Day: September 19, 2008

Several years ago I came across a Chem 201 exam with the following written in the margin: “Albert is sick and in pain, so I brought clean forks”. Afterward I asked the student what that was all about and she re-wrote it for me:

AlBert is SiCk and in PaiN, SO I Brought Clean Forks

This little ditty helped her remember which elements were found in the same column of the periodic table. Pretty clever. Do you have a chemistry mnemonic or tip to share? You can submit your tip as a comment.

We won’t be using liquid mercury in the o chem lab, but it was widely used in many of the research labs where I worked. I even played with some liquid mercury when I was little. This video shows you the vapors produced by even tiny amounts of liquid mercury. Check it out.

Mercury Vapor Experiment – Bowling Green State University