Sulfur atom is breaking its holding hands, and all of its hands make bonds. It has more than 8 electrons on the surface, but the Sulfur atom doesn't mind."
K.O. draw the structure of the SO3. The Oxygen atoms had two bonds each, and the Sulfur atom had three double bonds with them. The formation looked like a curved triangle.
"It looks like a Fidget Spinner!" Valerie cheered.
"Fidget spinner molecule!" Conrad laughed.
"You are right!" Elie laughed, then explained the toy to the old man.
"Could we catch one?" The boy asked the adults curiously.
"SO3 is a really mean molecule." Elie answered instead of the old man. "You couldn't play with it, like the Fidget Spinner."
"Can we try?" Conrad whined a bit, but the adults shook their heads. "Just give it a try!"
"We had to wear safety clothes in the Kingdom of Sulfur, do you remember?" K.O. asked the saddened boy. "The SO3 is a biting molecule."
"What a pity! It would be nice to collect all these molecules!" Valerie was looking to the drawn structures. " Just to see them in the real life."
Elie and K.O. looked at each other. Real life. They didn't think the twins would get used to this world in a way that made them feel more real, than their real life. Their enthusiasm was also remarkable.
"Pretty please?" Conrad asked them. "Just let's collect the few of them at least!"
"Why not?" K.O. asked Elie, who nodded.
" But we can't travel just like we would be on a holiday. All of us needs to make money, so find a work before!"
"What kind of work?" The twins asked, and somehow they had lost interest to collect all of the molecules.
"It depends on which molecule you want to collect first." Elie answered, but she regretted it.
The hitherto calm twins quarreled again. They both chose different molecules and could not agree. Thus, they shouted to the other louder and louder, why they should choose the molecule, they had chosen. Neither of them listened to the other. They couldn't have listened, because they were shouting at the same time.
"Hooooy!" K.O. cried, when he was fed up with the quarrel.
The twins silenced, and they were both looking at their old friend.
"Since you can't argue properly, I choose." He stated. "We will go to the kingdom of Nitrogen at first."
The others were silently staring at them, even Elie did the same.
"Why the kingdom of Nitrogen?" She asked curiously.
"Because it is next to the kingdom of Carbon." The old man justified his decision, and Elie didn't argue with him.
One reason is just as good as the other. The point is, the twins stopped arguing.
"So find some work, you want to do!" He told them.
It was also not a simple thing. K.O. and Elie showed to the twins, how they could find some work on the hand device, and all of them were immersed in the job offers. But the job offers were either difficult ones, or payed a little. The twins some places didn't even understand, what the requester wanted. So they red them loud to Elie and K.O..
"This one want to buy nitroglycerin, and the pay is very good!" Conrad became glad. "Making it only requires Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen."
"Nitroglycerin is difficult to handle." K.O. shook his head. "It is too explosive. It could even explode to be hit by a hammer. You can easily find yourself in the otherworld if you produce it!That's why it is so expensive. Find something else!"
"This one want aniline. A lot of! Not for too big money, but if we make a ton of them…" Valerie was thinking loud.
"It is a boring work. "Elie said, after she had read over the offer. "Moreover we need more Carbon, than Nitrogen. Do you want to go back to the kingdom of Carbon?"
"Yes!" Conrad said, and in his mind he was traveling in the caves in the underground mines of the Carbon kingdom.
"No." Valerie rejected. It was interesting, that she had the same thoughts, like her brother.
"What about making amino acids?" Conrad asked, after he found another interesting job offer. " It requires the same elements, like the nitroglycerin."
"Too difficult." Elie rejected immediately. "The organic compounds are very sensitive ones."
"Organic?" Conrad asked back stunned. "Would we make an artificial life?"
"No, no, no, no..." K.O laughed. "The compounds of Carbon are divided into two big groups. Organic and inorganic. Organic compounds has at least one bond between Carbon and Hydrogen, while the inorganic is basically the remaining compounds. Approximately."
"Should we find an offer with inorganic compounds?" Conrad asked in a saddened voice. The organic compounds seemed more interesting to him.
"It would be easier now." K.O. nodded.
They all immersed in the job offers again. It was a hard work finding some offer, within the inorganic range.
"There are a lot of offer with liquid Nitrogen, but all of them pays little." Valerie said disappointed. "What could anybody use the liquid Nitrogen for? It is very popular."
"It is used for cooling."
"Liquid Nitrogen is a very cold thing. Hospitals, research facilities and food factories use to cool down things. For example ice cream!" K.O. told the kids, who were suddenly wanted to eat the mentioned sweets. Their faces clearly showed their desires for eating ice cream.
"But liquid Nitrogen is also used to make steel, and preserve biological things. Do you want to collect some? It can be sold anytime, it is always needed." Elie asked the girl.
"It is still too cheap." Valerie shook her head. "Let's try something with more salary."
"What about making a fertilizer?" K.O. asked suddenly.