The internet is great for study aids, if nothing else. The periodic table of the elements is easier to study as an interactive table. Click on an element to retrieve all kinds of further information. Nice, but there are more imaginative minds working on putting the “able” back into the table.

The Google Image Search Periodic Table uses the first image that appears in an image search for each element.

This table is made of keyboard keys, and is also somewhat interactive. But that’s just the beginning! James Brown, mixed drinks, and comic book superheroes all appear on periodic tables, after the jump.

The Wooden Periodic Table is a real table, constructed of small wood boxes that contain a sample of the element!

The Periodic Table -Flash Version is not only interactive, but artistic as well.

My personal favorite is the Periodic Table of Comic Books, in which every element is linked to images of comic book pages that refer to the element!

Some periodic tables have nothing to do with chemistry, such as the Periodic Table of Visualization Methods. I suppose they knew how students try to sort and memorize the elemental table, and used the structure as a memory aid for other data.

Other tables are just plain fun! The Table of Condiments That Periodically Go Bad will let you know that Worchestershire sauce should last a year.

The interactive Periodic Table of Funk starts with James Brown and ends with Bruce Lee’s fist.

The Periodic Table of Dessert shows the most basic elements are sugar and butter, but range up to Creme de Cacao.

The Testy Table (of drinks) is available on a t-shirt.

The Periodic Table of Elements of Kansas, featured at the reDiscovery Institute, was contructed to spoof the Discovery Institute, which espouses the theory of intelligent design.Which all just goes to show that what seemed so difficult and dorky when you studied it in high school can be radically cool with a little imagination. (some links via Neatorama, The Presurfer, and Boingboing)