9 Periodic Table Parodies

It's been almost two years since I've done a roundup of periodic tables (and six years since I posted the first one). Oh, you know the periodic table of elements; you may have even studied it. But these are different. Creative minds use the basic template to classify all sorts of things that aren't elements, and the ones that do contain real elements have a twist.

1. Twitter

There are 114 named elements in the periodic table now, and every one of them is being used by someone on Twitter. Every one. Stuart Cantrill of the blog Chemical Connections created an interactive periodic table in which each element links to the Twitter account of the person using the element name. Some are chemists or scientists in various disciplines, but others have nothing to do with the Twitter handle they selected. Maybe Cabtrill didn't think you'd believe him when he said they were all taken -or maybe he just wants to share the new Twitter accounts he found.  

2. M&Ms

A new store dedicated to selling M&Ms candies opened in London in 2011. Part of the festivities was the display of the Periodic Table of M&Ms, seen here. Other treats for the grand opening party were life-sized M&Ms wearing various uniforms, and even M&Ms recreating the iconic cover of Abbey Road. 

But that wasn't the only candy-coated chocolate periodic table. Randi at the Tumblr blog Holy Crap arranged her M&Ms into a periodic table by color and tagged it OCD.

3. Sports Cars

Car and Driver magazine produced the Periodic Table of Sports Cars to classify automobiles under categories such as "Ferry-ous Porsches," "Poseur-oids," and "Reliable Transportation Metals." You can download the full-size version to print out.

4. Canadian Periodic Table

The parody wiki Uncyclopedia has a parody table of Canadian elements. The main divisions are derived from edibility of the known elements. The page devoted to it has the history of how these elements were discovered, which mostly involves war and snowball fights.

5. The Empire Strikes Back Elements

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the film The Empire Strikes Back, Chris Kalb designed this periodic table for Sci-Fi Wire. The elements of the movie are divided into places, characters, technology, and other divisions, although there is a bit of overlap. Of course, the table is headed by Luke Skywalker on one side and Darth Vader on the other.  

6. Presidents

Will Nicholes created the Periodic Table of Presidents, which has only 44 elements but a lot of information. The colors are indicative of the president's political party. Those who died in office are in black, and of the eight that did, seven were elected in years ending in zero. There are symbols for other notable facts, so you should see the full-size version at the website.

7. Heavy Metals

The Periodic Table of Heavy Metals may sound like chemistry, but this is metal music. Bands are categorized by sub genre and stacked by longevity. Only a small part is shown here. The print is for sale.

8. Cupcakes

Ever eat an arsenic cupcake? Redditor rach11 made these cupcakes for a chemical engineering department reception at school. Each one is labeled with the symbol of an element from the table. It won't be long until they Argon! See more pictures.

Cupcakes are a popular, if labor intensive, way to illustrate the periodic table of elements. In December of 2011, students presented Professor Martyn Poliakoff of the University of Nottingham with a periodic table of cupcakes for his birthday. See pictures of the event at Flickr.

9. Minecraft

DeviantART member egeres created a periodic table featuring the materials that can be used in the game Minecraft. You have to be familiar with the game to understand how wonderful this is.

Previously:
Periodic Tableware
More Periodic Tableware
8 Alternative Periodic Tables
8 Odd Periodic Tables
9 Strange Periodic Tables 
8 Curious Periodic Tables
8 Creative Periodic Tables