Remembering Periodic Table with Memory Palace (Inspired by Nelson Delis)
1. I had constructed a memory palace of fifty-five items based on the house of one of my aunts. For constructing this, I used the method suggested by Nelson Delis in his YouTube video:
https://youtu.be/E1x9IaMTpyw
(The most crucial element for simplification: Each location to have only 5
items)
4. This I did it with only a mobile in hand, while travelling between Syracuse and Albany. It took me about an hour and a half.
5. I did a mnemonic in each place reminding me of each element, in the same order as periodic table. Then I rehearsed it about 4 or 5 times. Next day, I was able to demonstrate this to my friend’s daughter, whom I wanted to inspire. It is really that simple!
6. Since I wanted to completely remember the periodic table, I wanted more locations so, I expanded the first palace by adding about ten items. Then I decided to construct a second one based on the house of another aunt, so that the entire table of 118 elements could be memorized. The total items in the two palaces, however, came to 121.
7. The mental exercise of association of each element with an item in a picturesque (& grotesque as well 😊) is amazingly effective in anchoring elements in the memory.
8. I have given my images – it is most effective when you attach your own images which are vivid and are in some way related to your experiences.
The Journey through Memory Palace 1 (Covering 55 elements)
Note: The symbol => is used for “reminds me of”
- · Garage
1.
Water is dripping from the vacuum cleaner.
Water reminds me of Hydrogen
2.
The tray has several Helium balloons
attached. Due to the upward thrust, tray is also unsteady
3.
On the storage rack life-size Lithium
batteries are kept. So big!
4. On the shoe rack is a huge pile of berries, overripe, sticky and juice dripping from them.
Berries =>Beryllium
5. On the Trash cart some guy trying to drill a hole with a boring machine. Wonder what he is up to!
Boring machine => Boron
6. I open the washer for washing the clothes. To my utter dismay, charcoal pours out in a heap. My clothes are all blackened!
Charcoal => Carbon
7.
Becoming curious, I opened Drier to see
whether anything spooky is happening there also. I found only small Nitrogen
cylinders
8.
On the washer is the clothes tray. What are
the Oxygen cylinders doing there?
9. I opened the storage. A baby monkey hiding there squeezed the enormous toothpaste tube and the paste landed up on my head! T
Toothpaste => Fluorin
- Dining room
10.
On
the show case is the cursive Neon sign “I am a Neon sign!”
11.
The window is covered with salt deposits, making it difficult to see outside.
Salt =>Sodium
12.
On the dining table, there is a Maggie
noodles pack and a pack of Epsom salt. There is a funny caption on the table
“If you have too much of THIS (Maggie), then you will also end up having
THIS (Epsom Salt).
Epsom => Magnesium
13.
Trying to get a steel plate, I open the
plates cupboard, only to find old, pitted Aluminum plates
14.
The Recycle bags are buried under a heap of
sand. My uncle is yelling at me for creating this scene. ☹
Sand => Silicon
- Kitchen
15.
The stove is being lit using a long and
thick matchstick the size of a tennis ball.
Matchstick => Phosphorous
16.
I try to rinse my cup in the kitchen sink. A
forceful hot spring erupts and scalds my hands. Ouch! It reminds me of geysers
with high Sulphur content in Yellowstone National Park.
17.
As I
turn to my right, I see Microwave oven running and through the glass I can see
a deep red Rose getting bleached into a flower without colour. Reminds of my
high school Chlorine preparation experiment.
18.
I open the fridge next to the oven, I see A
R Rahman trying to compose some songs with other musicians.
Ar is the symbol for Argon
19.
The moment he sees me, he asks for pot, for some
of his members smoke pot for inspiration. I check in the Grocery storage on the
right only to find a pot of ash and hand it over to him, resulting in laughter
and dismay at the same time.
Pot of Ash => PotAssIum (Potassium)
- Living room
20.
Some idiotic worker has whitewashed the
lovely glass front door. Disgusting!
Whitewash => Lime => Calcium
21.
On the side table is a big scanner and this
idiotic worker is trying to keep the messy whitewashing brush on the scanner
bed to scan it!
Scanner => Scandium
22.
On the French window a huge Titan watch is
hanging.
Titan => Titanium
23.
On the potted plant a Van is precariously
perched. How did it manage to get there?
Van => Vanadium
24.
There is a huge disc made in the image of
Google Chrome sitting on the sofa.
Chrome => Chromium
25.
Huge Mango under the table lamp? Ridiculous!
Mango => Manganese
26.
My friend Gopal is drawing out embers from
the fireplace and putting them in the Iron box.
27.
He has stuck a wrinkled COBOL Programming
book on the TV and is trying to Iron it out!
COBOL => Cobalt
28. A street musician is playing on the Piano. Next to him there is a hat in which people have put Nickel
- Guest Room
29.
The lovely ornamental hat with floral
decoration which was hanging on the door of the room is gone. In its place
there is a Copper hat which looks as if it was stolen from a statue! 😊
30.
A smooth, tastefully made collapsible wooden
wardrobe door is replaced with a crude Zinc door? Obnoxious!
31.
On the chest of drawers, Asterix, the Gaul
is drinking his energy potion. Glug..Glug…
Gaul => Gallium
32.
The window is covered by a copious growth of
the Geranium.
Geranium => Germanium
33.
From the bookshelf, Napoleon Bonaparte is
screaming – “They poisoned me to death. Slowly, and in very small doses of Arsenic”
34. On the bed is a large Selenium rectifier, occupying the whole bed. These geeks don’t have any consideration for others!
- Meditation room
35.
The children’s toy trolley is soiled with
bromide stains of the careless photographer who was developing the negatives,
rather carelessly!
Bromide => Bromine
36.
In the showcase, Salman Khan of Khan academy
is teaching a Cryptography course.
Cryptography => Krypton
37.
Altar is filled with Rubies. I can barely
see the deities.
Ruby => Rubidium
38.
As I look at the books on the shelf, from
inside the shelf, the strongman Arnold Schwarzenegger lands a punch on my face.
Strongman => Strontium
39.
The door of the wardrobe is stained with yellow
paint
Yellow => Yttrium
40.
On the dressing table a heap of Jeera (Cumin
seeds) is lying. Why is it here, instead of inside of a jar in kitchen?
Jeera => Zirconium
41.
The worker who was trying to fix the glass
in the window botched it up and it cracked. He is apologizing and offering
explanation that he was a newbie.
Newbie => Niobium
42.
Aunt Molly is shouting at the worker as to
why he accepted the job if he was a newbie.
Molly => Molybdenum
43.
My Windows was having a very peculiar
problem and I was sitting on the bed and was looking up a solution in Microsoft
TechNet.
TechNet => Technetium
44.
I opened the wardrobe and was surprised that
my boss’s secretary Ruth, who was calmly sitting and typing her letter there!
Ruth => Ruthenium
45.
The Foyer area was covered by copious growth
of Rhododendrons
Rhododendrons => Rhodium
- Attached Bath
46. I tried to find some tablets for my
headache in the medicine cabinet – only to find that it was filled with barbecue pellets.
Pellets => Palladium
47.
The toilet was made of Silver! I
had heard about gold toilet of some gulf billionaire, but this is crazy!
48.
I was startled by noises emanating from the
bathtub. Moved the curtain a bit to find that a young guy was taking CAD
printouts!
CAD => Cadmium
49.
Bath curtain had an India map on it.
India => Indium
50.
There was no place on the washbasin to keep
hand soap, as there was a big Tin of groundnut oil.
- Common Bath
51.
Antony was standing on a cradle hanging from
the towel rod giving his famous speech “Friends, Romans and Countrymen”
Antony => Antimony
52.
I moved the sliding partition of bathtub,
only to find my bank’s Teller machine, spewing lots of notes!
Teller => Tellurium
53. The Teller Machine had a crack and blood started
oozing out. Immediately Tincture Iodine bottle which was on the shampoo
stand, was applied and bleeding stopped 😊
54.
Someone had discarded a bunch of Xerox
copies on the seat of toilet. Crazy folks!
Xerox => Xenon
55.
In the wash basin, Caesar was shedding tears
out of gratitude to his friend Antony who was giving his speech to avenge
Caesar’s death.
Caesar => Caesium
- · Garage to Patio
56.
OMG! A huge black bear is stuck on the
garage door.
Bear => Barium
57.
The bear was starving and so desperate for
food that it was eating Lantana growing out of garage door keypad.
Lantana => Lanthanum
58.
Finally, the bear managed to free itself
from the garage door and happily ate up all the cereal heap which was dumped on
the walkway.
Cereal => Cerium
59.
The bear continued and saw that there was
huge quantity of Tirumala Balaji’s Laddu Prasadam along with a pile of Dimes in
the kids’ garden and gobbled it up.
Prasadam + Dime => Praseodymium
60.
On
the Patio table was a newly minted heap of Dimes. Who was the owner of
the heap? No idea.
New + Dime => Neodymium
- Patio to Road
61.
On the steps, along with a big fire, sits
the Greek god Prometheus.
Prometheus => Promethium
62.
A squirrel has its tail stuck in the
mailbox and screaming for help. A Samaritan comes and helps it to safety.
Samaritan => Samarium
63.
On
the road is a huge Euro symbol € standing bang in the middle blocking the
road. Did it signify that Euro is difficult to conquer?
Euro => Europium
64.
On the walkway, there is a petrol dispensing
pump displaying “Gadoline”. I was sure that it was a spelling mistake. It
should have been “Gasoline”. (Probably because 'S' and 'D' are neighbouring keys on
a QWERTY keyboard)
Gadoline => Gadolinium
65.
From the post of entry gate, a high-pressure
leak had formed spurting turbid water.
Turbid => Terbium
- House of another aunt
66.
The famous poet Wordsworth is sitting in the
mailbox. He is joking that he is so reluctant to use prose that he can be
described as having “Dys-Prosia” 😊
Dys-Prosia => Dysprosium
67.
On the Driveway, Sherlock Homes is sitting
with his pipe in his typical thinking mood.
Homes => Holmium
68.
On the walkway, a large map of Serbia is pasted.
The letter S is covered by the bushes and only ERBIA is visible.
ERBIA => Erbium
69.
Hanging from the garden tap is a beautiful
model of the Royal bed of Mysore Palace. Kannada word for it – HamsaThulika.
Thulika => Thulium
70.
On the gate to backyard, the famous Amul
Butter cartoon advertisement: Utterly Butterly …Amul
Utter butter => Ytterbium
- Garage
71.
A
Lute attached to the garage door is creating music on its own. Magical!
Lute => Lutetium
72.
A huge half pizza is stuck on the garage
side door
Half Pizza => Hafnium
73.
In
front of the car, a short Greek King Tantalus is eyeing the apple that is
hung with a thread. Each time he tries to reach, the apple goes just outside
his reach – that was his punishment.
Tantalus => Tantalum
74.
I lift the lid of Trash cart to see whether
anything needed to be emptied. Instead of trash, I find a big electric filament
bulb glowing intensely.
Filament => Tungsten
75.
On the steps a dejected Rene Descartes is
sitting, rueing the fact that an amateur mathematics enthusiast Fermat has
beaten him in analytic geometry.
Rene => Rhenium
- Passage
76.
On the door, a Reverse Osmosis Water Filter
covering the full length and width is open and flooding the garage.
Osmosis => Osmium
77.
I open the shoe rack and a heap of Motorola cell
phones pour out.
Motorola => Iridium project
78.
On the stool is a big heap of Platinum ornaments; I didn’t know my aunt was so rich!
79. The red coloured carpet which I saw last time has been replaced with a gold carpet. Incredible!
- Ground Floor Toilet
80.
On the door, a full-length Mercury thermometer
which looks more like a large diameter pipe is fixed.
81.
On the Towel Rod, a big Thali, precariously
held in a tilted fashion and the liquids are dripping on to the floor. What a
place to keep a Thali!
Thali => Thallium
82.
On the windowsill a big hot soldering iron
is kept leaning against the window frame made of Lead, which is melting
due to heat and the air is filled with the characteristic smell of soldering.
83. Through the smoke I can see that Bismarck is sitting on the toilet seat and busy doing Sudoku!
Bismarck => Bismuth
84.
On the side table a Volkswagen Polo is
standing on its side. Its engine is still running. How did it get there?
Polo => Polonium
85.
On the washbasin I found my glasses for astigmatism.
Such a relief!
Astigmatism => Astatine
- · Passage
to Front Door
86.
Several large-diameter Rado watches are
hanging from the hat stand and the brand ambassador Hrithik Roshan is posing
for a photoshoot.
Rado => Radon
87.
My friend Francis is standing on top of his
Maruti Wagon R on the Christmas tree. How did he get there? He is inviting me
to his house for the upcoming Christmas.
Francis => Francium
88.
On the semi-circular table is a big black
clock with Radium numbers and hands making hammering sounds for ticking!
89.
On the balustrade of staircase, Julie
Andrews, acting in the role of Mary Poppins, is sliding down, followed
by the child Actors
Acting => Actinium
90.
I open the front door and am surprised to
see Ashoka Beach Resort, Kovalam, Kerala engulfed in a sandstorm.
Kerala beach sand => Thorium.
91.
I open the fridge door to get some berry juice.
A 16th century soldier wearing protective armour charged at
me with his sword, and war-cry and I ran for my life!
Protective armour => Protactinium
92.
I open the storage next to the fridge and a
football sized model of Uranus tumbles out of it.
Uranus => Uranium
93.
The tumbled-out model rolls on the platform
and sits next comfortably to another model of Neptune.
Neptune => Neptunium
94.
In the sink what else can be sitting other
than next in line planet – Pluto?
Pluto => Plutonium.
95.
I open the dishwasher and it doesn’t have dishes
but bundles of American dollar bills are stashed.
America => Americium
96.
I Open the microwave to warm some coffee but
startled when Madam Curie jumps out. How did she get in there?
Curie => Curium
97.
Berkely Physics Series books are neatly
stacked on the stove. Such precious books are getting slowly burnt and the
thick smoke of paper burning is engulfing the stove. Berkely => Berkelium
98.
There is a huge heap of California almonds
on the highchairs, spilling over to the floor also.
California => Californium
- Mini Dining Area
99.
In such a beautiful house, of all the
places, Albert Einstein is sitting on the Trash Can and happily smoking his
pipe.
Einstein => Einsteinium
100. Next to him sitting on the compost bin is
Enrico Fermi – the famous atom bomb scientist.
Fermi => Fermium
101. Behind Einstein and Fermi is Mendeleev,
watering the plants.
Mendeleev => Mendelevium
102. On the window, Alfred Nobel is reading the
newspaper with a shocking headline “Merchant of Death Dies”.
Nobel => Nobelium
103. On the round table Lawrence of Arabia is going
round and round on his horse and shooting randomly. The clip clap on the table
is loud enough. Does he need to fire his gun?
Lawrence => Lawrencium
104. On the Chandelier, is Ernest Rutherford, trying
to shoot down Lawrence with a gun which is firing alpha particles, missing the
target mostly.
Rutherford => Rutherfordium
105. On the cabinet the old movie Guns of Navrone
is being dubbed into Kannada by a group of people. The repeated
screening and correction are boring.
Dubbing => Dubnium
· TV
Room
106. Sea water has flooded the room and the
pendulum of the Cuckoo clock has turned into a drill bit and is boring into the
floor to drain sea water.
Sea + Boring => Seaborgium
107. Niels Bohr is sitting on the TV precariously
and is trying to shoot Schrodinger’s cat!
Bohr => Bohrium
108. Kamal Hasan is dripping wet after a rainy
shoot and is adding firewood to the flames of fireplace to warm himself
Hasan => Hassium
109. From the photo collage Einstein jumped out
along with another lady. Introducing her he said “This is Lis Meitner, Madam
Curie of Germany”
Meitner => Meitnerium (Me–itneri sounds like
My Itinerary – another clue)
110.
On the sofa, a kid was playing with Lego
toys and constructing a multistorey building. I asked him what he was
constructing. He said that he was constructing Dorms and a stadium
Dorm + stadium => Darmstadtium
111.
On the Centre table, William Roentgen was
demonstrating his X-Ray machine. One mistake and the entire film was BLACK!
Roentgen => Roentgenium
- Porch
112. A hospital cot was attached to the door and
an ailing Copernicus on death bed was telling his friend “Publish my notebook
now. I have nothing to fear from the Church”
Copernicus => Copernicium
113. On the cabinet is a big Sony TV on which is written “Made in Nihon”. A Japanese lady is standing next to it and is
saying “It may be Japan for you, but in Japanese it is “Nihon” (Sounds like
Nikon – another clue)
Nihon => Nihonium
114. I wanted to sit on the sofa and enjoy my
coffee on a quiet morning. But when I came to the sofa, there were scores of
fleas in rows and rows, and I fled in horror!
Flea + row => Flerovium
115. On the Centre table – there was a model of
Kremlin and as I watched, Putin came out of one of the doors in a blue suit and
waxed eloquently about why Moscow had to invade Ukraine.
Moscow => Moscovium
116. At the slipper stand, a street vendor was
selling Chicken liver. A very hungry customer came and asked for a plate of
Chicken liver. On seeing the plate with only two pieces of liver, he shouted at
the vendor “Hey, I am famished. I want more liver”
Liver + more => Livermorium
- · Room
1 on First floor
117. My mischievous nephew was repeatedly
bouncing tennis ball on the door and the banging sound was getting on
everyone’s nerves.
Tennis => Tennessine
118. On the table I found my old colleague O.
Ganesan sitting on a highchair. I was wondering why he was sitting in such a
place. He said there was a rat under the table, and he was scared!
O. Ganesan => Oganesson
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