1 / VOL. 2, NO. 1 THE CHEMICAL EDUCATOR 1997 SPRINGER-VERLAG NEW YORK, INC.

ISSN 1430-4171 http://journals.springer-ny.com/chedr S 1430-4171(97)01109-6

BE A HERO: KNOW THE ENTIRE PERIODIC TABLE21! MNEMONIC FOR THE PERIODIC TABLE (Don't even TRY to learn it all at once!): 1s  2sp 3sp Hi,  Bear-illy:............. BBoring Carbon, Nitrogen & Oxygen FFloor.2   ...............      Hero!1,

 

 Hide Light NaSodium & KPotassium; Ra-bidly Cea-ses France.3  Hero Needs Arguable Kryptic Xes. Right-on!4  Bear MgMagnesium & Calcium...; Strong-rain Bars Radiation.5  Boring Aluminum Galley's Indigestible Tally-list.6  Carbon & Silicon's Germane [to] SntinS- & Pblead-Probs!7  Nitrogen & Phosphorus Are-scenic Sbante-money Bismarks.8  Oxygens SSuffer, Sealing Tells Polls.9  Fleeing Chlorine-layers & Bromine, II'd Astonish.10
4s__ __ 3d Scant Titans VVend-aid [to] Chromatic-row Mangy-needs, Ferociously Cobble Nicks, & Copper-up Zinc-networks.114p 5s__ __ 4d Y (Why) Ze-Recon Neo-bodies Mollify Techniques?12 Ruthless Rhoads (roads) Pale-de (the) AgSilvery Cads.5p 6s__ __ 5d Laand... & Have-fun Tantalize Wtungsten-Wolfram,  Renal Osmosis Irritates Pla-tonic AuGolden HgMercury13.6p 5d 4f [6] LaandCeremonies: Presiding Neo-dimwits Promise Some-mere European God-dole, Tur-bid Dysproteinemia Holes Erban (urban) Tool-man's Year-tear-book Lucidly. 6d 5f 7s__ RadiantActing Thoroughly Protacts (protects) UUr (your)14 Nepotism, Plu-utocratic America Cures-me & Berkeley Cali-fornia, Ein-stein Firmly Men-ded Noble Laws-reins... BECOME A NUTRITIONIST! LINES FOR NUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENTS (see endnotes): Hi Carbon-to-Bones: Vend-aid-to-Zinc15 For all traces16, REPEAT Boring Carbon, ADD: I'd Flee Mollified Cads, Silly-cons & Arsenic Sealings. BECOME A PHYSICIST! VERSE FOR ANOMALIES IN ORBITALS (see endnotes): When the first low ds steal a stabilizing s to get a full or half full rack,17 then Neobodies all steal one up to the d ten PAC,18 after just the PAC basement steals just one electron back. Land f orbitals all contract d one, but two return it to get a stable run.19 Hot fs are d two thieves, that steal each one in steps of threes, Return policy's the same, as in the lanthanide game.20 BASIC INSTRUCTIONS: Names: add "-ium" or "-dium" to the first one or two syllables of each word (underlined). Abbreviations (in bold type): Expect unusual abbreviations (shown as subscripts) for elements that are named (in italics) or are hyphenated words (the letter after the hyphen is usually the second letter). Learning B, S, F, I, U then gives the other abbreviations: take the first two letters of each name, or the next unused letter. Clarifications are in parentheses, non coding words in brackets.
ENDNOTES
1

Basics: The superabundant elements (universe) stem from the single shell with the single electron pair in the spherical s-

orbital. The predominant pedestrian elements populate the pearshaped, perpendicular p orbitals. A decade of deluxe, dense elements found in scant deposits derive from the so highly

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ISSN 1430-4171 http://journals.springer-ny.com/chedr S 1430-4171(97)01109-6

developed shapes of d orbitals (so highly developed for energy that electrons first occupy the next s orbital); Scant recalls the line that starts them5, teir abundance and that they come after the s orbitals of Ca. Fourteen fringe, fleeting or fake elements form from the so formidable f orbitals (so formidable that electrons only occupy them after starting on the next d orbitals19). $new shell, new orbital with two more pairs" recalls that a new orbital appears at each shell number and each new type holds two more electron pairs than the previous. 2 . BorON. Tolerate the boring elements that constitute the foundation (the most abundant atoms) of the universe, the body15 and the periodic table. The punctuation gives the framework of the table, the words recall the lines for each column.3-10 In reverse, this system characterizes an element5: counting fingers as one goes down a column3-10, gives the outer shell number; line1 then gives the orbitals. Bore-in at B diagonally to divide table into metals and non metals. 3 ."Hide" low density reactive metals! Fr rapidly ceases to exist (short half life). Na (blood) and K (cell) are the key electrolytes. 4 . Algebra clues are Xes. Names after He end with -on. They display Kryptic chemistry. The abbreviation for Rn ends on n. 5 . You carry these major body constituents16. Rain removes atmospheric Sr derived from nuclear tests. The pause notes that when the major body constituents end15, the Scant1,11 elements start ("After life17, there are transitions [elements]"). From Ca, this column bears extensions (leads to another line) at every word; "Scant. Why?12 Land's13 radiant14." recalls these lines. Use this line for the outer shell number of d and f atoms2. Bare Mg & Ca are important coenzymes. 6 ."Indigestible": all elements in this line are not required by humans16. "Boring" in chemistry10. 7 ."germane" to chemistry (use valence of C in Sn and Pb "prob[lem]s") and to biology (the named elements are essential16). Stannous and Plumbic are also "probs". 8 . Bismark (BismUTH) united Germany; before money existed, N united proteins and P linked DNA. money= == S on top of b= Sb. 9 . Atmospheric Sealing tells pollsters about the suffering of "[ozone] oxygens". 10 . AstATINE. "...[those ignorant of these colourful vapours]". Compare lines to note that chemical reactivity increases as one goes from the middle of the table ("Boring.."6) to the sides ("Hide.."3, "Flee.."10) until "kryptic"4 inert full orbitals are achieved. Density (and melting point) decreases from the "Dense"1 elements in the middle to the "light"4 elements on the left and the gases on the right2,10. Very heavy nuclei are unstable (Fr3, Ra5). 11 . ManganESE, CobALT, NickEL. Scant1 Titans of the industrial age: 1) give help to man as essential trace elements15,16 ("mangy-needs") of the d row ("chromatic-row"), 2) they mend "nicks" in their electron shells (their basic chemistry) so "ferociously" that anomalies in orbital filling occur17,18, 3) they copper coat Zn networks (metallurgy: this gives the brasses). Associate Fe with the prefix for iron, ferro-. Generalize these observations (e.g. all transition elements form alloys) and expand key words: "Chromatic row" notes that transition metals add colour to compounds (Cr is the red of rubies, Fe, the red of

blood). Human dietary needs for trace elements are "mangy" (mediocre) and in the m ranges (milligrams to micrograms per day); a deficiency in one of these usually gives a "mangy" appearance (a skin condition and/or anemia). These essential trace elements sell their help since they usually function as redox cofactors. But expand "vend-aid" to "vent-aid" (aerate) and move the comma over by one word, to recall that Fe must be in the ferrous form in hemoglobin. "vent-aid" also recalls that increasing the Cu in brasses improves their resistance to corrosion. Expand "mangy-needs" to "magnetic-needs" to recall the importance of magnetism in these chemistries: the last word of each section explains paramagnetism: "needs nicks [in electron] networks" (i.e. unpaired electrons). For the principle of ferromagnetism, atoms "ferociously cobble nicks" (to keep them aligned); this explanation names the only 3 elements that exhibit ferromagnetism (Fe, Co, Ni). 12 ."Why do the new recruits sent on recon-naissance..." The pronunciation of Y (and Yb) comes from their Scandinavian origin. 13 . LanTHANUM. Land (stretch word) stretches to [rare] earth[s] (lanthanides). Kidneys increase the toxicity ("irritates") of chemically inert ("platonic"), Au-dissolving ("golden"), Hg. Hidden-gas for Hg cautions that Hg gives off a tasteless toxic gas. 14 ."Nothing exists after you (U)" recalls that the transuranides are synthetic10 and stresses the abbreviation. A "Technique" and a "Neo-dimwit's Promise" are also synthetic. 15 . Man starts life as carbon and ends as bones. Take hydrogen, and go from C to Ca [phosphate bones] to cover all the major dietary elements. Sell atoms from V to Zn as about half of the essential trace elements. 16 ."For all trace [elements], REPEAT [the] Carbon [line6]" to include Sn and Pb as trace elements and ADD the indicated elements to complete the list of essential trace elements15. "For all traces [of error in the major elements], REPEAT [the] Boring" line7]" to eliminate Al as a required nutrient; compare with the trace element list to conclude that Si is a trace element in man. 17 . The "low[er shell1]" d orbitals "steal" an s electron to attain the more stable half (Cr) or completely (Cu) filled orbital. 18 . Lanthanides are thieves17,18 of Lanthanum's-hide (the distinctive 5d1 electron1) but Gd and Lu return it to attain a more stable17 configuration. "Contract" replaces steal to recall the lanthanide contraction; this also explains "Dense"1. 19 . Lanthanides are thieves17,18 of Lanthanum's-hide (the distinctive 5d1 electron1) but Gd and Lu return it to attain a more stable17 configuration. "Contract" replaces steal to recall the lanthanide contraction; this also explains "Dense"1. 20 . Radioactive ("hot") f elements steal after two electrons are in d orbitals ("d2 thieves"); they "steal each one [of the 6d2 electrons] in steps of threes" (at the 3rd element, Pa, and at the 6th, Pu). As in19, they "return" an electron for more stable configurations (Cm, Lw). 21.Version 1997J. V.Mezl 1997. Adapted from Mezl, V.A. (1997) Chem. Educator 2: ** Send ideas for future versions to: V. Mezl, Department of Biochemistry, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ont. K1H 8M5, Canada. vmezl@uottawa.ca.