The last few days have been a comedy of errors in terms of making mobo-greenhouse number two. First, I take full responsibility for not cutting the two long sides very well. I take only partial credit for the fact that one of those boards was warped. I take some credit, and give some to our good hooligan friend Emma for our tendency to split the wood we were trying to predrill. And I thank chemists over the world for developing epoxy.

Epoxy is pretty cool. It's also a thermosetting epoxide polymer. What does that mean? A 'thermosetting' anything is something that irreversible cures. In this context 'cures' means sets or hardens, like glue. The 'thermos' part is because often the curing process involves heat, or happens faster with heat. Epoxy is no exception to that.

'Epoxide' refers to the types of atoms and the patterns those atoms are arranged in The most basic form is an oxygen atom attached to two carbon atoms of a hydrocarbon like so....
                                                       

• And a polymer is a chain of monomers. And a monomer is just a molecule. And a molecule is just a bunch of atoms. And atoms are just a bunch of quarks and gluons and who I am I kidding no one really knows what exactly they are. 

  Alright. So epoxy is basically a type of glue that dries in a very strong bond. Except to keep it from curing too early, its two components, the polyepoxide and the hardening agent, are separated. I believe the polyepoxide remains basically the same, and the hardening agent can be tweaked to make the reaction and curing process slower or faster.

  So once you have all the epoxy goop on the things you want to stick together, you let them cure. And once they're cured, there's strong, 3d bonds, connecting everything together. It works on metal, wood, paper, even human skin (hence you wear gloves when handling.) 

  If you're an Appleton East student, Mrs. Pezzi would be a great person to ask on why these particular bonds are so strong and form with so many different materials. 

  Also, if you heard gleeful whooping bordering on hysterical joy--it was probably Sarah looking at the germinating seeds. Don't worry, I think this is standard Sarah behavior.