ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Chemical Markup Language

Imagine you have a toy box filled with different kinds of toys like cars, balls, and dolls. You need a way to tell someone else what toys you have in the box and where they are in the box.
Similarly, scientists have a lot of information about different chemicals that they study. This information includes things like the name of the chemical, what it looks like, and how it reacts with other chemicals. Scientists need a way to organize and share this information with each other in a standardized way, and that's where chemical markup language comes in.

Chemical markup language is like a special language that scientists can use to describe chemicals and their properties. It's a way for scientists to write down and share information about chemicals in a way that everyone can understand.

Just like how you might have different drawers in your toy box to organize your toys, chemical markup language has different "tags" that describe different parts of the chemical. For example, one tag might describe the name of the chemical, while another tag might describe its molecular structure.

This language is used in databases, software, and websites that contain chemical information, such as PubChem and ChemSpider. Scientists can use chemical markup language to search for specific chemicals or information about them.

In summary, chemical markup language is a special language that scientists use to describe chemicals and their properties in a standardized way. It's like the tags you use to organize your toys, but for chemical information.