# Is there a song to learn the Atomic Table of Elements? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 16, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-song-to-learn-the-atomic-table-of-elements/255435 "2004-07-16T15:50:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-song-to-learn-the-atomic-table-of-elements/255435/21 "2004-07-17T08:04:11Z")
**dnooman** , my chem teacher just called those the “BrINClHOF elements” pronounced like… Brinkle Hoff? Worked well enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-song-to-learn-the-atomic-table-of-elements/255435/22 "2004-07-17T12:19:05Z")
The excellent band **Models** had a song called ‘The truth about Scientists’, which recited the first 10 or so elements - that how I first learnt as a kid. Then I used something very similar to that used by **MalFrog**. Through the transition elements I still think of ‘cask tiv croman faeco nick a coppers ink gauge arse’. --\> Ca Sc Ti V Cr Mn Fe Co Ni Cu Zn Ga Ge As ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-song-to-learn-the-atomic-table-of-elements/255435/23 "2004-07-17T12:47:39Z")
> [@](#): > > On which note, do people really find songs useful to remember these things? I never have done, for some reason. When I was five I had a record of “space songs” (“Meet Space Pilot Jones/His body, it looks like a barrel…”, about space suits; “Is it raining in Paris?/Will it snow in New York…”, about weather satellites). One of the songs went: _Mercury, Venus Earth and Mars Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus Neptune and Pluto! The wandering stars!_ My sister, who is rather older than I am, hated the record because I played it so much. (You know how small children can be obsessive with their entertainment.) But she admits that _The Wandering Stars_, which was without her permission pounded into her head, helped her on a science test in school. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-song-to-learn-the-atomic-table-of-elements/255435/24 "2004-07-17T13:43:53Z")
It isn’t a song, and doesn’t have anything to do with the periodic table, but my favorite mnemonic device was a short sentence for biology: **K** eep **p** enises **c** overed **o** r **f** uck and **g** et **S** TDs. Kingdom, phylum… well, you know the rest. 🙂 I heard that _once_ and have never been able to forget it. Plus, you know, it is good advice… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-song-to-learn-the-atomic-table-of-elements/255435/25 "2004-07-17T13:51:47Z")
I heard it as " **K** ing **P** hilip **C** ame **O** ver **F** rom **G** ermany **S** miling. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-song-to-learn-the-atomic-table-of-elements/255435/26 "2004-07-17T15:00:20Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > \ > > We the people, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, secure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution, of the United States of America. > > \ This was my first thought. Songs and such certainly CAN be helpful in memorization and School House Rock did it for an entire generation of americans. If you ever have the opportunity to pick up the DVD do so. Trust me on this one. We’re using it for the four-year-old right now. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-song-to-learn-the-atomic-table-of-elements/255435/27 "2004-07-17T15:11:42Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > _Mercury, Venus > Earth and Mars > Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus > Neptune and Pluto! > The wandering stars!_ I learned the planets as “M VEM J SUN P” and it has stuck. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-song-to-learn-the-atomic-table-of-elements/255435/28 "2004-07-17T15:16:21Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I learned the planets as “M VEM J SUN P” and it has stuck. Mary’s Violet Eyes Make John Stay Up Late Nights, Period ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-song-to-learn-the-atomic-table-of-elements/255435/29 "2004-07-17T15:18:52Z")
Oh, and we were taught an almost-song in high school religion class (Catholic school) to remember the Epistles in the New Testament: Ro co co Gal Eph phi col thess thess tim tim ti phil heb Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Phillipians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews On the other hand, I can’t remember the non-Pauline epistles for shit… ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-song-to-learn-the-atomic-table-of-elements/255435/30 "2004-07-17T15:22:04Z")
And who could forget the lovesick astronomer’s lament for memorizing the (unalphabetic) sequence of stellar classes? > [@](#): > > Oh, Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me (Right Now, Sweetheart) ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-song-to-learn-the-atomic-table-of-elements/255435/31 "2004-07-17T15:23:30Z")
My cousin’s _second_ grade class learned “Fifty Nifty United States.” This is a memory trip through my elementary school days. I still say, “I before e, except after c, or in words with an “ay” as in neighbor and weigh.” I still say **p** lease **e** xcuse **m** y **d** ear **A** unt **S** ally to remember my order of operations- parenthesis, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction. I still say “Thirty days hath September.” And not a song or a rhyme, but did anyone learn how to remember the multiplication rules for the number nine on their fingers? I didn’t learn that one as a kid, but, my, that would have made my third grade days easier. Don’t forget the ultimate and earliest mnemonic device for English speakers: the alphabet song. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-song-to-learn-the-atomic-table-of-elements/255435/32 "2004-07-17T15:32:48Z")
I didn’t know about the nine trick until calculus. Not that I ever needed it, but I feel there’s this whole subculture I’m missing out on. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-song-to-learn-the-atomic-table-of-elements/255435/33 "2004-07-17T16:16:30Z")
I, too, had to learn “Fifty Nifty United States” in 5th grade. I remember in Sunday school we had to learn songs that listed the books of the Bible. From the Old Testament song, I can remember Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Judges. From the New Testament song, I can remember Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Ephesians. That came in handy for Scholastic Bowl a couple of times. There’s a semi-dirty one to remember something biological (the Krebs Cycle?) that involves Caesar and orgies–can’t remember that one, cause I never paid much attention in bio. There’s also a dirty one to remember the resistor color codes, but I never learned it. Maybe someone will come along and know those. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-song-to-learn-the-atomic-table-of-elements/255435/34 "2004-07-17T16:22:33Z")
> [@AwSnappity](#): > > IThere’s also a dirty one to remember the resistor color codes, but I never learned it. Maybe someone will come along and know those. Here’s one version: “Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly”. Incidentally, the same color code is used to mark some capacitors and inductors too. ---
**Author:** ![Peregrine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a6a055/32.png) [@Peregrine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peregrine)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-song-to-learn-the-atomic-table-of-elements/255435/35 "2004-07-17T16:27:11Z")
For lots and lots of mnemonic songs (and also bunches of useless but pleasantly arcane songs), try [Greg’s science song links](http://faculty.washington.edu/crowther/Misc/Songs/links.shtml). ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-song-to-learn-the-atomic-table-of-elements/255435/36 "2004-07-17T19:14:49Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Mary’s Violet Eyes Make John Stay Up Late Nights, Period I got mine from ‘Have Space Suit Will Travel’ by Heinlein Mother Very Thoughtfully Made A Jelly Sandwich Under No Protest. Note that us cool Heinlein fans work in the Asteroids and call Earth ‘Terra’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-song-to-learn-the-atomic-table-of-elements/255435.md?page=1)