V-Day Google Doodle game is an adorable chemistry lesson
Previously for Valentine's Day, Google reunited two lovesick hamsters for its Google Doodle. This year, the search engine went in a more scientific direction.
Click on the Google Doodle on the site's homepage and a Chemistry "CuPd" quiz pops up. You have the option to take the quiz — five quick personality questions — to determine which chemical element you are, or choose one yourself.
The options include hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine. Each comes with a tongue-in-cheek dating profile. The quiz determined I'm nitrogen, which profile starts with, "Let me be the 78 percent of the wind beneath your wings." According to NASA, 78 percent of the air in earth's atmosphere is made up of nitrogen.
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Once you figured out which element you are, it's time to get to work and find a valentine. Using a cheeky Tinder-esque swipe function, you can find out which element you're compatible with. When I swiped right on argon, for example, it wasn't a match. But nitrogen and oxygen have "good chemistry," so I was able to tap and hold and see the elements combine into nitric oxide.
With seven elements and detailed profiles for each, you can spend a good part of your day experimenting with different combinations. You can tell a lot of work — and love — went into this Google Doodle. On Google's website you can take a peek into the creation of this Valentine's Day Google Doodle, including early illustration drafts and the names of the artists, engineers, and other workers who made it come together.
"There's no stronger bond than love, especially when the chemistry is just right," the About page says.
Topics Google
Anna Iovine is the associate editor of features at Mashable. Previously, as the sex and relationships reporter, she covered topics ranging from dating apps to pelvic pain. Before Mashable, Anna was a social editor at VICE and freelanced for publications such as Slate and the Columbia Journalism Review. Follow her on Bluesky.
