‘Tis the season to have a little fun with holiday math and science carols!
Here’s a big assortment to sing with the kids.
Test Tubes Bubbling
(Sung to Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
Test tubes bubbling in a water bath
Strong smells nipping at your nose.
Tiny molecules with their atoms all aglow
Will find it hard to be inert tonight.
They know that Chlorine’s on its way
He’s loaded lots of little electrons on his sleigh
And every student’s slide rule is on the sly
To see if the teacher really can multiply.
And so I offer you this simple phrase
To chemistry students in this room
Although it’s been said many times, many ways
Merry molecules to you.
Chemistry Wonderland
(Sung to Walking in a Winter Wonderland)
Gases explode, are you listenin’
In your test tube, silver glistens
A beautiful sight, we’re happy tonight
Walking in a chemistry wonderland.
Gone away, is the buoyancy
Here to stay, is the density
A beautiful sight, we’re happy tonight
Walking in a chemistry wonderland.
In the beaker we will make lead carbonate
and decide if what’s left is nitrate
My partner asks “Do we measure it in moles or grams?”
and I’ll say, “Does it matter in the end?”
Later on, as we calculate
the amount, of our nitrate
We’ll face unafraid, the precipitates that we made
walking in a chemistry wonderland.
Deck the Labs
(Sung to Deck the Halls)
Deck the labs with rubber tubing
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Use your funnel and your filter
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Don we now our goggles and aprons
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Before we go to our lab stations
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Fill the beakers with solutions
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Mix solutions for reactions
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Watch we now for observations
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
So we can collect our data
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
We Three Quarks
(to the tune of We Three Kings)
We three quarks fine particles are
Bearing charm we travel afar
Fields and forces, spin of course is
Multiplied by h-bar.
Oh, quarks are wondrous, quarks are light
Quarks have colors, clear and bright.
Still misleading, still exceeding
All the physicists’ insight.
We three quarks trade gluons all day
All baryons are made in this way.
Confined inside, we always hide
Unseen forever stay.
Oh, quarks are wondrous, quarks are light
Quarks stay snugly out of sight.
Still misleading, still exceeding
All the physicists’ insight.
I’m Dreaming of a White Precipitate
(Sung to I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas)
I’m dreaming of a white precipitate
just like the ones I used to make
Where the colors are vivid
and the chemist is livid
to see impurities in the snow.
I’m dreaming of a white precipitate
with every chemistry test I write
May your equations be balanced and right
and may all your reactions be bright.
We Wish You a Happy Halogen
(Sung to We Wish You a Merry Christmas.)
We wish you a happy halogen
We wish you a happy halogen
We wish you a happy halogen
To react with a metal.
Good acid we bring
to you and your base.
We wish you a merry molecule
and a happy halogen.
Gravity Jingle Bells
When something hits the earth,
You’ll notice in a trice,
It makes a great big bang,
Now isn’t that so nice?
So what makes things fall down?
What makes them go ker-plop?
The answer’s in this song, my friend,
We’ll sing it ’till we drop.
Oh!
Gravity, Gravity,
Keeps us on the ground.
It was explained by Newton,
(The scientist renowned)!
Gravity, Gravity,
Mass times nine-point-eight.
Is a vector pointing down,
That’s sometimes known as “weight.”
Walk around the earth.
Keep a steady pace.
If gravity weren’t there,
You’d float away in space.
Now some call it a push–
Well, call it any name,
But gravity will always PULL–
Attraction is its game!
Oh!
Gravity, Gravity,
Keeps us on the ground.
It was explained by Newton,
(The scientist renowned)!
Gravity, Gravity,
Mass times nine-point-eight.
Is a vector pointing down,
That’s sometimes known as “weight.”
Silent Labs
(Sung to Silent Night)
Silent labs, difficult labs
All with math, all with graphs
Observations of colors and smells
Calculations and graph curves like bells
Memories of tests that have past
Oh–how long will chemistry last?
Silent labs, difficult labs
All with math, all with graphs
Lots of equations that need balancing
Gas pressure problems that make my head ring
Santa Chlorine’s on his way
Oh–Please Santa bring me an ‘A’.
The Chemistry Teacher’s Coming to Town
(Sung to Santa Claus is Coming to Town)
You better not weigh
You better not heat
You better not react
I’m telling you now
The Chemistry Teacher’s coming to town.
He’s collecting data
He’s checking it twice
He’s gonna find out
The heat of melting ice
The Chemistry Teacher’s coming to town.
He sees you when you’re decanting
He knows when you titrate
He knows when you are safe or not
So wear goggles for goodness sake.
Oh, you better not filter
And drink your filtrate
You better not be careless and spill your precipitate.
The Chemistry Teacher’s coming to town.
Iron the Red Atom Molecule
(Sung to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer)
There was Cobalt and Argon and Carbon and Fluorine
Silver and Boron and Neon and Bromine
But do you recall
the most famous element of all?
Iron the red atom molecule
had a very shiny orbital
And if you ever saw him
You’d enjoy his magnetic glow
All of the other molecules
used to laugh and call him Ferrum
They never let poor Iron
join in any reaction games.
Then one inert Chemistry eve
Santa came to say
Iron with your orbital so bright
won’t you catalyze the reaction tonight?
Then how the atoms reacted
and combined in twos and threes
Iron the red atom molecule
you’ll go down in Chemistry!
