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Quiz about The Elements
Quiz about The Elements

The Elements Trivia Quiz


How well can you remember the words in Tom Lehrer's song? Can you fill in the blanks with the correct element?

by Lottie1001. Estimated time: 3 mins.
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Author
Lottie1001
Time
3 mins
Type
Quiz #
425,393
Updated
Sep 29 26
# Qns
12
Difficulty
New Game
Avg Score
12 / 12
Plays
8
Last 3 plays: WesleyCrusher (12/12), Guest 173 (12/12), Iva9Brain (12/12).
"There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, ,
And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium,
And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, ,
And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium,

Europium, zirconium, lutetium, ,
And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium,
And gold and protactinium and indium and ,
And iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium.

There's yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, ,
And boron, gadolinium, niobium, iridium,
And strontium and silicon and silver and ,
And bismuth, bromine, lithium, beryllium, and barium.

There's holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium,
And phosphorus and francium and fluorine and ,
And manganese and mercury, molybdenum, magnesium,
Dysprosium and scandium and cerium and .

And lead, praseodymium and platinum, plutonium,
Palladium, promethium, potassium, ,
And tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium,
And cadmium and calcium and chromium and .

There's sulfur, californium and fermium, berkelium,
And also mendelevium, einsteinium, ,
And argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc and ,
And chlorine, carbon, cobalt, copper, tungsten, tin and sodium.

These are the only ones of which the news has come to Ha'vard,
And there may be many others but they haven't been discavard."
Your Options
[terbium] [germanium] [curium] [vanadium] [samarium] [rubidium] [polonium] [selenium] [cesium] [gallium] [rhodium] [nobelium]

Click or drag the options above to the spaces in the text.



Most Recent Scores
Today : WesleyCrusher: 12/12
Today : Guest 173: 12/12
Today : Iva9Brain: 12/12
Today : xchasbox: 12/12
Today : mazza47: 12/12
Today : rainbowriver: 12/12
Today : demurechicky: 12/12

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
Answer:

Tom Lehrer lived from 9 April 1928 to 26 July 2025. From his childhood, he showed an interest in both mathematics and logic problems as well as the popular music of the era. After growing up in New York he went to Harvard when he was fifteen, and graduated three years later with a BA in mathematics. He was awarded an MA in the following year. After two years compulsory military service, he went on to have a university career that involved both maths and music.

In the sixty-four years between the song being written and the writing of this quiz, another sixteen elements have been discovered, and I presume the news has reached Harvard. However, I expect the last two lines are still just as valid as they were.

The ordering of the elements in the song has nothing to do with their order in the periodic table. Nor are they listed alphabetically. However they do scan and rhyme, which is what is needed for a song. It was written to be sung to the tune of "The Major General's Song", which was composed by Arthur Sullivan for "The Pirates of Penzance", and premiered in 1879.

In some performances, Tom Lehrer would pause between verses to ask if the audience were taking notes, because there would be a quiz at the end! Sometimes he added a comment at the end of the song. He referred to the existence of a much earlier version of the song. The complete lyrics, by Aristotle, are: 'There's earth and air and fire and water.' Personally, I think that one's much easier to remember!
Source: Author Lottie1001

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
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