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Parodic Table of the Elements

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Parodic Table of the Elements (trope)

Mrs. Krabappel: Who can tell me the atomic weight of bolognium?
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:

    open/close all folders 

    Advertising 
  • There is a periodic table of M&Ms with elements defined by their colour and personality. For example, Ye (yellow) is Clumsy.

    Comic Strips 
  • In one of Gary Larson's The Far Side comics, a caveman creates a periodic table of the elements consisting of:
    Dert (De)

    Films — Animation 
  • Cars 2 has the Automotive Table of the Elements.

    Fan Works 
  • 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.

    Films — Live-Action 

    Literature 
  • 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).

    Live-Action TV 

    Video Games 

    Webcomics 

    Web Original 

    Western Animation 
  • 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.

 
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Video Example(s):

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The Troll Periodic Table

Vendel and Blinkus show Jim how much bigger the Troll Periodic Table of the Elements is compared to the human one.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (10 votes)

Example of:

Main / NotOnThePeriodicTable

Media sources:

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