Electron Configuration Polka

Song by Michael Offut

There’s a little game that’s as easy as can be,

With numbers and letters and lots of chemistry

It comes from quantum theory and wave mechanics stuff,

But for now just learn the game and that will be enough. 

1-s one, 2-s two, then comes 2-p six,

1-S ONE

2-p six

2-s two

The electron configuration game is really slick,

From alkali to halogen and on to noble gas,

Now you can understand the periodic law at last.

Atoms have orbitals where electrons like to play,

And those electrons fill the orbitals in a special way.

It’s a “building up” process—you can learn it in a second,

And you can call it Aufbau if Deutsch is what you sprechen.

1-s one, 2-s two, then comes 2-p six,

1-S ONE

2-p six

2-s two

The electron configuration game is really slick,

From alkali to halogen and on to noble gas,

Now you can understand the periodic law at last.

The outermost electrons in atoms have to be,

The most important ones for understanding chemistry.

These valence electrons are shared, or lost, or gained,

In chemical reactions when atoms rearrange

1-s one, 2-s two, then comes 2-p six,

1-S ONE

2-p six

2-s two

The electron configuration game is really slick,

From alkali to halogen and on to noble gas,

Now you can understand the periodic law at last.

But the joy is that now. . . at this point in history,

We can finally solve the periodic table mystery.!

Why do elements form families, what is the explanation?

Their valence electrons have the same configuration

1-s one, 2-s two, then comes 2-p six,

1-S ONE

2-p six

2-s two

The electron configuration game is really slick,

From alkali to halogen and on to noble gas,

Now you can understand the periodic law at last.