Letters
A Mnemonic
for Representative Element Groups
Mnemonics’ virtues are legion and well-documented (1).
Covey previously submitted a mnemonic for the symbols of
the first 105 chemical elements (2). One drawback of the
scheme, though, is its nearly uniform employment of nonsense-
words (e.g., Motcru rh’p’d agcd in Sn’sb’). It is unclear whether
memorizing such a text is a task any simpler than the one it
aims to ease. Moreover, Covey’s mnemonic text unfolds in the
order of increasing atomic number; we wondered whether a
group-by-group ordering might also have merit.
Here is our effort to ease memorization of the elements
of several major groups and their respective chemical symbols:
Acknowledgment
For Harold T. McKone, on the occasion of his retirement.
Literature Cited
1. Quigley, M. N. J. Chem. Educ. 1992, 69, 138–140.
2. Covey, W. J. Chem. Educ. 1988, 65, 1089.
Timothy Chambers
Department of Philosophy,
University of Hartford
West Hartford, CT 06117
chambers@hartford.edu
Jennifer Arab
Saint Joseph College
West Hartford, CT 06117