Intro

Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge. 

Today's episode will be on the periodic table which is now up to, 118 elements.  For this episode we will be learning the first ten.

Now I loved chemistry at school so for this subject, I was really in my element!  And also, I had a very funny chemistry teacher who would love to tell chemistry puns during class … periodically!

With that out of the way, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

 

 

Wikipedia Summary

 

The periodic table, also known as the periodic table of the elements, arranges the chemical elements into rows ("periods") and columns ("groups"). It is an organizing icon of chemistry and is widely used in physics and other sciences. It is a depiction of the periodic law, which says that when the elements are arranged in order of their atomic numbers an approximate recurrence of their properties is evident. The table is divided into four roughly rectangular areas called blocks. Elements in the same group tend to show similar chemical characteristics.

Vertical, horizontal and diagonal trends characterize the periodic table. Metallic character increases going down a group and decreases from left to right across a period. Nonmetallic character increases going from the bottom left of the periodic table to the top right.

The first periodic table to become generally accepted was that of the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869; he formulated the periodic law as a dependence of chemical properties on atomic mass. As not all elements were then known, there were gaps in his periodic table, and Mendeleev successfully used the periodic law to predict some properties of some of the missing elements. The periodic law was recognized as a fundamental discovery in the late 19th century. It was explained early in the 20th century, with the discovery of atomic numbers and associated pioneering work in quantum mechanics both ideas serving to illuminate the internal structure of the atom. A recognisably modern form of the table was reached in 1945 with Glenn T. Seaborg's discovery that the actinides were in fact f-block rather than d-block elements. The periodic table and law are now a central and indispensable part of modern chemistry.

The periodic table continues to evolve with the progress of science. In nature, only elements up to atomic number 94 exist; to go further, it was necessary to synthesise new elements in the laboratory. Today, while all the first 118 elements are known, thereby completing the first seven rows of the table, chemical characterisation is still needed for the heaviest elements to confirm that their properties match their positions. It is not yet known how far the table will go beyond these seven rows and whether the patterns of the known part of the table will continue into this unknown region. Some scientific discussion also continues regarding whether some elements are correctly positioned in today's table. Many alternative representations of the periodic law exist, and there is some discussion as to whether there is an optimal form of the periodic table.

Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_table]

 

 

Mnemonic

 

The Periodic Table – Elements 1 to 10 Mnemonic – Hear ye Hear ye Listen to BBC News On Friday Night

(Picture a town crier yelling this out on the street at Portland Place, Westminster where the BBC headquarters are located)

 

1.      Hydrogen (H)

2.      Helium (He)

3.      Lithium (Li)

4.      Beryllium (Be)

5.      Boron (B)

6.      Carbon (C)

7.      Nitrogen (N)

8.      Oxygen (O)

9.      Fluorine (F)

10.  Neon (Ne)

 

 

Five Fun Facts

1. The Periodic Table is named as such because the elements are lined up in cycles or periods horizontally.

2. Groups are the columns of the periodic table. These groups have different properties and there are 18 groups in total.

3. Dmitri Mendeleyev presented his periodic table of elements based on increasing atomic weight on March 6, 1869, at the Russian Chemical Society.

He wasn’t the first though! Lothar Meyer published a periodic table of 28 elements in 1864.

4. Francium is the rarest element on earth with no more than a few ounces of it on earth.

5. Carbon is an extremely vital element to life. It forms up to 10 million different compounds.

 

Three Question Quiz

 

Q.1.  Which country is named after the element silver which has a symbol of Ag? 

 

Q.2.  The only letter, not in the periodic table, is which letter?  The options are J, X or Z

 

Q.3.  What is the name and symbol for “aurum”

 

Bonus Q.  List all symbols for the elements from one to ten

 

Mnemonic Recap

 

The Periodic Table – Elements 1 to 10 Mnemonic – Hear ye Hear ye Listen to BBC News On Friday Night

(Picture a town crier yelling this out on the street at Portland Place, Westminster where the BBC headquarters are located)

 

1.      Hydrogen (H)

2.      Helium (He)

3.      Lithium (Li)

4.      Beryllium (Be)

5.      Boron (B)

6.      Carbon (C)

7.      Nitrogen (N)

8.      Oxygen (O)

9.      Fluorine (F)

10.  Neon (Ne)

 

 

Three Question Quiz Answers

 

Q.1.  Which country is named after the element silver which has a symbol of Ag? 

A.  Argentina – Why? because Silver is Argentum in Latin

 

Q.2.  The only letter not in the periodic table is which letter?  The options are J, X or Z

A.  J.  X is in Xenon and Z is in Zinc

 

Q.3.  What is the name and symbol for “aurum”

A.    Gold and its symbol is “au”

 

Bonus Q.  List all symbols for the elements from one to ten

A.    

1.      Hydrogen (H)

2.      Helium (He)

3.      Lithium (Li)

4.      Beryllium (Be)

5.      Boron (B)

6.      Carbon (C)

7.      Nitrogen (N)

8.      Oxygen (O)

9.      Fluorine (F)

10.  Neon (Ne)

 

Word of the Week

 

disjecta membra

[ dis-jek-tuh mem-bruh ]  

plural noun

scattered members; disjointed portions or parts.

 

Example

The periodic table has gone from supposed disjecta membra to a near perfectly completed puzzle.

Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]

 

 

Website:  https://www.themnemonictreepodcast.com/

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-mnemonic-tree-podcast/id1591795132

Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/3T0LdIJ9PBQMXM3cdKd42Q?si=WQ1SnHo5QgOawX-mxS6yUA

 

 

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_table

https://www.google.com/search?q=periodic+table&rlz=1C1CHBD_en-GBAU697AU698&oq=periodic+table&aqs=chrome.0.69i59l2j0i67i131i433j0i67j0i67i131i433j0i67l2j0i67i433j46i67i433j0i433i512.3989j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.ducksters.com/science/periodic_table.php

https://interestingengineering.com/15-fun-and-surprising-facts-about-the-periodic-table-of-elements

https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-day/disjecta-membra-2022-04-26/?param=wotd-email&click=ca77rh?param%3Dwotd-email&click=ca77rh&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Live%20WOTD%20Recurring%202022-04-26&utm_term=WOTD

https://kidadl.com/funnies/puns/periodic-table-puns-to-get-a-reaction