‘WHAT? By giving up its lone outer electron, a sodium atom achieves a desirable quantum mechanical configuration and is left with a positive charge. By accepting an extra electron, chlorine fills its eight electrons and gains a negative charge. The charged ions are then held together to make molecules and crystals of common salt (NaCl) by electrostatic forces… Lassie, are you absolutely sure that’s what the professor told you?’
Picture the scene: five middle-aged male actors playing rockstars are lolling about on sofas in a recording studio. In front of them is an attractive young female producer; the men start making obscene gestures behind her about her bottom, sniggering and giggling like schoolboys, one sticks out his tongue through his fingers, intimating what he
