Andy Brunning is a chemistry educator based in Cambridge, England and he runs a popular blog called Compound Interest (clever, right?).
Even for those of us who don’t have fond memories of high school or college chemistry, the blog provides a fun way of learning more about the subject with no pressure at all.
And, honestly, it really is a fun read, even if you’re not studying for a chemistry exam!
In 2019, Brunning created a chemistry “Advent calendar” in honor of the International Year of the Periodic Table.
Each day in December, up until Christmas, he posted a new type of periodic table that helped people learn new and interesting things about the elements or the creation of the table itself.
Are you a fan of languages more than sciences? Well, how about this periodic table of element name origins for the linguist in you:
Ever wondered why the element symbol for Iron is Fe?
Well, as you can see above, it’s because the origin of the word is from the Latin word for iron (or sword!), ferrum.
For those of you with time to learn more – or who are doing some homeschooling these days – this site is an invaluable resource.
Our personal favorite Advent table is Day 22’s Periodic Table of Mistakes.
We made a lot of those in chemistry.
Want to test your knowledge of the table (or see how well your chemistry-studying or trivia-loving kiddo knows)? Well, take a look at this and see if you can spot any of the 25 errors.
Brunning said of his fun exercise:
“I thought it would be fun to make some deliberate errors and turn it into a bit of a challenge. The table above contains 25 different errors. Some are common mistakes, some are subtle changes, and some are, frankly, a bit silly. Can you spot all of them?”
The answers are available here at the bottom of the page, but here are a few of our favorites:
1. Fluorine
In the table, it’s misspelled AND the symbol is incorrect.
But don’t feel bad if you didn’t catch the spelling error – even the professionals sometimes accidentally write it as “flourine.”
But the incorrect symbol is a big one – that’s because fluorine’s symbol is F, not Fl. Fl is actually an entirely different element – flerovium – and they have very little in common!
2. Sodium
We can never remember the symbol for sodium because it’s just not what we’d expect. The correct symbol is Na, not S as shown above.
That’s because the symbol comes from sodium’s Latin name, natrium!
And, again, this is kind of a big deal since S really is the symbol for another element – sulfur. Unless you like the stench of rotten eggs, it’s best to keep these two elements straight!
3. Titanium
You probably caught this one if you looked close enough. High school students would probably remember an element with the symbol Tit.
While 18th/19th-century chemist John Dalton actually used Tit as his symbol for titanium, the correct way of representing it is Ti.
Bummer.
4. Krypton
In this case, it’s not Superman or Supergirl’s home planet, just a colorless, tasteless noble gas.
But in the Periodic Tables of Mistakes, it’s incorrectly spelled out as kryptonite.
Lucky for Superman, kryptonite doesn’t actually exist.
5. Plutonium
Plutonium’s symbol is incorrectly rendered as Pl. But the correct symbol is Pu.
Brunning gives a funny anecdote to go along with the mistake that we can appreciate:
“It’s widely claimed that this was a slightly childish joke on behalf of Glenn Seaborg, who liked the idea of the element’s symbol sounding like it was stinky (pee-yoo).”
We don’t know if it’s true, but that will surely help us remember the correct symbol in the future!
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Isn’t’ this more fun than sitting at a desk and trying to memorize the giant periodic table?
We love educators who find a way to make learning fun.
Be sure to check out Brunning’s whole website HERE.
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