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Education

ACS Chemoji Available For Download

by Linda Wang
August 31, 2015 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 93, Issue 34

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Credit: Yang Ku/C&EN
There’s an ACS Chemoji for every occasion!
4 ACS Chemoji- Chemistry Emoji
Credit: Yang Ku/C&EN
There’s an ACS Chemoji for every occasion!

Move over emoji, ACS Chemoji is here! The American Chemical Society has launched a new app to help chemists communicate visually on social media by using chemistry-themed emoji. Emoji are digital representations of an idea or an emotion, like a smiley face.

“We’re creating stickers, which are a larger version of emoji,” says Jessica Morrison, an assistant editor at Chemical & Engineering News, who came up with the idea of ACS Chemoji after noticing a lack of emoji specifically for chemists. “There aren’t beakers and test tubes or lab coats and goggles to let chemists share what it’s like to be a chemist.”

The ACS Chemoji app took three months to develop and was supported with funding from across ACS. The final app includes 24 chemoji, including smiley faces with goggles, the ACS mole, the chemical structure of caffeine, and chemistry cat. The chemoji were designed by C&EN, which is published by ACS.

“We’re paying attention to what’s happening with social media, and we’re creating community,” Morrison says.

“This is awesome; I’ve been waiting for this,” Erica Posthuma-Adams, a high school chemistry teacher at the University High School of Indiana, in Carmel, says of the chemoji. “The only thing I have right now is a microscope. That’s the only emoji I could find that’s really science-y.”

She predicts that the chemoji will be a big hit among her chemistry students. “If chemistry can be expressed in a fun way on social media, making it less intimidating, maybe more kids will engage in conversations about science.”

The chemoji app is free and available for both iPhone and Android. Download them at http://bit.ly/ACSChemoji. Expansion packs are being planned, and ideas for future chemoji can be sent to j_morrison@acs.org.

“I’m excited to see how the chemistry community uses chemoji,” says Chris McCarthy, ACS’s social media manager. “I expect a lot of cleverness.”

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