…And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium
And so on, ad caesium nauseum. So goes the famous Tom Lehrer song about the elements. And here it is in its full Lego glory.
The musical mnemonic now comes in a tangible, interactive form courtesy of the Royal Institution. As part of their multi-million pound refit, they’ve installed this king-sized Periodic Table in the basement.
The merry matrix plays back the element song to anyone curious enough to press the start button. You’re then encouraged to tap the 10 chemical elements discovered at the Royal Institution when they are mentioned in the song. To wit: Magnesium, Calcium, Potassium, Sodium, Strontium, Barium, Boron, Chlorine and Iodine (discovered by an overachieving Humphry Davy), and Argon courtesy of Lord Rayleigh.
Shame the pads aren’t made of the elements they represent. Who dares touch the potassium?
Never mind wimpy old potassium, Cesium would be a shocker!
(then again, uranium &co. might sting too…)
Yeah, but you wouldn’t need to touch it because it wasn’t discovered at the Royal Institution. Keep up, Ian. The rules are simple ;-)
Touching the chlorine pad could be interesting.
Do they light up on the pad when they come by in the song? I am trying to imagine how hard it must be to listen and find the corresponding elements and think about whether they were discovered at the RI. But the display looks like it might light up in time with the song, and that would make it a lot easier.
Yes, yes it does.