Martin: Ooh! Delicious?
Mrs. Krabappel: Correct. I would also accept "snacktacular".
The periodic table of the elements is one of those mysterious things that everyone sees in science class and almost nobody actually understands, so parodies of it are common. These generally break down into these categories:
- Puts non-elements into locations in the actual Periodic Table, so that their names reference the names of the original elements. Generally, this ignores the actual point of the Periodic Table (namely, the fact that elements are not arbitrarily placed, but placed based on their common characteristics). This may overlap with Artistic License - Chemistry, and sometimes E = MC Hammer.
- Tables that put new "elements" in columns based on common characteristics. You know, like the real thing. More often than not, these will have a shape unlike the real Periodic Table.
For a similarly irreverent take on the classical elements, see Bizarro Elements. See also Not on the Periodic Table.
Examples:
- There is a periodic table of M&Ms with elements defined by their colour and personality. For example, Ye (yellow) is Clumsy.
- In one of Gary Larson's The Far Side comics, a caveman creates a periodic table of the elements consisting of:
Dert (De)
- Cars 2 has the Automotive Table of the Elements.
- The Discworld, canonically, has strange elements which appear to be known only on that planet; it also has tantalisingly familiar sounding things like "Uselessium" (well, what can you realistically do with a superheavy metal that glows a bit and makes people ill if they're exposed to it for long periods of time?).Fanfic writer A.A. Pessimal speculated on . where things like Octiron, Octagen, Ardrogyrum, and of course Narrativium (among others) might fit on the local periodic table, and that "Uselessium" might not be the only radioactive element present on the Disc. Gaspodium, named after a dog, has also been discovered.
- In the film adaptation of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Hero's tutor shows him a table of elements consisting of four squares: Earth, Air, Fire and Water.
- Earth (The Book) includes in the chapter on Science a "Periodic Table of the Synthetic".
- Science Made Stupid
has one here
- The Science of Discworld has the standard table, except with extra space for narrativium, octium, and octagen.note .
- Tools by Theodore Gray includes a Periodic Table Of Tools
◊; as Gray had previously written a book about the actual periodic table, the tool version riffs on several features of it (such as the diagonal line between nonmetals and metals turning into a diagonal line between drills and wrenches).
- Wizard101 has a Bonus Dungeon revolving around a train that runs on a revolutionary new fuel made by melting gold, diamond, and just about every kind of precious material in existence, including a "newly discovered element" named "expensivonium".
- Inverted in The Order of the Stick, where evil cleric and The Dragon Redcloak summons elemental monsters from the periodic table rather than the four Classical Elements.
- One of the posters sold by Tone Deaf Comics is a Periodic Table Of Percussion
- Very popular for T-shirts in online stores:
- Like this one
,
- And this one
.
- Like this one
- This poster.
- Uncyclopedia has the Idiotic Table
, the Canadian Periodic Table
, and the Occasional Table
(now deleted).
- The Periodic Table of Typefaces.
- The Table of Condiments That Periodically Go Bad
- The periodic table
of Star Wars elements.
- The Periodic Table of Swearing
. NSFW. There's also an interactive version
.
- The word table
wasn't meant to be taken literally...
- Made of Evil, on this very wiki.
- The Periodic Table of
Final Fantasy Characters.
- The Periodic Table of
◊ Super Mario Bros. Characters.
- The Periodic Table of Anime
◊.
- The Periodic Table of Imaginary Elements
.
- Homestar Runner has The Periodic Table of Candy Elements
.
- The Periodic Table of Irrational Nonsense
.
- The Periodic Table of Periodic Tables
, containing many parodic tables in addition to variations on the real thing.
- The Periodic Table of Awesoments
◊.
- The Periodic Table of Storytelling
applies this trope to TV Tropes itself.
- An updated version
has been released.
- An updated version
- The Periodic Table of Contra Dance
◊.
- The Periodic Table of Atheists
◊.
- The Periodic Table of Baseball Hall of Famers
◊.
- Periodic Table of the [Perl 6] Operators
.
- The Periodic Table of Planets, which classes different types of planets, both in our Solar System and out, by size, composition, temperature, and habitability.
- The Periodic Table of Smellements
.
- The Periodic Table of STC-O
◊. Element versions of the forum's user handles, complete with atomic post counts.
- Periodic Table of Internet
...one of them.
- The Disney Songbook Table of Elements
, divided into 18 groups (Villain Song, "I Want" Song, Disney Acid Sequence, etc.)
- The Periodic Table of Imaginary Elements
- The Simpsons: Oscar Mayer is apparently Springfield Elementary's periodic table provider, as seen in the page quote.
- It's been mentioned that Springfield Elementary can only afford periodic tables with 20 elements.
- Aaahh!!! Real Monsters does it with phobias: Ickis has to go on some quest while the Gromble keeps the class busy by going over a chart of human phobias that's a direct parody of the periodic table.
- The Periodic Table of the Elements of Harmony
◊ is a Parodic Table for My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
- The SpongeBob SquarePants episode "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!" has the plot-important element Jerktonium represented by the symbol Jt.
- The MacGuffin in the Phineas and Ferb episode "Vanessasary Roughness" is an element called Pizzazium Infinionite, which is located at the bottom right corner of the table, has the symbol PzI and an atomic number of 104 note .
- In the Trollhunters episode "Hero with a Thousand Faces" a projector that Blinkus and Vendel bring out to show the troll table of the elements at first shows the usual human one floating in front of Jim's face, but then that shrinks down to just one small branch on a much, much bigger spherical table of the elements which takes up the entirety of Vendel's office. Vendel scoffs at how amusingly small trolls find the human table as he shows this.
