A chemistry poem

175 minutes for chemistry

Max Clark, a student in the Lower Sixth at Brighton College, spent his 175 minutes for chemistry writing a poem to help others recall the history of the periodic table.

"As part of my recent GCSE Chemistry coursework, we were challenged to produce a visual or some other creative medium about the history and evolution of the periodic table", says Max.

"In addition to a standard PowerPoint poster, my idea was to author a poem as a good way to bring the periodic table to life. It is entitled Periodic Poem: From Mystery to History and is more of a modern rap approach than traditional verse – but it is a poem nevertheless."

Max's main passion is rugby, but he's shown himself to be an accomplished chemist, historian and poet as well. We're sharing his poem today as part of National Poetry Day.

"Although I genuinely enjoy science, it is not my main area of focus in school but I thought that this poem might help others recall the history of the table," he says.

Max's poem is a journey through the history of the periodic table, from Plato and Aristotle's theories of the four basic elements, through to Mendeleev's breakthrough in ordering the elements into the table we know today.

Max's poem is inspired by the periodic table and modern rap Picture: © Scott Clark

Periodic Poem: From Mystery to History

By Max Clark

 
At the start of this tale, in an ancient Greek land
Two clever forward thinkers thought that science was grand
Plato, Aristotle started talking about the elements
Basic at first; it grew to something much more elegant
Water, air, earth and fire were fundamentals they say saw
But now we know their ideas were just a little too raw
Fast forward through the centuries 
People still trying to make sense of these
Elements that grew
It was the scientist who knew
Back in 1863, Newlands explored a new land
To try to find a way to get the elements in hand
With a goal of making sense of all that science had shown
He knew it was a challenge as the elements had grown
Order, logic, and practical use
Elements brought together versus running all loose
Newlands' base idea had an Octave at its heart
He thought elements were simply eight places apart
While he made some advances with his power of eight
Newlands' Octave theory really wasn't all that great.
So five years later in 1869
A Russian called Mendeleev started blowing our minds
With fresh ideas on how to make a better tool
This progressive scientist started writing new rules
He wanted to make amends
Started noticing some trends
His bright idea was to look at atomic mass
Vertical groups, then he left a few gaps
He lined them all up, wrapped like words in a book
With atomic weight behind him, Dimitri found a new hook
Hydrogen, lithium and sodium all with similar features
Showing these connections would be one way he could teach us.
This table went on to showcase noble new gases
Mendeleev's ideas were amazing; they really kicked some ass-ets
Dimitri gave us something firm; something stable
That's why we proudly proclaim him to be Father of the Table.
In chemistry class, you'll be awoken from your slumber
When you realise its secret is an increasing atomic number
Sherlock Holmes might have said, elements are elementary
But the periodic table; simply incredible for you and me
The periodic table: it's not about blinding us with science
It's about elements together with structure and compliance
Yes it's true that the table has a great deal of history 
Now through this poem we can break through the mystery
It's not a story; it's not a fable
It's just the lowdown truth about the Periodic Table
 
 

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175 minutes for chemistry

As the oldest chemical society in the world, we celebrated our 175th anniversary in 2016. We wanted to mark this milestone by recognising the important contributions our community makes to the chemical sciences. We asked our members and supporters to dedicate 175 minutes to chemistry in 2016 and share their stories with us. We featured these stories throughout the year on our website, in print in RSC News, and on social media using #time4chem.

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