Chemical Rosetta Stone

Clever ad, or linguistic marvel?

The other night, while eating at a fine American gourmet restaurant, I happened upon some "found chemistry" on a soda cup (see right).


At first, I downplayed it to sketchbook advertising gone mainstream. After thinking about it some more, though, I realized it was really a clever little doodle. Consider the Rosetta Stone, a stone version of "Hieroglyphics for Dummies" that allowed Egyptologists to begin deciphering the ancient script via Greek, which they knew. 


This graphic bridges four linguistic worlds: English, Spanish, chemistry, and symbolism (see how it's drawn in the shape of a water droplet?). Naturally, I couldn't get the concept out of my head, and decided to try my hand at a few of my own.


*DISCLAIMER - I am a scientist, not an artist. WYSIWYG.