Dr. Christopher Callam, a professor at Ohio State, has a very interactive organic chemistry class. Each year, he allows a student to take a shot that gives the opportunity for the entire class to get an “A” grade on a quiz.
“We are using the ball to help understand acid base chemistry to understand proton donors and proton acceptors, Callam told The Comeback. “The student can then try to make a basket to earn 100% on the first quiz.”
But it is no easy task, the students use a crumpled up paper ball and must hurl it across the class into a waste basket.
“The first ten years I did it no one was very close. The last two years the shots have been epic and have gone in. I just randomly throw the ball up to the balcony and whoever grabs it is the ‘proton acceptor’ or Lewis base and I make the horrible and classic joke that ‘I just made an acid of myself.’ When the student made the shot last year no one had a video of it because no one thought it would go in. This year I told them we had to live up to last year making the shot so get your phones out. The student who made it ‘Vinny’ had his named chanted for several minutes after he made it. Not your normal day in Ochem.”
Vinny Forte of Richmond Heights sinks the unbelievable shot and the crowd goes bananas!
I’d erupt in joyful bliss too if I got an “A” in chemistry because some random kid threw a wad of paper into the garbage.
This was the most clutch shot at Ohio State in years.
Dude showed incredible range, like he was shooting for the Sudan.