Will S. DeLoach George Peobody College
Chemical Mnemonic Devices
Nashville, Tennessee
SONE,K&6, J. CHEM.EDUC.,34,509 (1957). and chemists, who have a lot to remember, have CLARK, LOUISW., J. CHEM.EDUC.,33,110 (1956). developed such devices for use all the way from the MALIK, hMG,, J, CHEM, EDUC., 33, 329 (1956), color changes of litmus to complex thermodynamic ANONYMOUS, J. CHEM.EDUC.,28,372 (1951). functions. Some have been published, but there ThermodwamiefmetionS must be many good ones that are in oral circulation CHRISTIE,D. E., Am. J. Phys., 25,486-87 (1957). only. Several of these were sent in response to requests JOHN, J. CHEM.EDUC.,25,115 (1948). SATPERLY, appearing in the JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION YEN.TEHFu. J. CHEM.EDUC.. , 31.610 . (1954). , DE&CH, MARSHALL E., J. CHEM.EDUC.,24; 246 (1947). and other journals, and the author wishes to take this opportunity to thank all who contributed. The Su, SHIH-CHING, J. CHEM.EDUC.,24,304 (1947). following is a selection of those that were not found in ActivitySe~iesofMetals CLARK, LOUISW., J. CHEW.EDUC.,33,110 (1956). print, along with the name of the contributor, who MILLS,ARTHUR L., Chem. andEng. Nms, 32,2248 (1954). may or may not be the originator. "Lea the lion says GER!' Loss of Electrons is Oxidation; Gain of Electrons is Reduction. (Lee Meriwether, Montgomery Bell Academy, Nashville, Tennessee.) K9e(CN)-K8Fe(CN)r. The sound of the formula when r e d can be linked to the name--K-four refers to the ferro, and K-three refers t o the ferricompound. The symbols of the elements in the two short periods can be written in order to form the nonsense words: Helibehc-nofne and Nenmgal-sipsola. (Arcot Viswanathan, Loyola College, Madras, India.) "I dine 1:27!' The atomic weight of iodine is 127. (T. Lloyd Humberetone, London, England.) E. J. H. Birch, College of Technology, Art, and Commerce, Oxford, England, bases mnemonic sids on the old parlor game of "Teleersms." and sueeests the followine for the elements , of the lrtnthsnide series: "Last Case ~inea&es Not Produced Since Elieabeth Got Terrible Dysentery Having Eaten Two Yours Lucy." "Do what your oughter-pour the acid in the water!' (Glenn - . Powers, Northeast Louisiana State College, Monroe,
--
La.)
"Oh, My Sugar Gets Away!' Dicarboxylic acids, oxalic throughadipic. "Mama Eats Potatoes But P a m Hates Hash." Alkanes. methane through heptane. ( ~ m y ' L e Veseonte, Flora Mac: donald College, Red Springs, N. C.) "Troy Girls Can Flirt And Other Queer Things Can Do." Moh's hardness scale. (William G. Kessel, Indiana State Teachers College, Terre Haute, I n d i m . ) "Roy G. Biv." The colors of the rainbow. (Louis H. Dunlop, McKeesport High School, McKeesport, Pa.) "Oh. how transeendentallv " aneelic it is to tickle Cis." In angelic acid the methyl groups are trans, in tiglio acid they are cis. (Robert E. D. Clark, Cambridgeshire Technical College, Cambridge, England.)
-
The mnemonic devices that have been puhlished appear in different ways-as short articles, in letters to the editor, and as small items in columns devoted to various topics. Since many of these are not included in the indexes and so are not easily found, the following list of puhlished mnemonic devices cannot he considered to he complete. Actinide elements C o m ~ERVIN, , J. CHEM.EDUC.,30,206(1953). J. CHEW.EDUC.,35,357 (1958). ANONYMOUS,
Morwsaccharides HOLLENBERG, W. C. J., J. CHEM.EDUC.,33,622 (1956). ANN, J . CHEM. EDUC., DELOACH,WILL S., AND BRANDON,
STEWART, EARLD., J. CI Cox, E. H .,C h a . andEng. Nms, 27,46 (1949) Dicarbozylic A& HUNTER.GEORGE W.. J. CHEM.EDUC..32.584 11955). ,
,~
~
,
,
.
.
Cox, ( ; r ~ . $ ~J.,. oCJIetn.and ,?ng. .Yews, 33,:MGS l!G5). CW.ALISA, G. F:., f ' h m . n t d l n q . .Yeux, 27, 1 4 3 1949).
Monoca~bxylic Acids HATT,H. H., J. CHEM.EDUC., 18, I96 (1941). SUMERFORD, W. T., J. CHHM.EDUC.,18,346(1941). BOGERT, MARSTON T., C h a . andEng. News, 26,3584 (1948). Gas Laws MIDGLEY, CALVIN P., J. CHEM.EDUC.,27,624 (1950). DE MILT,CLARA, J. CHEW.EDUC:,28,115 (1951). Electwn Stmdure HAKLLA, REINOW., J. CHEM.EDUC.,25,229 (1948). SIMMONS, L. M., J. CHEM.EDUC.,25,698(1948). Yq PAO-FAN% J . CHEM.EDUC.,24,567 (1947). Indicator Colors BANKS, B. B., J. CHEM.EDUC.,18,97(1941). WELLINCS, RALPHE., School Sci. andMath., LVI, 285 (1956). Miscellaneous H EJ., IM Mass action ~ O ~ ~ U ~ ~ S H E I M E R ZC. J., CHEM.EDUC., 21,26(1944). Directive influence in benzene ring- HA^, H. H., J. CHEM. Eouc., 18,196(1941). t ROBERTB.. Elements essential to ~ l a n nutrition-GOEDON, Am. Biology Teachw,'l2, 160-61 (1950). Essential amino acid~--PArroN, A. R., C h a . and Eng. News, 27,371 (1949). Space arrangement of fumaric acid-Cox, GERALDJ., Chm. andEng. News, 33,3368 (1955).
Generally, with a puhlished mnemonic device the origin is not indicated, and it might be assumed that it was original with the author or that its origin was unknown. In a few cases, however, some particular person is given credit. A device for Maxwell's thermoVolume 37, Number
7, July 1960
/
367
dynamic relations is attributed to Professor H. A. Taylor of New York University. The code sentences for the electrochemical series that start "Peter Saw Carl," are attributed to the late J. H. Walton of the University of Wisconsin (1). The code sentence "Oh My Such Good Apple Pie, Sweet As Sugar" for the dicarboxylic acids, oxalic through sebacic, is attributed to Alfred Burger of the University of Virginia (2), and to the late Professor E. Jewett Moore of MIT (5'). There is objection to the use of mnemonic devices on the grounds that there is too much stress on memorizing, and there are disadvantages in their use where the things to be memorized are subject to change. And some teachers have their students make up their own devices ( 4 , 5 ) .
368
/
Journal of Chemicol Education
Some mnemonic devices are themselves humorous or ludicrous, but a further touch of humor was added when the word "mnemonic" was misspelled in one of the published devices. Promptly, two letters to the editor appeared, each offering a mnemonic device for the spelling of the word mnemonic ( 6 , 7 ) . Literature Cited (1) I H DAARON ~ J., Chem. andEng. News, 32,2752 (1954). (2) CHAUVENET, RUGSELL, Chem. andEng. News, 27,105 (1949). . 17, 545 (1940); (3) HUNTRESS,ERNESTH., J. C ~ MEDUC., C h a . andEng. News, 27,371 (1949). (4) SCOTT, R. B., JR., Chem. andEng. News, 27,794 (1949). (5) BERMINGHAM, JOHN,J. CHEM.EDUC.,16,516-17 (1939). (6) FONKEN,GUNTHERS., Chem. and Eng. News, 32, 2360 (1S54i. ~ - ~ - - , ~
(7) HULL,L. H., Chem. andEng. News, 32,2752 (1954).
