I came across a small item in this week’s issue of Science News about a very cool website: The Periodic Table of Videos. I checked it out, and the site is pretty incredible. Put together by chemists at the University of Nottingham, England, the site features 118 YouTube-style videos–one for each element in the table. Click on an element and a video player pops up–click play and you get a short, entertaining lesson on the element, complete with simple but illustrative experiments and commentary pitched at non-scientists.
I spent about an hour on the site and watched maybe ten videos, starting at the upper-left hand corner, with hydrogen, then watching a few more in order. But before long I was having fun just sort of browsing around, clicking randomly on elements like xenon and Einsteinium and Roentgenium. The videos are very nicely done, with decent production values. But what really makes them work are the people in them. The main host is Martyn Poliakoff, a chemistry professor with a wild corona of white hair and a calm, pleasant manner complimented by a wry sense of humor.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always found the periodic table to be confusing and a little off-putting. All those numbers and symbols–very unscientific of me, I know, but I’m just not a numbers and symbols guy. I’m a story guy, and the Periodic Table of Videos does a wonderful job of putting the elements into context and using video storytelling as a way to make the periodic table come alive.
Dear Jeremy, This is a very cool site. I am going to forward it to my husband, who is a chemist at heart even though he works with seeds, and to a couple of others who are into this sort of thing. Also I’m going to let NCS a charter school two of my kids went to know its available for their kids too. I’m sure there are others who will appreciate knowing about this site too. Thanks, Polly