Chemical Element Symbols

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Dave Herbal

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There are always rounds on Pointless concerning these, and the contestants are, on the whole, useless at them.
Are the (non-scientific) public really so unaware of them? I mean, it's something we all learnt at school and I can't believe people can't hazard a guess at what carbon or hydrogen might be. But having always been a scientist it's just something I take for granted.

Anyway, here's the kind of thing they had to guess at this week. Can you non-geeks get them?

Film titles:


Sulphur hydrogen rhenium potassium

Polonium cobolt hydrogen oxygen nitrogen tantalum sulphur

Carbon hydrogen, iodine, carbon, silver, oxygen

Titanium tantalum nickel carbon
 


There are always rounds on Pointless concerning these, and the contestants are, on the whole, useless at them.
Are the (non-scientific) public really so unaware of them? I mean, it's something we all learnt at school and I can't believe people can't hazard a guess at what carbon or hydrogen might be. But having always been a scientist it's just something I take for granted.

Anyway, here's the kind of thing they had to guess at this week. Can you non-geeks get them?

Film titles:


Sulphur hydrogen rhenium potassium

Polonium cobolt hydrogen oxygen nitrogen tantalum sulphur

Carbon hydrogen, iodine, carbon, silver, oxygen

Titanium tantalum nickel carbon

shrek and pocohontas are the first two
 
There are always rounds on Pointless concerning these, and the contestants are, on the whole, useless at them.
Are the (non-scientific) public really so unaware of them? I mean, it's something we all learnt at school and I can't believe people can't hazard a guess at what carbon or hydrogen might be. But having always been a scientist it's just something I take for granted.

Anyway, here's the kind of thing they had to guess at this week. Can you non-geeks get them?

Film titles:


Sulphur hydrogen rhenium potassium

Polonium cobolt hydrogen oxygen nitrogen tantalum sulphur

Carbon hydrogen, iodine, carbon, silver, oxygen

Titanium tantalum nickel carbon
Shrek

dinnar

Chicago

dinnar
 
There are always rounds on Pointless concerning these, and the contestants are, on the whole, useless at them.
Are the (non-scientific) public really so unaware of them? I mean, it's something we all learnt at school and I can't believe people can't hazard a guess at what carbon or hydrogen might be. But having always been a scientist it's just something I take for granted.

Anyway, here's the kind of thing they had to guess at this week. Can you non-geeks get them?

Film titles:


Sulphur hydrogen rhenium potassium

Polonium cobolt hydrogen oxygen nitrogen tantalum sulphur

Carbon hydrogen, iodine, carbon, silver, oxygen

Titanium tantalum nickel carbon

Is part of the problem that people get too focused on thinking of a good answer that they overlook the more obvious ones? I did a degree in chemistry but was pretty weak on a lot of the transition metals and all of the f-block until I deliberately learned them all. The film titles are quite easy but I'll leave them for the non-geeks.

hardly rocket science. they've used pretty basic ones :lol:

Exactly. There's only two there that don't have symbols you could have an educated guess at based on the spelling of the word and those two are common ones everyone would come across at school.
 
Is part of the problem that people get too focused on thinking of a good answer that they overlook the more obvious ones? I did a degree in chemistry but was pretty weak on a lot of the transition metals and all of the f-block until I deliberately learned them all. The film titles are quite easy but I'll leave them for the non-geeks.



Exactly. There's only two there that don't have symbols you could have an educated guess at based on the spelling of the word and those two are common ones everyone would come across at school.

I've had a poster of the periodic table next to my desk for about 15 years so I tend to know them.
 
In my 25 years since I left school, there's not been a single instance, apart from a pub quiz or two, where I've required to know or have any regard to the periodic table or symbols for chemical elements. In the intervening period, I've pretty much forgotten whatever I learned at school about these.
 
Can we just point out that Dave is a chemical engineer? Does this have any bearing here?
 
In my 25 years since I left school, there's not been a single instance, apart from a pub quiz or two, where I've required to know or have any regard to the periodic table or symbols for chemical elements. In the intervening period, I've pretty much forgotten whatever I learned at school about these.

Since I moved jobs (away from chemistry in the pharma industry) it's been the same with me.
 
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