‘Which element am I?’ poem challenge
The poem below includes a variety of references to mercury and its properties.
The idea is for students to look at the text, firstly to identify the element and secondly, more
importantly, to work out what the references to properties and uses relate to.
The purpose is to put the concepts in a different form so that revisiting ideas becomes more
engaging.
Which element am I?
I will remain a liquid
unless you cool me down a lot
To change me from a solid
I don’t have to be that hot.
They put me in your fillings,
they would hang me in a light,
it was I and I alone
who made the strobe so bright.
They put me in athletic shoes,
they’d put me in a toy,
To have so many uses,
It filled me up with joy
They put me inside batteries,
they mixed me up in paint,
but trouble started brewing
when I was making people faint!
You see, I am responsible
for Mad Hatter’s Disease,
I make men come over queasy
and tremble at the knees.
It isn’t just hat makers
who I send raving mad,
it’s anyone who breathes me in,
it makes me feel quite bad …
I still have some safe uses,
I’m thankful just for that,
I’m still in your thermometer,
just not inside your hat!
Ellie Walsh