From Arsenic to Zirconium

93 short poems that teach about the elements of the periodic table.

Indulge your love of the periodic table with this collection of poems and fun facts about the chemical elements that make up our world. From arsenic to zirconium, this book describes the characteristics, history, and quirks of each element. The poems are a launching point for a guided tour of the elements filled with fascinating scientific trivia. For instance:

Antimony, used to treat constipation in the Middle Ages, may have killed Mozart.

There's arsenic in your prawns! (But don't worry, it won't harm you.)

Erbium is used to "dope" optical fiber amplifiers that make your YouTube videos download faster.

Iridium was key to the meteor theory of why dinosaurs went extinct.

You'll find potassium in both bananas and gunpowder.

Sulfur plays a role in whether your hair is curly or straight.

Expand your library of scientific literature with this playful and poetic romp through the periodic table."If you are the type of science teacher who loves telling stories and sharing anecdotes to enhance your lesson material, this book is for you! Adding to the ever-growing library of books about the chemical elements, their properties and uses and their positions in the periodic table, Peter Davern has come up with an interesting and engaging approach to this fundamental area of chemistry . . . a budding chemist would also find endless fascination in its contents."
—Janet Mitchell, School Science Review

"This elegantly constructed poetic version of the periodic table and the attributes of its elements serves as a numeric alphabet guide to the basic makeup of our world. It should be a required text from grade school to the home library."
—Aron Row, Seattle Book Review

“Delightful poems about the chemical elements that inhabit the periodic table”
— Dr. Eric Scerri, UCLA and author of The Periodic Table: Its Story and its Significance

“An extraordinary book”
— Sir Martyn Poliakoff, University of Nottingham and Co-Presenter of The Periodic Table of Videos

"Useful for the classroom . . . Being a science geek, I was never really into poetry, but this is poetry written by a science geek, for science geeks, so don’t let the word 'poem' put you off. All of the poems (one for each element 1–92) are five lines long, and after each line comes an explanation of the unique or exciting thing about that element."
—Holly Amerman, National Science Teaching Association, The Science Teacher Journal

"Full of interesting information on the elements to enliven your lessons."
—Peter Childs, editor of Chemistry in Action!Dr. Peter Davern is a lecturer in the Department of Chemical Sciences at the University of Limerick, Ireland. He has been fascinated by the periodic table: its form, layout, the repeating patterns of chemical properties among groups of elements. Davern has spent the last 5 years researching interesting and useful properties about the elements and then transforming them into a collection of short, easy-to-remember poems.Preface
I’ve long been fascinated by the periodic table of the elements but have always had difficulty recalling some of the properties of even the more well-known elements. So to help me remember a few of the elements’ more prominent properties (and occasionally some of their more quirky ones!), I’ve composed 93 short poems: one for each of the 92 elements from hydrogen to uranium on the periodic table, plus one additional poem to cover the 26 elements that follow uranium (known as the transuranium elements).

The poems were composed with reference to the various books, websites, journal articles, and reports listed in the Resources on page 275.

The running order of the poems follows the normal sequence of the elements as they appear on the periodic table, which is determined by their atomic number: hydrogen is first with atomic number 1, then helium with atomic number 2, and so on to uranium with atomic number 92. The final poem covers the transuranium elements with atomic numbers 93 to 118. You can readily track down any element that interests you by consulting the index at the back of the book.

Each poem is accompanied by notes that explain each line. Oh, and one last detail: be sure to follow the pronunciation guide printed above certain words, chemical formulae, and so on; it’ll help you keep the poem’s meter!

I hope you find the poems enjoyable and useful.