Just Like Cooking: music

Ahhh, summer. Sunshine, grilling outdoors, beach trips, and the ever-present summer music playlist.

You're no doubt familiar with the genre:

Top 100 Smooth Jazz Elevator Classics!

Top 50 Classic Rock Beach Anthems!

Top 20 Best-of-the-Moment Blink-and-You'll-Miss-'Em Hits!

Well, with C&EN Benevolent Online Overlord Rachel calling a #ChemSummer blog carnival, how could I resist? Let's work together to build a chemistry-themed summer playlist!

Here are the rules for this one:

- To keep it interesting, nominate only single-word, single-substance song titles (Abbreviations are OK).

- No generic descriptors like "elements," "chemistry," "stuff," or "drugs."

- Commonly-used names, like "aspirin" in place of "acetylsalicylic acid" acceptable.

- Since I'm running this show, I have final judgment over all entries. No whining.

I'll update the list as entries come in, assigning credit where due. Please check the (ever-growing) list to limit duplicate entries!

The 2013 Single-Word Single-Substance Summer Playlist

1. "Glycerine" - Bush

2. "Cocaine" - JJ Cale / Eric Clapton / The Cruel Sea

3. "Lithium" - Nirvana / Evanescence / The Hit House

4. "TNT" - AC/DC / Tortoise

5. "Heroin" - Lou Reed / Velvet Underground / Bongripper

6. "Boron" - The Cow Exchange / Ole Mathisen

7. "Alcohol" - Brad Paisley / Barenaked Ladies / Gogol Bordello (thanks, Matt!)

8. "Nicotine" - Anet / Trai'D

9. "Acetone" - Mudhoney

10. "Gold" - Prince / Spandau Ballet / Owl City / Emmylou Harris / Interference on the Once / Genius / GZA (thanks, Anon and multiple others!)

11. "Formaldehyde" - Editors / Dr. Atomik / Six Feet Under (thanks, David Bradley!)

12. "Sulfur" - Slipknot (thanks, David Bradley!)
13. "Diamonds" - Rihanna / L'il Jon   (thanks, David Bradley, CMO!)
14. "Titanium" - David Guetta   (thanks, Lisa Jarvis!)
15. "Arsenic" - The Loved Ones / The Hit House (thanks, David Bradley!)
16. "Carbon" - Tori Amos / The Hit House / VNV Nation
17. "Water" - The Who / Brad Paisley / Breaking Benjamin / The Roots /ohGr
(thanks, Sam Lemonick and Anon x 2!)
18. "Oxygen" - New Found Glory / Willy Mason / Michael Gira / Jean Michel Jarre / Bjork / Colbie Caillat (thanks, MB, Nessa, Anon, Glen, and many more!)
19. "Salt" - Lori McKenna
20. "Kerosene" - Miranda Lambert / David Bridie   (thanks, David Bradley and Renee!)
21. "Buckminsterfullerene" - Radiation City   (thanks, David Bradley!)
22. "Cholesterol" - Adam McNaughtan
23. "Silver" - The Pixies (thanks, ColoumbicExplosion!)
24. "Melatonin" - Silver Sun Pickups / Radiohead   (thanks, ColoumbicExplosion and Anon!)
25. "Strychnine" - The Sonics (thanks, Rik!)
26. "Mica" - Mission to Burma (thanks, ColoumbicExplosion!)
27. "Gasoline" - Audioslave / The Dead Weather   (thanks, ColoumbicExplosion and Piotr!)
28. "Ecstasy" - ATB / PJ Harvey
29. "Melanin" - David Hause (thanks, David Bradley!)
30. "NaCl" - The McGarrigles (thanks, C&EN staff!)
31. "Ethanol" - Windy City Gentleman (thanks, Agilent staff!)
32. "Nacre" - Annemarie Borg
33. "Nitrous" - Twisted Insane
34. "Toluene" - Megurine Luka
35. "Phosphorus" - Eufonius / Soil & Eclipse (thanks, MB!)
36. "Nitroglycerin" - Movits!
37. "Tylenol" - Ben Kweller
38. "Oxycontin" - L'il Wyte / Esham (thanks, S.O. and Glen!)
39. "Polyethylene" - Radiohead   (thanks, Rob Westervelt!)
40. "Soma" - The Smashing Pumpkins / The Strokes (thanks, Glen!)
41. "LSD" - Hawkwind / Funeral Dress / Tiger5hark / Hallucinogen
42. "Morphine" - Michael Jackson   (thanks, Anon!)
43. "Cyanide" - Deathstars / Metallica (thanks, Helen and Brian!)
44. "Chloroform" - Spoon (thanks, Glen!)
45. "L-Dopa" - Big Black   (thanks, Piotr!)
46. "Emerald" - Thin Lizzy (thanks, ColoumbicExplosion!)
47. "Caffeine" - Faith No More   (thanks, Piotr!)
48. "NO2" - Phish   (thanks, Anon!)
49. "D.M.S.O." - Dead Kennedys   (thanks, Anon!)
50. "Silver" - Juno Reactor   (thanks, Piotr!)
51. "Nitrogen" - Juno Reactor / Zero Cult (thanks, Piotr + MB!)
52. "Palladium" - Weather Report (thanks, Piotr!)
53. "Quartz" - Marillion / Hit House (thanks, Piotr and Anon!)
54. "Ruby" - Silver Apples   (thanks, Piotr!)
55. "Coal" - Michael Penn   (thanks, Glen!)
56. "Alcool" - Ufomammut (thanks, Piotr!)
57. "Alkohol" - Impaled Nazarene (thanks, Piotr!)
58. "Methamphetamine" - Eyehategod / Old Crow Medicine Show (thanks, Piotr and Casey!)
59. "Copper" - Shellac / Tones on Tail / The Pass (thanks, Barney, Darrell, MB!)
60. "Dramamine" - Modest Mouse   (thanks, Renee!)
61. "Haemoglobin" - Placebo   (thanks, Renee!)
62. "Aluminum" - The White Stripes / Barenaked Ladies   (thanks, Renee and Andrew!)
63. "EtOH" - The Avalanches (thanks, Renee!)
64. "Topaz" - The B-52s   (thanks, Renee!)
65. "Iodine" - Dallas Crane / Icon for Hire (thanks, Renee and Anon!)
66. "Nylon" - Grinspoon   (thanks, Renee!)
67. "Aspirin" - Seka Aleksic
68. "Penicillin" - Jim Jones / ENDO
69. "Mercury" - Counting Crows / Throwing Muses / Bloc Party / The Hit House
70. "Iron" - Woodkid / Calvin Harris / Ensiferum
71. "Tritium" - Andres Fresko and Andrei K
72. "Adrenochrome" - The Sisters of Mercy / Emeralds    (thanks, Darrell!)
73. "Chromium" - The Church   (thanks, Darrell!)
74. "Novacane" - Frank Ocean / Beck   (thanks, Teri!)
75. "Novocaine" - Alice Cooper (thanks, Teri!)
75. "Adrenaline" - Bush / Shinedown / Cam'ron / The Roots
76. "Testosterone" - Bush
77. "Cellulose" - Stegosaurus Rex   (thanks, Bruce Turnbull!)
78. "Sucrose" - The Delgados   (thanks, Bruce Turnbull!)
79. "AZT" - The Kinsey Sicks / Cephalic Carnage
80. "Memantine" - Vegas Martyrs
81. "Levothroid" - Vegas Martyrs
82. "Barium" - Made by Robot (thanks, Seb Spain!)
83. "Sand" - Einstürzende Neubauten / Horse the Band (thanks, Seb and Piotr!)
84. "Escitolopram" - Vegas Martyrs
85. "Ritalin" - Forever the Sickest Kids / Paolo Nutini / The Simpsons
86. "Bromine" - Rushmore
87. "Tungsten" - Malvina Reynolds
88. "Ether" - Gang of Four / Nas   (thanks, Seb Spain!)
89. "Styrofoam" - Fugazi (thanks, Seb Spain!)
90. "Graphene" - Midwives of Discord
91. "Indigo" - Moloko   (thanks, Martyn!)
92. "Tetrahydrocannabinol" - Esham
93. "Argon" - Ole Mathisen (thanks, Seb Spain!)
94. "Chlorine" - Ole Mathisen / The Hit House / Jeans Wilder (thanks, Seb Spain, MB!)
95. "Fluorine" - Ole Mathisen (thanks, Seb Spain!)
96. "Radon" - Ole Mathisen (thanks, Seb Spain!)
97. "Uranium" - Ole Mathisen / Kraftwerk (thanks, Seb Spain and ACS UGrad Office!)
98. "Bismuth" - Ole Mathisen (thanks, Seb Spain!)
99. "Sodium" - Ole Mathisen / Alex Dimou   (thanks, Seb Spain, MB!)
100. "Codeine" - Trampled by Turtles / Jason Isbell / Barracudas
101. "Neon" - John Mayer (thanks, James Banal!)
102. "Thebaine" - Rachael Sage
103. "Ephedrine" - Quincy Punx / No Knife / Factory 81
104. "Sugar" - FloRida / System of a Down / Tori Amos (thanks, Agilent Staff, Robin!)
105. "Telluride" - Laura Stevenson (thanks, Paco!)
106. "Osmium" - Marshall Law    (thanks, DHChemist!)
107. "Cadmium" - Henry Kaiser   (thanks, DHChemist!)
108. "Granite" - Pendulum    (thanks, DHChemist!)
109. "Magnesium" - Johnny Action Figure (thanks, Anon!)
110. "Mescaline" - Robert Francis (thanks, Glen!)
111. "Lysine" - Max Tundra (thanks, Glen!)
112. "Clonazepam" - Esham (thanks, Glen!)
113. "Psilocybin" - Esham (thanks, Glen!)
114. "Phencyclidine" - Esham (thanks, Glen!)
115. "A-Thujone" - Esham   (thanks, Glen!)
116. "Methylenedioxymethamphetamine" - Esham   (thanks, Glen!)
117. "Dimethyltryptamine" - Esham   (thanks, Glen!)
118. "THC" - Jhameel   (thanks, Nessa!)
119. "Uranium" - Commodores (thanks, Anon!)
120. "Platinum" - Mike Oldfield (thanks, Anon!)
121. "Helium" - Skyclad / Plain White T's (thanks, Anon, MB!)
122. "Argon" - The Hit House / Owen (thanks, Anon!)
123. "Iridium" - The Hit House / Dark Tranquility   (thanks, Anon and Baltic!)
124. "Beryllium" - The Hit House / Computer Music All-Stars (thanks, Anon!)
125. "Krypton" - The Hit House   (thanks, Anon!)
126. "Plutonium" - The Hit House (thanks, Anon!)
127. "Basalt" - The Hit House   (thanks, Anon!)
128. "Radium" - The Hit House   (thanks, Anon!)
129. "Zirconium" - The Hit House   (thanks, Anon!)
130. "Obsidian" - The Hit House   (thanks, Anon!)
131. "Anthracite" - The Hit House (thanks, Anon!)
132. "Hydrogen" - Thea Gilmore / MIOOIN   (thanks, Anon, MB!)
133. "PEG" - Steely Dan   (thanks, Robert!)
134. "Zinc" - Aydio    (thanks, MB!)
135. "Cobalt" - Pyxidis   (thanks, MB!)
136. "Manganese" - Thelonius Monk   (thanks, MB!)
137. "Vanadium" - Rustless   (thanks, MB!)
138. "Scandium" - Solxis (thanks, MB!)
139. "Calcium" - The Future Sound of London (thanks, MB!)
140. "Potassium" - Autophase   (thanks, MB!)
141. "Silicon" - The Sound of Guns   (thanks, MB!)
142. "Benzin" - Rammstein (thanks, Free Radical!)
143. "Tryptophan" - Neva Dinova (thanks, Glen!)
144. "Dopamine" - Front Line Assembly (thanks, Glen!)
145. "Serotonin" - Simple Kid   (thanks, Glen!)
146. "Bakelite" - Pollyanna / Leatherface / Black Light Burns
147. "CO2" - Jim and the Povolos / XXL
148. "Propane" - The Wrens
149. "Vaseline" - Stone Temple Pilots   (thanks, Krom!)
150. "Endorphin" - Burial   (thanks, Glen!)
151. "Ruby" - Kaiser Chiefs   (thanks, Anon!)
152. "DNA" - Little Mix   (thanks, Mark!)
153. "Ice" - Sarah McLachlan   (thanks, Robin!)
154. "Petrol" - Ash (thanks, Andre!)
155. "Amphetamine" - Everclear   (thanks, CMOGuy!)
156. "Methanol" - Izzy Stradlin   (thanks, lastpook!)
157. "DEAD!" - My Chemical Romance / The Pixies     (thanks, lastpook!)
158. "DEA" - The American Dollar     (thanks, lastpook!)
159. "TFA" - Catch 22     (thanks, lastpook!)
160. "Amitriptyline": - John Vanderslice    (thanks, Anon!)
161. "Ativan" - Atlas Sound (thanks, Anon!)
162. "O2" - Sleater-Kinney (thanks, Anon!)
163. "Chrome" - VNV Nation (thanks, H!)
164. "Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde" - North Sea Gas (thanks, AlphaGamma!)
165. "XTC" - Die Toten Hosen    (thanks, AlphaGamma!)
166. "Cs137" - Ludwig von 88 (thanks, Anon!)
167. "Benzene" - Kagamine Len   (thanks, Anon!)
168. "Nitrobenzene" - Kagamine Len   (thanks, Anon!)
169. "Para-dichlorobenzene" - Kagamine Len (thanks, Anon!)
170. "Chlorpromazine" - The Agonist (thanks, Baltic!)
171.

"One day, my system will be used
to categorize cupcakes, texts, and
crooked politicians."

Dmitri Mendeleev had a good thing going. Not only did his periodic table allow him to predict the properties of "missing" elements, it also provided a future template for all sorts of pop-culture catalogues - from beer and QR codes, to chocolate and shoes. Even the universe has one! If you want to get really meta, there's even an online collection (wait for it...) a periodic table of periodic tables.

While researching an upcoming post, I encountered a few 'Periodic Tables of Music.' Here's one for jazz, and another for pop music. But what about a table where the atoms themselves compose the music?

Enter Mahadev Kumbar, an Adjunct Professor at Nassau Community College in New Jersey. I found his Musical Periodic Table in a 2007 article and associated lecture series written for the Journal of Chemical Education.

From his introduction:

"One (perhaps surprising) aspect of the natural world is that each and every process in nature—chemical or otherwise—produces some kind of sound, whether audible (20 Hz–20 kHz) or nonaudible (<0 Hz and >20 kHz), characteristic of that process. Those sounds, I believe, are the music that is the universal language of the natural world."

To construct his table, Kumbar grabbed a few lines from each element's emission spectrum. He then mathematically transformed the energies of elemental electronic transitions into characteristic notes played by each atom.

Kumbar also notes that "atoms...clustered together...tend to generate unique and distinct music." Perhaps each element could be considered a player in a nanoscale symphony: for instance, silver bromide (AgBr) plays a beautiful open third (C6-E6), while bleach (sodium hypochlorite, NaOCl) plays more of an inverted C#min chord, stretched across three octaves (E5-G6-C#7).

Just Like Cooking

Friday, July 5, 2013

#ChemSummer Carnival: Single-Substance Summer Song Playlist

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Molecular Chords - A Musical Periodic Table