Here’s a nice mnemonic to aid in learning the reactivity series of metals:
| Popular | Potassium | K |
| Scientists | Sodium | Na |
| Can | Calcium | Ca |
| Make | Magnesium | Mg |
| A | Aluminium | Al |
| Zoo | Zinc | Zn |
| In | Iron | Fe |
| The | Tin | Sn |
| Low | Lead | Pb |
| Humid | Hydrogen | [H] |
| Country | Copper | Cu |
| More | Mercury | Hg |
| Satisfactory | Silver | Ag |
Note that this may differ from many lists, especially since some rate calcium above sodium. And do remember to add gold and platinum, in that order, at the bottom (although there’s confusion over this too since platinum is sometime’s placed higher). If you want, you may put lithium at the top, but then again, there’s controversy since some put it below potassium.
Anyway, this has been a real help for me whenever I’ve been doing chemistry, so putting this here for the rest of humanity (or whichever lucky part of it is reading my blog). The reason why this one (I feel) works better is because it tries to build up a relation from the common names of elements, rather than their scientific names, which messes up other such mnemonics.
Interesting thing though, that something like a mnemonic, which is supposed to aid learning, itself will knot up your tongue if you try to pronounce it. 😉