List Of Visual Mnemonics
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Visual mnemonics are a type of
mnemonic A mnemonic device ( ), memory trick or memory device is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval in the human memory, often by associating the information with something that is easier to remember. It makes use of e ...
that work by associating an image with characters or objects whose name sounds like the item that has to be memorized.


Examples


Digits

Digits can be memorized by their shapes, so that: 0 -looks like an egg, or a ball; 1 -a pencil, or a candle; 2 -a duck, or a swan; 3 -an ear; a pair of pouted lips. 4 -a sail, a yacht; 5 -a key; 6 -a comet; 7 -a knee; 8 -a snowman, or a pair of glasses; 9 -an apostrophe, or comma.


Biochemistry

*Biochemical cycles (i.e., the urea cycle or the citric acid cycle) and their metabolites can be represented by means of hands and fingers (visual imagery mnemonics) which are associated to tales (narrative mnemonics). A hand, depending on its characteristics (e.g. having or not having a fingernail or a nail lunula), represents a biochemical structure and its associated chemical term. *A visual mnemonic for the drug
hydralazine Hydralazine, sold under the brand name Apresoline among others, is a medication used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure. This includes high blood pressure in pregnancy and very high blood pressure resulting in symptoms. It has bee ...
could be represented as "lazy hydra" that is lying on a beach holding a sign "NO more work". "NO" in the above case symbolizes
Nitric oxide Nitric oxide (nitrogen oxide, nitrogen monooxide, or nitrogen monoxide) is a colorless gas with the formula . It is one of the principal oxides of nitrogen. Nitric oxide is a free radical: it has an unpaired electron, which is sometimes den ...
, which is related to the drug's mechanism of action. *The symbols for the thirteen
macronutrient A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excret ...
elements in biology spell CHOPKINS CaFe Mg NaCl, or C. Hopkins Cafe ood tastesm ghtyg odwith salt (NaCl). Note however, that this popular and useful mnemonic is typical in that it is neither comprehensive nor context-free. Classification of some elements, such as Na, Cl and Fe, as macro- or micronutrients is arbitrary; it depends on the organisms in question, and there are several biologically important micronutrients not mentioned.


Zoology

*An African elephant's ears are large and shaped like Africa, while an Asian elephant's ears are small and shaped like India. *A Bactrian Camel's back is shaped like the letter B. A Dromedary's back is shaped like the letter D. File:Camel zoo Belgium.jpg, :A Bactrian camel File:Camelus dromedarius Dvur zoo 1.jpg, :A Dromedary camel *The species of salmon can be remembered through the fingers on the hand: chum is the thumb, sockeye is your index finger (like poking someone in the eye), king is your middle finger (the largest of the fingers), silver is your ring finger, pink is the pinky finger.


Calendar

* A mnemonic for the number of days in each month uses the knuckles (and the dips between them) of two fists, held together, moving right from the left pinky knuckle. The raised knuckles can be seen as the 31-day months, the dips between them as the 30-day-months (and February). The gap between the hands ignored. (Thus: left-hand-pinky-knuckle = January, dip = February, left-hand-ring-knuckle = March, dip = April, and so on to left-hand-index-knuckle = July; then continue with right-hand-index-knuckle = August, dip = September, etc.). * The order of leap years in the
Hebrew calendar The Hebrew calendar (), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance and as an official calendar of Israel. It determines the dates of Jewish holidays and other rituals, such as '' yahrze ...
can be compared to white keys on a keyboard. In the key of C, white keys represent leap years if every half-step between white key indicating 1 whole year between leap years and a whole-step between white keys indicates two complete years between leap years. For a total of 7 leap years for every 19 years beginning with C as year 0/year 19 in the cycle.


Phases of the Moon

*"DOC" represents phases of the
Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
by shape as viewed from the northern hemisphere: "D" is the waxing moon; "O" the full moon; and "C" represent the waning moon. *A simple English saying is "Dog comes in (the room), Cat goes out". *Holding one's hand up vertically against the crescent moon, the "baby" or waxing moon will form a lower-case "b", and the "dying" moon will form a lower-case "d". *In the Southern Hemisphere, the moon phases appear in reverse, with the sequence being "COD" - "C" is the waxing moon; "O" the full moon; and "D" the waning moon. *From an astronomical point of view, remember the alternative name ''"Charles' Wain"'' for the
Big Dipper The Big Dipper (American English, US, Canadian English, Canada) or the Plough (British English, UK, Hiberno-English, Ireland) is an asterism (astronomy), asterism consisting of seven bright stars of the constellation Ursa Major; six of them ar ...
- "wain" being pronounced just like "wane".


Other languages

*A Lithuanian mnemonic is that the waxing moon at its first (lith:''priešpilnis'') quarter phase looks like a 'p', and the waning moon at its last (lith:''delčia'') quarter looks like a 'd'. *A French mnemonic is that the waxing moon at its first (fr:''premier'') quarter phase looks like a 'p', and the waning moon at its last (fr:''dernier'') quarter looks like a 'd'. A more childlike mnemonic explains that the moon is a liar: the waxing moon looks like an upper-case D, which would correspond to the French verb ''décroître'' (meaning: to shrink) but since she (the moon) is ''une menteuse'' (a liar) she is in fact doing the opposite: growing. The waning moon looks like a(n upper-case) C, corresponding to the word ''croître'' (meaning: to grow), but will be a lie and therefore mean that the moon is 'shrinking'. * In Germany, the curve of the moon was traditionally compared to the beginning stroke of the handwritten small letters ''a'' (''Abnehmen'' = waning) and ''z'' (''Zunehmen'' = waxing), but since this really makes sense only when thinking of the obsolete German handwriting it is rapidly falling into disuse. * A more modern
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
version compares the moon to a pair of round brackets (German: ''Klammern''): : ( = ''Klammer auf'' –> ''Abnehmen'' = waning : ) = ''Klammer zu'' –> ''Zunehmen'' = waxing * Another Northern Hemisphere mnemonic, which works for most
Romance languages The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...
, says that the moon is a liar: it spells "C", as in ''crescere'' (Latin for "to grow") when it wanes, and "D" as in ''decrescere'' ("decrease") when it waxes. Alternatively, it is said that ancient Romans explained that Gods looked at the vault of heaven from above (behind), so they read the letters mirrored. *In the Southern Hemisphere, in Spanish-speaking countries, the C represents "Creciente" (waxing) and D "Decreciente" (waning). *In the
Polish language Polish (, , or simply , ) is a West Slavic languages, West Slavic language of the Lechitic languages, Lechitic subgroup, within the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is written in the Latin script. It is primarily spo ...
and
Czech language Czech ( ; ), historically known as Bohemian ( ; ), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 12 million people including second language speakers, it serves as the official language of the ...
, the D and C can be interpreted as verbs describing the Moon's action: ''Księżyc się ...'' (The moon is ...) ''Dopełnia'' (waxing) and ''Cofa'' (waning); in Czech ''Měsíc ...'' (The moon is ...) ''Dorůstá'' (waxing) and ''Couvá'' (waning). Also, in Polish one might remember that ''Księżyc będzie ...'' (The moon will be ...) ''Duży'' (big) or ''Cienki'' (thin). *A
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
mnemonic is that the waxing moon is right part of letter 'Р', which is the first letter of word растущая (growing), and the waning moon looks like 'C' which is first letter of the word стареющая (getting old). *A Norwegian mnemonic is "When it looks like a comma, it's coming!" (nor: ''Når han ser ut som et komma, så kom'an / kom'ern!''). * In
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
the shape of the letter is also correlated to what the rising and waning moon. It is rising when it looks like the cursive ז which is also the first word in זורח (to rise) and the moon is waning when it looks like the cursive ג which is also the first work of גורע (to take away). File:Beginning1.png, ::Beginning File:Beginning.png File:Descending1.png, ::Descending File:Descending.png


Right/left hand mnemonics

*When both hands are held up palm out, thumbs stuck out perpendicular to fingers, the Left hand is the one that makes the shape of the letter L. *In electromagnetism, right and left hand rules are used to find the direction of force and current respectively. Here the hands are used as an aid for remembering the directions of force and current. *The right hand thumb rule is another hand mnemonic. Here the curled hand is used and the fingers points in the direction of magnetic field when thumb points the direction of current through the conductor. File:Rechte-hand-regel.jpg,
Fleming's right hand rule In electromagnetism, Fleming's right-hand rule (for generators) shows the direction of induced current when a conductor attached to a circuit moves in a magnetic field. It can be used to determine the direction of current in a generator's wi ...
File:ManoLaplace.svg, Fleming's left hand rule for motors File:Manoderecha.svg, Right hand thumb rule File:Induction2.jpg, Determining the direction of induced currents


See also

*
Mnemonic A mnemonic device ( ), memory trick or memory device is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval in the human memory, often by associating the information with something that is easier to remember. It makes use of e ...
*
List of mnemonics A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, bu ...


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Visual mnemonics Science-related lists Mnemonics