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Chemical Haiku: Elements' Qualities in a Few Syllables
Frr pointed out this interesting approach to the periodic table: Haiku. This might even help you remember the elements.
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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.
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.