Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Chemical Haiku: Elements' Qualities in a Few Syllables

Posted by timothy on from the atomically-pithy dept.

Frr pointed out this interesting approach to the periodic table: Haiku. This might even help you remember the elements.

9 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Other kinds of poems might be better? by Blaine+Hilton · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I understand the concept, but still I think it easier to remember the basic facts instead of some 20 word phrase.

  2. What a waste of mental effort by The+Tyro · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is anyone actually forced to memorize the periodic table these days? Talk about a pointless rote memorization task...

    I thought "learning" like this went the way of the dinosaurs in the 80's (of course, I teach on the university level, so I'm a bit removed from elementary education). Can any education types confirm that this kind of thing still goes on?

    I subscribe to the penguin theory of learning. After a certain point, your brain only holds so many recallable facts, just like an iceberg can hold only so many penguins. After that, for each new one you add, an old one must be shoved off (or at least relegated to subconscious long-term storage). I know memory is theoretically infinite, and that everything we learn is supposedly deep down in there somewhere, waiting for the right moment to be dredged up... but this kind of memorization is a waste of space on the iceberg.

    No way in sacrificing childhood memories for the periodic table... too easy to just go look up a copy.

    --
    Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
    1. Re:What a waste of mental effort by ramzak2k · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Your argument sounds like

      "why waste precious use of mental resources by making students multiply and divide instead of handing them over calculaters ?"

      There arent many who subscribe to the iceberg theory that you have mentioned. Memory is just like any other muscle - train it , keep it sharp and it will help you. Knowing to memorize something like the periodic table after all involves knowing what exactly helps your brain remember things - for some it might be a rhyme like the haiku and for others it could be pictures for association . Either way, it helps develop a skill!

      --

      Siggy Say, Siggy Do
    2. Re:What a waste of mental effort by anon*127.0.0.1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The only memorization I recall in connection with teh periodic table was being able to tell an Element from its symbol and vice-versa. Which is something that the haikus would be totally useless as a learning or teaching aid.

      Actually, reading the authors comments, I didn't see a mention anywhere that the table was intended to be a learning tool. I think it was just intended to be a geek/poet fun thing, and for that it's pretty good.

      --
      I am NOT a man!
      I am a free number!
    3. Re:What a waste of mental effort by The+Tyro · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That is EXACTLY my argument. Understand the hard way... appreciate its nuances... pay homage to dogma... then do it the EASY way.

      Understanding how to do long division and multiplication is fine to help in mastering the concept... but doing all your daily math problems that way is a bit of a waste. If you are converting numbers between different base systems, you could do it by hand... but why? Use of a calculator is more efficient.

      I don't disagree that understanding the way the periodic table is structured is useful. I do think that rote memorizing the entire thing, along with all the atomic weights, etc is not necessary.

      In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's busy work; something a lazy teacher might use to simply occupy students rather than teach them.

      --
      Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
  3. Personally.. by nukey56 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ..I'd rather wear one of these than read through that thing.

    Seriously though, memorizing the periodic table in school was far easier for me than things like the MLK speech, the pre-amble, the 'To be or not to be' soliloquy, and whatnot. Flashcards will do wonders for small bits of information that you can later forget and look up on tshirts.

  4. a little bit of propaganda? by NightHwk1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    20 Calcium
    Festering cows
    puss and antibiotics
    got milk, kids?

    Looks like they had a visitor from PETA...

  5. 5 7 5 by PatientZero · · Score: 2, Insightful
    when writing haiku
    there's just one thing you must do
    that's five, seven, five

    But I haven't found one haiku on the website. :( Is there a joke I'm not getting? At first I thought the varrying syllables were an encoding of orbital numbers, weights, or something as a mnemonic, but I didn't see a pattern.

    --
    Freedom to fear. Freedom from thought. Freedom to kill.
    I guess the War on Terror really is about freedom!
  6. Memorizing the Periodic Table by Arrgh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In grade 8 we were asked to memorize the first twenty elements of the periodic table. Of course I put it off way too long and ended up cramming the night before the test. So I just made up a little mnemonic poem. Here it is in phonetic form:

    Hydrogen Helim Lithium Beryllium (that's as far as I got with the names)
    Bicknoffnee Namgal Sipsclarkca

    In symbolic form, that's H He Li Be B C N O F Ne Na Mg Al Si P S Cl Ar K Ca. Can't forget the damned thing after seventeen years.