Memorizing the First 20 Elements of the Periodic Table!

The Periodic Table is definitely a hard-to-forget memory from high school chemistry class.  Trying to learn the elements in order involved some rote learning with the occasional trick or two.  However, it's to memorize the first 20 elements in order, backward and forward, as well as knowing which element belongs to which number.  Impress your friends and train your brain with this fun exercise.  You may even impress Sheldon Cooper!

Follow along:

Here are the links to every number to which you will associate with the periodic elements.

They are:

1. sun
2. shoe
3. tree
4. door
5. hive
6. stick
7. heaven
8. skate
9. wine
10. pen

From 10 to 20, it's a bit different but still easy.

11. Imagine football uprights
12. (A dozen) eggs
13. A witch
14. Valentine's Day item (Feb. 14 - a box of chocolates, for example)
15. Tax returns (April 15)
16. Sweet 16 - candies or other sweets
17. 'Seventeen' Magazine
18. Voting Booth (legal age to vote)
19. Golf Club (19th Hole)
20. Pack of Cigarettes  (smoking not recommended!)


Now, we'll take a look at  the Top 20  Periodic Elements.

They are:

1. Hydrogen
2. Helium
3. Lithium
4. Beryllium
5. Boron
6. Carbon
7. Nitrogen
8. Oxygen
9. Fluorine
10. Neon
11. Sodium
12. Magnesium
13. Aluminum
14. Silicon
15. Phosphorus
16. Sulfur
17. Chlorine
18. Argon
19. Potassium
20. Calcium

Now, let's link the element with the memory aid for each number.

1. Hydrogen/sun - The sun is mostly composed of hydrogen!

2. Helium/shoe - Imagine floating on shoes made of helium

3. Lithium/tree - Imagine a lithium battery tree

4. Beryllium/door - Imagine opening the fridge to get some berries

5. Boron/hive - Imagine boring into a bee hive (not recommended in real life!)

6. Carbon/stick - Imagine a carbon hockey stick

7. Nitrogen/heaven - Imagine liquid nitrogen ice cream heaven!

8. Oxygen/skate - Imagine a skater with an oxygen mask

9. Fluorine/wine - Imagine wine with added fluoride!

10. Neon/pen - Imagine a neon pen!

11. Sodium/football goalpost - Imagine kicking a field goal with a salt shaker!

12. Magnesium/dozen eggs - Imagine getting your daily magnesium requirement with eggs

13. Aluminum/witch - Imagine a witch on an  aluminum pop can!

14. Silicon/Valentine's  - Imagine Silicon Valley king Mark Zuckerberg as someone's Valentine!

15. Phosphorus/tax return - Imagine igniting your tax return with phosphorus (not recommended in real life!)

16. Sulfur/ Sweet 16 (candies) - Imagine chocolate candies stinking like sulfur

17. Chlorine/'Seventeen magazine - Imagine reading Seventeen magazine by the pool and smelling the chlorine

18. Argon/voting booth - Imagine looking at the choices in a voting booth and saying "Aaaaaargh!!"

19. Potassium/golf - Imagine playing golf with a banana (they're rich in potassium!)

20. Calcium/pack of cigarettes - Imagine a cow smoking a cigarette

After you create these images, you'll find it very easy to recite the list from the top or bottom and to instantly recall any number. Quick, what's number 10?  Pen = Neon!

With the links, you can substitute other words for the numbers, such as one-gun or eight-gate but any word will do.  Have fun with the exercise and use it for any top 10 list that you can find useful!

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How To Memorize A List Easily: Top 10 Corporations

You've probably had to memorize lists in school for subjects such as history and even today there are many Top 10 lists for everything from sports teams rankings to country GDP rankings to music charts.

There is a method to memorizing a Top 10 list which is both easy and fun.  Plus, you can recite the list backwards and even name what is number 7 or 3 or any of the numbers.

How Is It Done?

Cutting to the chase, here are the links to every number which you will associate with the items on the list.

They are:

1. sun
2. shoe
3. tree
4. door
5. hive
6. sticks
7. heaven
8. skate
9. wine
10. hen


As an example, we'll use the top 10 American companies by market value (as of March 2015).

They are:

1. Apple
2. Google
3. Berkshire Hathaway
4. Exxon Mobil
5. Microsoft
6. Johnson and Johnson
7. Wells Fargo
8. Wal-Mart
9. General Electric
10. Procter & Gamble


Other methods of memorizing the list would have you doing it by rote or trying to make a story.  You could say "I wanted to an Apple store so I Googled the nearest location and sold some Berkshire stock to afford a tablet and stopped by Exxon to fill up....".   This is obviously tedious and not very useful if you wanted to know what was #7 or #10.

The method with the links is much easier and works like this.  Remember to visualize!

1. Apple/sun - Imagine the sun shaped as a huge apple in the sky

2. Google/shoe - Imagine doing a Google search for shoes

3. Berkshire Hathaway/tree - Imagine  CEO Warren Buffet up a tree!

4. Exxon Mobil/door - Imagine applying Exxon Oil to a door to stop it from squeaking

5. Microsoft/hive  - Imagine Bill Gates being attacked by a swarm of bees after he knocks over their hive.

6. Johnson & Johnson/stick - Imagine a Johnson and Johnson band-aid holding a stick 

7. Wells Fargo/heaven - Imagine seeing a well in heaven

8. Wal-Mart/skate - Imagine buying a thousand low-price skates at Wal-Mart

9. General Electric/wine - Imagine a GE cooler full of vintage wine bottles

10. Procter and Gamble/hen - Imagine a hen gambling  Prock! Prock!

After you create these images, you'll find it very easy to recite the list from the top or bottom and to instantly recall any number.  Quick, what's number 6?  Stick - Johnson and Johnson

With the links, you can substitute other words for the numbers, such as one-gun or eight-gate but any word will do.

Try it.  You'll be amazed at how easy it is!


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