Category: Science Poetry

“With this 2-D depiction’s molecular art,
We’ll some insights on bonding begin to impart:
Atoms’ valence electrons arranged, as we do this.
(A rhyme scheme from Seuss, for the structures from Lewis.)”

Three poems were posted on March 2, which was “Dr. Seuss Day,” in honor of Theodore Geisel’s birthday.  The first of these 2 March 2020 poems employs roughly the same rhyme scheme as “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” which is written primarily in anapestic tetrameter (a fact which leads to a rather grievous pun in this essay’s title).  This poem provides some background on Lewis structures, which are simple depictions of molecular compounds.    

With this 2-D depiction’s molecular art, /
We’ll some insights on bonding begin to impart…
Lewis structures (also called “electron dot structures”) are two-dimensional (“2-D”) drawings on paper rather than molecular models, dash-wedge notation, or any of the other three-dimensional representations that chemists use to explain molecular behaviors.  They are pictorial representations of compounds (“molecular art”) and provide initial insights into molecular structure via chemical bonding.  However, these structures provide simplistic views only: they “begin to impart” understanding, but a General Chemistry student will quickly supplement this view of chemical bonding with more complex discussions of three-dimensional structure, such as valence-shell electron pair repulsion (VSEPR) theory.     

Atoms’ valence electrons arranged, as we do this.
To draw a Lewis structure, we count the number of valence electrons in a given compound, then arrange those electrons via bonds (represented with lines) and lone pairs (represented with pairs of dots).  The goal is generally that the octet rule will be obeyed for all atoms in the structure: that through covalent bonds and lone pairs, eight valence electrons will surround each atom, so that each atom achieves a “full octet” and thus stability.  As with any rule, exceptions exist. 

(A rhyme scheme from Seuss, for the structures from Lewis.) 
This last line acknowledges both the punchline to the poem, revealing the concept of interest, and the homage in the poem’s style (“a rhyme scheme from Seuss”).  The anapestic tetrameter and amphibrachic tetrameter used here are most familiar to me from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” but the styles are closely associated with Dr. Seuss’s work and comic verse in general.  Aiming to fit a chemical discussion into this more complex setting was a fun challenge. 

“The elements: perpetually trending!  
Their table: conceptually tending
Some ranks qualitative
Regarding key data
Of species, location-depending.”    

The 12 February 2020 limerick belatedly highlighted National Periodic Table Day, which I had not realized existed until its celebration on February 7… at which point I saw many pertinent Twitter hashtags!   

“The elements: perpetually trending!”  
The first line acknowledges the play on words with “trending” in a social media context and in a chemistry context.    

“Their table: conceptually tending /
Some ranks qualitative /
Regarding key data /
Of species, location-depending.”   
Information about elements’ behaviors can be understood from a reading of the periodic table of the elements (PTE), as described in lines two through five.  

This is a poem in which the rhyme aligns fairly closely with the prose explanation.  The periodic table organizes (“conceptually tends”) a wealth of general chemical and physical data about the elements (their “ranks qualitative”).  In other words, once someone learns to read the PTE, they can use the placement of elements relative to one another to predict trends in these properties (“key data… location-depending”). 

For instance, atomic radius (which essentially corresponds to atomic size) decreases left to right across a row of the PTE and increases down a column of the PTE.  Thus, from looking at a periodic table, we know without having to research specific numbers that rubidium (Rb) would have a greater atomic radius than the element in the same column in the row directly above it: potassium (K).  Correspondingly, potassium would have a greater atomic radius than its neighbor directly to the right: calcium (Ca).  If we look these specific data up, we can confirm the trend: the respective atomic radii of Rb, K, and Ca are 235 picometers (pm), 220 pm, and 180 pm.  

Countless other relationships can be described, for a variety of physical and chemical elemental behaviors.  The PTE is an enormously useful reference tool, for scientists and science students around the world.         

“Procedures in bomb calorimetry
Take place in a setting of constant V.  
From the temperature change
In solution, arrange
Calculations for internal energy.”

The 27 January 2020 limerick describes the main mathematical aims of a chemistry lab technique called bomb calorimetry. The language is, unsurprisingly, less precise than I’d teach in class, but the poem provides an overview of the experiment!  

“Procedures in bomb calorimetry /
Take place in a setting of constant V.”  
Calorimetry experiments measure the transfer of heat energy; different types of calorimetry involve different types of experimental settings and instruments.  Constant-pressure calorimetry was generally described in a previous entry: if a lab vessel is open to the air, the pertinent chemical reaction occurs at constant (atmospheric) pressure; coffee-cup calorimetry is one common example.  

By contrast, this poem highlights constant-volume (“constant V”) calorimetry, or bomb calorimetry, in which a reaction occurs in a sealed metal container. A chemical sample is placed in this container (the “bomb”), which is then filled with oxygen; ignition of the sample via operation of the calorimeter causes a combustion reaction to occur.  

“From the temperature change /
In solution, arrange /
Calculations for internal energy.” 
The ending lines sum up many calorimetry calculations: information about a reaction is inferred from a measurement of the temperature change in the surrounding water. 

In constant-volume calorimetry, the oxygen bomb is placed in a water bath in the larger calorimeter.  The “in solution” phrase is linked to constant-pressure calorimetry more directly, but the theme of measuring the temperature change in the water is consistent.  For an exothermic reaction, for instance, the temperature of the surrounding water will rise, because the reaction (the system) releases heat energy to its surroundings.  

Depending on the experimental constraints, calculations involving this heat energy transfer then give information about the enthalpy change of the process (𝛥H, or “Delta H,” in constant-pressure calorimetry) or the internal energy change of the process (𝛥U, or “Delta U,” in constant-volume calorimetry, as described here).  Such quantities are typically reported in calories (cal) or joules (J); hence this piece’s title. 

“Return to pursuits epistemic
In classrooms and lab spaces chemic;
The weather is wintry 
For ‘spring’ term re-entry:
Act 2 of the year academic.”  

This blog entry, written at the start of Spring 2021, corresponds to the Twitter limerick posted on 13 January 2020, as last year’s spring term began.  Revisiting it in this space provides an opportunity to set out some general goals for the new year and the new semester, just before spring classes begin.  

“Return to pursuits epistemic / 
In classrooms and lab spaces chemic…”
The vocabulary is lofty in both lines one and two: a “pursuit epistemic” is an endeavor related to learning; a “lab space chemic” is a chemistry laboratory.  Mid-January brings a return to focused spaces such as classrooms and labs, with the start of a new term, after the semester break.  

“The weather is wintry /
For ‘spring’ term re-entry…”          
It is harder to find the motivation to begin a “spring” semester in the height of winter than to begin the “autumn” semester in late summer.  Lines three and four acknowledge this difficulty!  

“Act 2 of the year academic.”
The essay’s title takes its inspiration from this last line of the limerick.  Moreover, while I cannot exactly remember my thought process from last January, I suspect that the rhymes from lines one and two arose from an end goal of “academic,” so that the last line gave the original poem its shape, as well.  

An academic year lends itself well to (my admittedly simplistic understanding of) a two-act dramatic structure: a story told in two parts, separated by a break.  While a music-less entr’acte is a contradiction in terms, writing this poem parallels some of the role of playing or hearing such a composition: providing some time to recenter and readjust to the setting.

Certainly, the second act mentioned here– Spring 2020– brought with it quite a plot twist, which many of these Spring 2021 essays will revisit.  My Twitter posts provided more immediate reactions than did this site’s entries during the same time period, and it will be interesting to reconsider these poems from the perspective of nearly a year onward.     

“Thanksgiving waits on the horizon:
The moods in the classes are rising.  
It’s been a long term, so
Pause study of thermo; 
Avail selves of break energizing.”

The 25 November 2019 limerick notes some themes of thermodynamics in addition to an imminent, welcome holiday weekend. 

“Thanksgiving waits on the horizon: /
The moods in the classes are rising.”  
The 2019 poem here commemorates a typical shift in a typical semester, in which a sense of accomplishment and shift towards optimism are evident as we near the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, with winter break relatively soon after. 

Fall 2020 is far from typical in terms of this term’s flow; my campus, along with many others, removed any midterm breaks or holidays, in order to finish all on-campus work by Thanksgiving.  I hope this year that, as we proceed through November, being able to see the impending holiday and the associated break “on the horizon” will still provide some mental relief to students, faculty, and staff alike, after a compressed, challenging term.  

“It’s been a long term, so /
Pause study of thermo…’ 
The chapter on thermodynamics traditionally falls near the end of the autumn semester.  Thermodynamics is often described via the shorthand “thermo”; “thermo” and “…term, so…” provided the rhyme that inspired this poem.

“Avail selves of break energizing.”
In thermodynamics, we consider a system of interest and its energetic interactions with the surroundings.  The change in energy experienced by the system depends on the heat energy transfer between the system and the surroundings and the work that is either done by the system on the surroundings or on the system by the surroundings.  (These concepts sound deceptively simple; many fascinating questions arise from the laws of thermodynamics and the related vocabulary and calculations!)  

This poem’s last line moves from the scientific context to the everyday context in terms of the word “energy,” acknowledging that the pause provided by the Thanksgiving weekend provides some welcome relief and restoration.

“This National Chem Week draws near its brink.
This year’s celebrations passed in a blink.  
We’ve seen metals marv’lous
(And heard some rhymes ard’ous)
In heralding species from ‘Ac to Zinc.’”

The 26 October 2019 limerick commemorated the end of National Chemistry Week 2019.  

“This National Chem Week draws near its brink. /
This year’s celebrations passed in a blink.”  
It was an interesting challenge to think of several metal-themed poems for National Chemistry Week 2019.  With a few, as with this one, the rhyme scheme was retrosynthesized from the target of a specific metal’s name in the final line: working in reverse to frame the structure of the limerick around that end goal. 

As described further below, this was a poem in which the rhymes were somewhat forced and the lines required some chemical shorthand to properly fit.  The title here thus provides both a discussion of this particular writing process and an acknowledgement that this entry, along with much of this website, could be read as “re: verse engineering”: regarding the structuring of these brief poems.

“We’ve seen metals marv’lous /
(And heard some rhymes ard’ous) /
In heralding species from ‘Ac to Zinc.’”
The end of the limerick highlighted the general theme of 2019’s National Chemistry Week (“Marvelous Metals”) while acknowledging that this theme often led to language that was more awkward than elegant.  In lines three and four, “marvelous” and “arduous” relied on elision to fit into their assigned rhyme scheme.  Line five necessitated a stylistic mismatch with respect to the chemistry content, in highlighting metals as a category in their entirety: from start to finish; from stem to stern; from A to Z.  “From ‘Ac to Zinc’” was used as a metallic variation on this last phrase, using the chemical symbol for actinium and the element name of zinc, for the alphabetical start and near-finish of the metals on the periodic table.  (Zinc is more rhyme-friendly than the metal in the final alphabetical position, zirconium!)

“A prevalent metal is sodium;
Its tabled place: row three and column one.
The symbol seems mismatched;
From Latin, it’s dispatched:   
An abbreviation of natrium.”  

The 25 October 2019 limerick was the second of two to focus on a particular example of the “Marvelous Metals” generally celebrated in National Chemistry Week 2019.  This poem discussed sodium, specifically, examining its placement on the periodic table and the etymology of its name.     

“A prevalent metal is sodium; /
Its tabled place: row three and column one.”
Sodium is found in many settings on Earth.  On the Periodic Table of the Elements, sodium resides in the first column of the third row, classifying it as an alkali metal. 

In teaching, I have never looked up where the word alkali came from; given the etymological focus of the poem, this seems a fitting chance.  This word is derived from Arabic originally, meaning “from ashes of the ‘qaly,’ or saltwort.” Saltwort refers to any of several plants that live near saltwater; aqueous solutions of these plants’ ashes are basic. The alkali metals, likewise, react with water to form basic solutions.

“The symbol seems mismatched; /
From Latin, it’s dispatched: / 
An abbreviation of natrium.”
As seen in “Clashing Symbols,” some chemical elements’ symbols seem misaligned with their elements’ names.  Sodium’s name is derived from the Latin word natrium, which in turn refers to the Ancient Egyptian word natron, which historically referred to a salt mixture found in Egypt.  Sodium is found in many salts (ionic compounds), including sodium chloride (NaCl; table salt).   

Today, interestingly, natron is defined as a mixture of multiple compounds, each of which includes sodium.  While this likely is not dramatic enough of a change to qualify as an example of word drift (and, certainly, such a discussion quickly moves beyond my expertise!), the shift points to another challenge of learning chemistry: sifting out when detailed nuances are important to clarify and when they can be disregarded.  The dense rules of chemical nomenclature must be understood to learn General Chemistry; however, the etymologies and roots of the element names used in nomenclature rarely are explored. 

“The metals are elements wondrous:
At room temp, most, solids; dense; lustrous;
Also ductile, conductive.
But this form’s reductive;
In textbooks: more info, illustrious.”

The 22 October 2019 limerick was part of the National Chemistry Week 2019 sequence, focusing on another aspect of “Marvelous Metals.”  

“The metals are elements wondrous: /
At room temp, most, solids; dense; lustrous; /
Also ductile, conductive…”
Chemistry textbooks compile much technical information in a relatively small space; this limerick takes this a step further, cataloging several traditional definitions and properties of metals via the syllabic constraints of a limerick.  

Metals exist in the solid phase at room temperature, with the notable exception of mercury.  Metals’ densities are high: even a small volume of a given metal has a significant mass (and these densities are characteristic to specific metals, as commemorated in Archimedes’s famous realization).  Metals are lustrous, reflecting light and appearing shiny.  They are ductile and can be turned into wires; they can conduct heat and electricity.  [As a sidenote, textbooks generally mention ductility (a metal’s ability to be made into a wire) and malleability (a metal’s ability to be flattened into a sheet) in the same sentence, but I couldn’t fit the latter property into this space.]          

“But this form’s reductive; /
In textbooks: more info, illustrious.”
The last two lines are a bit contradictory: they acknowledge the limits of the limerick and point an interested reader towards the more expansive information discussed in textbooks… even as the inspiration for the limerick arose from the brevity with which these books address metals’ many interesting properties, in introducing the periodic table.  

Usually, however, a textbook will include more extensive discussions of descriptive chemistry as well; these chapters expand on the general discussion of metals provided in the early overview, examining particular groups’ chemical and physical properties.  Likewise, some of the other limericks written for this week will address specific metals in more detail.       

“The marvelous metals are able
To make up quite a lot of the table
That we term periodic:
Collection symbolic 
Wherein lies each element’s label.”  

The 21 October 2019 limerick was written as part of National Chemistry Week 2019. It provides an overview of the periodic table of the elements (PTE), the relative populations of metallic and non-metallic elements on the PTE, and the use of chemical symbols on the PTE.   

“The marvelous metals are able /
To make up quite a lot of the table /
That we term periodic…”
A wide number of chemical properties and principles can be gleaned from an understanding of the periodic table of the elements (PTE).  For instance, metallic character versus non-metallic character can be assessed: the left side of the PTE includes metals, and the right side of the PTE includes non-metals.  Roughly 80% of the elements are metals; they thus “make up quite a lot of the [periodic] table.”  The dividing line between metals and non-metals is often referred to as a “staircase,” given its appearance; the semimetal or metalloid elements are collected in this range of the PTE.  

“Collection symbolic /
Wherein lies each element’s label.”
The periodic table uses chemical symbols as a convenient shorthand for the element names; the label for each element is a one-letter or two-letter symbol. 

Sometimes, these labels are predictable given the name of the element, as with cobalt (Co), for which the symbol is intuitive.  Other times, the labels reflect a name expressed in a different language, as with iron (Fe) and potassium (K); both of these take their abbreviations from the Latin words for the elements (ferrum and kalium, respectively).  The title of this piece alludes to the idea that these instances can seem frustrating and dissonant, as one is learning chemistry; the idea of “metallic symbols” here provides an intriguing play on words with “metallic cymbals.”

As with an introductory approach to any subject, some degree of memorization is inherent and important in learning to use the periodic table efficiently as a disciplinary tool.