Rapping the elements, by Oortkuiper

Posted By Emily Lakdawalla

2011/08/18 04:45 CDT

Topics: fun, podcasts and videos

This is a bit of a departure from space science, but was so awesome, I had to share. I've always loved Tom Lehrer's "The Elements". Well, Youtube user Oortkuiper has done him an order of magnitude better:

Many people have heard of Tom Lehrer's 'The Elements' song. One day I decided to search for it online to memorise some stuff about the elements and found out that Daniel 'Harry Potter' Radcliffe had recently recited it on TV. I wondered what he (and the viewers) might have learnt about the elements by listening to it but shock horror...after listening I realised the song hadn't actually told me anything about The Periodic Table, except what's on it!
So I decided to do my own song, specifically about The Periodic Table.
The chorus contains the first 36 elements in order up to Krypton.
The first verse covers general info about the Periodic table.
The second verse lists the Alkali Metals and The Alkaline Earth Metals.
The third verse lists the Halogens and the Noble Gases.
Let me know if this rap helps you at all...or if it doesn't. Out of interest, if you manage to memorise the chorus, how long did it take.
good luck with your studies, or thirst for knowledge.
Peace,
O.K

His "Oortkuiper" handle has me very hopeful that he's ruminating on planetary topics for future work. Here's one that explains his handle:

A tip of the hat to Don Denesiuk for the link, via Google+.