Thursday, April 29, 2010

Periodic Table’s Elements Iron (26) through Tin (50)

Using Mnemonic's Phonetic Peg System in memory story form for memorizing the elements Iron through Tin by their atomic number. Unlike using rote memorization, these memory stories should last our memory for years to come. Also, for more long-term memory word association purposes I've included information about the element's word part meanings and a few common, academic, scientific, and/or medical words that share the same word parts.

Iron (26), Peg (notch), symbol Fe, from the word ferrous, word part ferri-, ferro-. [farrier, a smith who shoes horses, ferrule, lit. diminutive iron (bracelet), feratin, Chem. ferric, lit. relating to iron, ferrokinetics, lit. the study of iron movement]

Memory Story: Billy the Kid has asked you, a rather nervous farrier, if you would be so kind as to put another notch in the handle of his shooting Iron after he killed the farrier whose job you took over. You tell him sure and there'll be no fee (Fe) because you'll let the fairies (ferrous) do the job tonight. He believes you.

Cobalt (27), Peg (neck), symbol Co, from a German kobald meaning "goblin, underground spirit".

Memory Story: [We need to share an image of cobalt blue glass.]
Your first week out of boot camp you get the wonderful job of cleaning the Commanding Officer's (C.O.) (Co) house and accidentally break the long neck off his beautiful cobalt blue vase he paid dearly for in Singapore. Instead of trying to hide the vase you show him what you've done without any excuses, apologize, and prepare to take your punishment, which never comes.

Nickel (28), Peg (knife), symbol Ni, from a German word kupfernickel, which means "copper nickel" with nickel probably meaning "demon's or devil's".

Memory Story: You bought a nickel knife last night (Ni) for a nickel. Thinking you got a great deal you find out in the morning you paid about four cents too much.

Copper (29), Peg (knob or nap), symbol Cu, from the Latin word cuprum from Cyprus which was renowned for its ancient copper mines.

Memory Story: You're a new cop who has been staked out to watch for the vandals who've been ripping the copper pipes out of abandoned houses in your town. You've been in this house for twelve hours waiting for someone to turn the copper knob of the front door. You decide to take a nap so you balance a piece of copper pipe on the door knob so it will wake you up when someone turns the knob and lie back for a short twenty winks. Unfortunately you're a sond sleeper and the thieves come in the back door, take out the pipe, and then the jam the front door shut with the copper pipe you put there as a burglar alarm and yell "See you (Cu) Copper", as they run down the street laughing. You still didn't hear them. I think you need to consider a career change.

Zinc (30), Peg (mouse), symbol Zn, from German zink, of unknown origin.

Memory Story: [We need to share the image of a Zen garden for this memory story.] You're pet mouse has created a Zen (Zn) garden in your zinc sink and spends all day in the sink meditating and practicing the art required for the Zen tea ceremony with your pet turtles,
Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo
.

Gallium (31), Peg (moat), symbol Ga, from L. Gallia, Gaul, France. (See Building Blocks of the Universe, a book on the elements by Isaac Asimov for more intriguing information about the name Gallium.)

Memory Story: [We need to share the image of a galley for this memory story.] You're a very young Cortez and have a dream about crossing a moat with a fleet of galleys (Gallium) you have built by hauling them through a jungle and up the sides of mountains piece by piece. That dream always bothered you until you use the idea to build small galleys, cross the lake barrier surrounding the city of Tenochtitlan, and conquer the Aztecs starting on the night of one of their bloody galas. (Ga)

Germanium (32), Peg (mine or moon), symbol Ge, from L. Germania, Germany.

Memory Story: Gee (Ge) a German mine. I wonder how it works you think as you start to fiddle with the thing. Or.
Warning: [A bit off color and this memory story also has the possibility of causing interference with Selenium so it's up to the user.] Gee (Ge) a German moon, you think as you take close aim at a German soldier during WWI's Battle of the Somme who has decided to show how brave he is by mooning the British and French side of the front.
You miss and permanently leave your mark a little lower on a lance corporal named Adolph Hitler.

Arsenic (33), Peg (mummy), symbol As, from Greek arsenikon, yellow orpiment.

Memory Story: Warning: (Could be offensive to some people.) Your ass (As) of a friend decided he would be an arsonist (Arsenic, not related) and burn down a vacant building just for the hell of it. Now he's wrapped up like a mummy because he couldn't get out of the building he set on fire.

Selenium (34), Peg (mower), symbol (Se), from Gr. selene which means "moon or crescent" and so called because it resembles tellurium from L. tellus, earth. [selenodont, lit. moon (crescent) tooth, Selenomonas, lit. moon (crescent) unit, Selena, Greek Religion, goddess of the moon]

Memory Story: A super salesperson like you has no problem selling (Selenium, not related) mowers to the moon creatures who live along the edge of the moon's Sea (Se) of Tranquility.

Bromine (35), Peg (mule), symbol Br, from Gr. bromos, bad smell, with word part –brom- meaning "stench or the presence of bromine in a compound". [bromide, fig. a worn out platitude [that smells], antibromic, lit. against a stench, bromate, Chem. bromide, Chem, bromidrosis, lit. smelly sweat condition, bromism, Med. chronic bromide intoxication, Bromeikon™, lit. bromine image, fig. a trademark substance used for X-ray imaging of the gall bladder]

Memory Story: Warning: (Sixth grade humor ahead.) It's about 1850 in Kentucky and you're to take the family's wares to market on this cold winter morning. You load a thousand of some of the best homemade brooms (bromine) in the state onto the backs of your pack mules because the path to town and the railroad is too narrow for a wagon. Brrr, (Br) it sure is cold today you think when Old Flatulence, your lead mule, hee haws and then cuts a real loud one getting all the mules braying because of the stench. Damn. He's been in that pile of spent beer and whisky grain again.

Krypton (36), Peg (mash), symbol Kr, from Gr. kryptos, hidden; so named because it was rare and difficult to find in hot springs' gases. Word parts krypt-, crypt- mean "hidden or concealed". [crypt, a hidden burial vault under the main floor of a church, cryptic, hidden or secret, apocryphal, lit. hidden away, orig. books hidden from the public because they contained harmful esoteric information, now, anything of questionable authenticity, crypta, lit. crypt, cryptomenorrhea, lit. hidden month flow, Cryptostroma
corticale, lit. hidden fibrous structure – bark, onychocryptosis, lit. concealed nail condition]

Memory Story: You're the arch criminal Lex Luthor. You travel to Africa and steal a meteorite of Kryptonite from a museum. Then you have slave labor mash the meteorite into a fine powder hide it in a lead lined shipping container marked Kraft™. The harmless looking container is shipped to a crypt in Europe where you hide it until you perfect your plan on enticing Superman to come you and the hidden crypt full of Kryptonite powder.

Rubidium (37), Peg (mug), symbol Rb, from L. ruber meaning "red", so named because rubidium's spectroscope displays two red lines. [ruby, rubric, that part of a work in early manuscripts which was colored red, metarubricyte, lit. beyond or changing red cell, rubella, lit. diminutive red, rubeola, lit. diminutive red, rubor, lit. redness]

Memory Story: You make ruby red mugs for Arby's (Rb) roast beef sandwich fast food chain.

Strontium (38), Peg (movie), symbol Sr, named for the Scottish village of Strontian, having been discovered from lead ores from their mines.

Memory Story: You're watching a movie
of last week's high school football game with the head coach. "We have a strong team (Strontium) Sir (Sr)", you comment as the team displays their obvious athletic strength by rolling over the other team on every play in the movie.

Yttrium (39), Peg (mop), symbol Y, named for Ytterby, Sweden.

Memory Story: You've been working for a janitorial service for about six months and being the new guy you always get the hardest job. "Why (Y) mop the white room (Yttrium) every night if no one ever uses it?" you ask your supervisor. You want to know because the white room is the size of a football field and so white it would blind you if you didn't use sunglasses during your entire eight hour shift. [Atrium would also work for Yttrium as a word substitution.]

Zirconium (40), Peg (rose), symbol Zr, from Persian zargun meaning "gold like" and from Fr. jargon, jargoon, zircons fine enough to used as gems.

Memory Story: It's about 1890 and your friend Rose received a fifty carat zircon from the Czar. (Zr) Or. Your eyes just about popped out of your head when your friend Rose found a huge zircon during your archeological dig in Zaire. (Zr)

Niobium (41), Peg (rod or road), symbol Nb, from Niobe, daughter of Tantalus and so named because of problems distinguishing Niobium's differences from Tantalum when it was first discovered.

Memory Story: You're Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn and have numerous disciplinary problems with a newbie (Nb) so you take a rod to his little behind and then put him to bed. "Night Obi-Wan. (Niobium) We'll start fresh tomorrow with a new attitude, won't we?" you tell your new charge as you turn off the light. [Niobe is also a Matrix character that could also be used.] Warning: You're going down the road to the Nude Beach (Nb) because you've been told Niobe was there catching some rays.

Molybdenum (42), Peg (rain), symbol Mo, from Anc. Gr. molybdos, lead.

Memory Story: Your stooge friend Moe (Mo) borrowed and left your favorite Levis™ out in the rain and now after two weeks of damp weather they're moldy denims. (Molybdenum) Sure they look a little fuzzy but no one else in school has a spotted pair like them and you'll be the envy of everyone. That is until they get within smelling distance of you.

Technetium (43), Peg (ram), symbol Tc, from Gr. technetos, artificial from techne, art, skill, craft. [pyrotechnics, lit. the organized knowledge of fire craft, fig. the art of creating and firing fireworks, polytechnic, lit. relating to many arts, fig. a technical school in many industrial arts, technique, the application of an artform, technocausis, the art of burning]

Memory Story: You work for a Telecommunications (Tc) company that has a ram as their technical nut (Technetium) or the guy who fixes all the technical problems with the equipment. Technicians come from miles around to watch the ram as he artfully performs his craft with the skill of a practiced surgeon. Because of his abilities your company's equipment has never gone down because he fixes the problems before they happen.

Ruthenium (44), Peg (rear), symbol Ru, named for Ruthenia, Russia from where it was originally discovered.

Memory Story: Well you didn't have to ask because her reputation preceded or maybe I should say followed her but you ask anyway. "Are you (Ru) Ruth Anne?" (Ruthenium) you ask of the lady with a very large rear end.

Rhodium (45), Peg (roll), symbol Rh, from Gr. rhodon, rose, red, from the rose red color of some of rhodium's salts. [rhododendron, lit. rose tree, fig. an evergreen shrub prized for its beautiful clusters of flowers, rhodopsin, lit. red vision substance, Rhodophyllus sinuatus, lit. red leaf – bending or wavy]

Memory Story: [You're in charge of props for the movie Wizard of Oz.] Well you thought it looked great but you have the flying Rhesus (Rh) monkey actors, on loan from doing the scariest part in the movie; roll up the red brick road (Rhodium) because of some stupid song they just wrote that doesn't go with it. Artists? You could have painted the top of the stupid plastic prop road yellow but oh no. They wanted entire bricks painted yellow and set in place one at a time. With the way they're spending money on this movie they'll never make a dime.

Palladium (46), Peg (roach), symbol Pd, from the asteroid Pallas which was discovered and named about two years before Palladium, from the epithet Pallas Athena because Athena slew the Titan Pallas in the Gigantomachy (Battle of the giants).

Memory Story: [We need to share some info about the old Palladium dance hall in New York so we can share the same visual association.] You're with the New York PD (Pd) and have been called out on a weird call to the old Palladium that was closed down in 1966. You go inside the old dance hall and the place is full of giant cockroaches doing all sorts of Latin dances. What the hell. You join them in a giant roach conga line and have a great time dancing around the old Palladium.

Silver (47), Peg (rock), symbol Ag, from L. argentum, silver, from Indo-European root arg, lit. white or shining. [Argentina, Arges, a Cyclops in Greek Mythology meaning "bright", argentation, lit. silver process or condition, argyria, lit. silver condition, litharge, lit. silver stone]

Memory Story: You discover during an exploration of the "rock of ages" (Ag) it turns out to be loaded with silver. Or. You're surfing the web looking for something to associate silver and rock of ages to and find this cover art for the Rock of Ages musical.

Cadmium (48), Peg (roof), symbol Cd from L. cadmium, which means calamine, a lotion made from zinc oxide.

Memory Story: Your mom is painted pinkish white from head to foot after a long hike through the woods and admiring the beautiful red leaves of some poison ivy. She needs some more calamine lotion and sends you to the store. You borrow the Cadillac (Cadmium) with that special roof made out of your mom's CDs (Cd) molded inside of a laminated plastic covering. Oh, I forgot to mention your mom's a famous country western singer didn't I?

Indium (49), Peg (rope), symbol In from the indigo color seen in its spectrum. [India, from the country being the earliest center of indigo dyes]

Memory Story: You're doing the famous Indian rope trick for your friends and when you get to the top you pass through a violet blue like dimension and when you climb back down you find yourself in (In) India. (Indium)

Tin (50), Peg (lace), symbol (Sn) from L. stannum, orig. an alloy of silver and lead.

Memory Story: You're the proud mother or father of your son (Sn) Stan. Stan's about eight years old and get's the part of the Tinman in The Wizard of Oz play at school. You make the suit out of tin and using a metal wire you lace Stan inside the suit. Unfortunately the suit is a bit stiff and you have to stand Stan up (stannum) because he keeps falling over.


 


 


 

1 comment:

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