A bit ironic. I’m not a chemist. In high school I realized that both chemistry and biology required memorizing a large body of facts, like the ones you show above and I switched to physics and math. Turns out now, I’m going to have to do it anyway. Had I knowledge of mnemonic techniques at that time, I might have chosen a different career.
So, with my limited knowledge of chemistry, for formula #i :
On the lhs, I see 4 bottles of muriatic acid arranged in a close square with a moon resting on the bottle tops. Upon close inspection, the moon is dark gray pyrolusite.
On the rhs, a pair of manacled hands is doing laundry and grabs two bottles of bleach, one in each hand and empties them into the machine, refills them with water and decants those into the machine.
You get some support from the fact that the formula must be balanced. You can check your recollection and perhaps reconstruct that it had to be two containers of bleach.
I would draw the scene. I find this has tremendous value. It forces engagement with the memory and having something sensible (in the old sense) look at makes the memory sharper and more vivid.
Were this my project, if I had a mind to learn chemistry, I would try to delay encoding until I could draw a picture showing the valence bonds that explain the configurations of the molecules. I would expect that understanding to actually result in less raw memorization since the logic of the electron shells would dictate the possible combinations. But, as I said, not knowing much chemistry, I don’t know how that would actually work out.
Generating images and scenes is a skill that develops. Expect it all to be a bit stiff and slow at first.
A popular approach is to select images that have some shock or excitement in them, violence, sexuality, bizzareness tend to stick in the mind. It’s nobody else’s business what you think in your own head.
Another approach, my preference, is to enhance the memory with context. I would add a back story. Dad caught me fooling around liquor supply in his shop and made me do the laundry as punishment. I would visit each item and explore its color, texture, feel. I’d open a bottle of bleach and smell it, take the ‘moon’ and toss it around… the more connections you have the more persistent the memory.
It’s important to spend some time investigating what kind of memories your mind tends to keep and what are they like? Are they primarily verbal narratives, visual images, a mix of both. You have to get to know your own equipment.
Nice! I held myself back from reading yours before making mine and soo glad I did! More than one of your great images would of influenced me before even give my imagination a try
Hahajaha I thought the same thing! Now ive got minnie mouse hangin over my bed! Didnt see that one coming! And I wont run out of water or soap anytime soon! That bar of soap is about 5’x3x1’ !
Whats important to mention, what I wish I had realised earlier, is how easier and faster it gets with every equation or whatever I decide to remember.
I mean,now when MnO2 comes up, I dont need to use minnie mouse perched up on Dr.Oz shoulder, I just need to perch Minnie and her position instantly brings me MnO2.
At first I worried there would be confusion between z and n for two, for example, or that without a perfect rigourous system, mistakes would happen more often, but that never never happens.
Finding the confidence and the courage to create these on fly versus spending days creating a system before hand was a game changer for me. I am not saying one is better than the other. But for me it definitely is better in all ways to be able to start remembering and using and practicing it all from day 1
Great images! Some would think Man is too general and it might lead to mistakes on the long term when other men are used, but in my experience just being conscious about this stops it from happening, as unbelievable as that sounds, it happens to me constantly. I end up subconsciously automatically make micro alterations to my next Men images.
Example : the Man that is Mn never gets mixed up by Nathan who is Na.
The nervous ox! I love that image! RaHchel clever!
a fan or anything windy would remind me 02, but it all works and thats what counts.
Doing next one…
took me even more less time and effort and less images and associations and its just my second equation. Third , fourth, fifth, a system is being build on the go and will be refined and updated with every equation till every piece is covered and set in stone, then lightning speed memorising happens
4NaCl (leg crossed Natalie, and since its a woman, its automatically with cleavage Cl now, no need for extra cleavage imaging) +
Mn02 (Minnie s back !)+ no need for Dr.Oz for O2, shes perched up on the corner of the door and her position is enough to remind thats MnO2 not just Mn
4H2SO4 (four hens 4H2 peckering away on the sun!, 4 is L for me SOL = SUN from Spanish)
----> (rocket ship on right side of the sun coming from the eastern hen’s bum)
MnCl2 (Minnie cleaning again) +
4NaHSO4 ( yoga pose crosslegged Nathan swinging on H orizontal Bar touching the SOL with burning feet !)
That’s amazing, I love how you are using the same characters like Minnie, it creates more association every time Mn is there and is helpful in memorising.
