These pages are dedicated to English words that can be spelled using element
symbols. These lists are good through 2/19/10, and include all elements through
element 112, Copernicium (Cn), which was named on February 19th, 2010.
For this page, we'll define a "Chemical Word Square" as one in which each row
and column is a valid word in the ENABLE word list (see below). Each
entry is, of course, an element symbol. We'll likewise define a "Magic
Chemical Word Square" as a Chemical Word Square that also has words spelled
across both diagonals (read left to right).
Chemical Word Squares:
1. Download a list of the 6007 2x2 chemical word squares (each row and each
column is a word). [pdf file]
1a. Download a list of the 293 2x2 magic chemical word squares (each row, each
column, and each diagonal from left to right is a word). [pdf
file]
2. Download a list (2315-page document!) of the 74,078 3x3 chemical word squares
(each row and each column is a word). [pdf file]
2a. Download a list of the 408 3x3 magic chemical word squares (each row, each
column, and each diagonal from left to right is a word). [pdf
file]
3. Download a list of the 12 4x4 chemical word squares (each row and each column
is a word). [pdf file]
Unfortunately, there are no 4x4 magic chemical words squares, and no 5x5 or
higher chemical word squares at all. The closest I could come to a 5x5 chemical
word square is 4 words across and 3 words down. One such example is:
Sc
Am
Mo
N
Y
Ar
B
O
Re
Al
F
U
Ni
Cl
Es
P
La
S
Ti
C
In
Te
H
Incidentally, there is only ONE 3x3 chemical word square composed
entirely of 2-character element symbols, and only ONE 3x3 chemical word square
composed entirely of 1-character symbols:
Ag
La
Re
Ra
Sc
Al
Fe
Ar
Er
I
C
H
F
O
U
S
Y
N
Explanations
So why would someone want to find chemical word
squares? I mean, what would possess a person to do such a thing?
Well, that's a perfectly good question, and the answer relies on the way my
brain can't stop humming down a certain track once it gets going. You see,
there's the NPR puzzle show on Sunday mornings. I never hear it because I'm at
church, but someone sent me the following (paraphrased) puzzle: can you find a
3x3 matrix of element symbols such that all 9 symbols are different and that
the three rows and three columns all spell out English words? In fact, finding
these squares is what drove me to develop the chemical word lists to begin with.
I should note that I am using the ENABLE word list as my source for English
words. ENABLE is essentially based on the concept that if you can use it in
Scrabble, you can find it in their word list. Plus, you can find words longer
than 8-9 letters long. Essentially, ENABLE is based on Merriam Webster's 10th
edition and it is the gold-standard of word puzzle makers and solvers
everywhere. It has approximately 173,000 words in it.
Some simple examples of what is (and is not) in ENABLE: words that must be
capitalized, like "Ireland," are not allowed, and neither are acronyms, like
"N.R.A.," unless they have come into the vernacular as words, such as "laser."
Archaic words, like "thir" (a Middle-English pronoun) are allowed, as are
abbreviations that have become full-fledged words in their own right, such as
"repo." Those two words, spelled with element symbols, are ThIr and either RePO
or RePo, by the way. Now, there ARE words that are not on the ENABLE word
list, though I don't know why: for instance, "inasmuch" (INaSmUCH) is
absent. To keep the list organized and regulated, though, I decided to
keep all of the words in ENABLE in the normal lists, alphabetized; those words
not in ENABLE come after the main lists. If you find any words that are
not in the lists (so far I have but two), please let me know! Also,
clearly, as new element names and symbols become official, and as new words are
added to the English language and ENABLE, these lists will change.
In addition, people have been having difficulty finding the ENABLE word list
online, so I decided to post it here. I
do not know if anyone is keeping the list, but if someone else knows, drop me a
line. In the meantime, as far as I know this is the most updated version
of the list (2008ish??): EnableWordList.txt
If you use this page in your classroom, &c., please reference me! Also, if you
like these pages or have anything you think should be added, drop me a line: nandor@wellington.org