A T O M

An atom is invisible, much tinier than a minute
Yet atoms make up the world and everything in it
A cloud of electrons so swift and intense
Surrounding a nucleus tiny and dense
Deep down at the center of it all
A nucleus—extremely very small


M O L E

A mole is a particular amount
Of substance in its formula weight
Expressed in grams with Avogadro’s count
Of units making up the aggregate

A mole is a specific quantity
Its volume measures twenty-two point four
In liters for a gas at STP
A mole is a counting unit, nothing more



p H

For coffee it’s five and for tomatoes it’s four
While household ammonia’s eleven or more
It’s seven for water if in a pure state
But rainwater’s six and seawater’s eight
It’s basic at ten, quite acidic at two
And well above seven when litmus turns blue



C a C O 3

The Taj Mahal in its solemn majesty
Gibraltar’s famous rock with stability
Australia’s Barrier Reef that spans the Coral sea
The Roman Colosseum with its savage history
The enigmatic Pyramids enduring silently
The formula, in every case, is CaCO3


S A L T

If a soluble salt you wish to provide
You firstly on the acid must settle
Then neutralize with the proper oxide
Hydroxide, carbonate or metal

But if the salt does not dissolve
A simpler means you must try
Precipitate it, you resolve
Then filter it, wash and dry



I’M ELECTRON

I’m a jolly electron, alternately bound and free
Spin from morning to night although you can’t see
And this the burden song forever used to be
I care for nobody since nobody cares for me

Though William Crookes suspected my presence on this earth
It was J.J.Thomson that found me in spite of my tiny girth
He measured the ‘e by m’ of my electric worth
I love J.J. in a filial way for he’d given me birth

Johnstone Stoney invented my new electric name
Ernest Rutherford and Niels Bohr then brought me fame
They guessed within the atom my inner and outer game
You’ll agree what they did for me, I’ll do it for them the same