
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Boron is the mineral from the Wild West that stops glass from shattering and stops bullets in their tracks. Presenter Laurence Knight visits the Dixon Glass works to see why borosilicate glass is perfect for making chemistry equipment and much of the glassware we use in our day-to-day lives. Professor Andrea Sella demonstrates how this element puts the flub into flubber. Colin Roberson, founder of body armour firm Advanced Defence Materials, explains why being shot is like standing at the bottom of a volcano. And the BBC's Kim Gittleson travels to the deserts of California where the modern-day story of boron first began. (Photo: Boron, California, Credit: Kim Gittleson/BBC)
By BBC World Service4.7
137137 ratings
Boron is the mineral from the Wild West that stops glass from shattering and stops bullets in their tracks. Presenter Laurence Knight visits the Dixon Glass works to see why borosilicate glass is perfect for making chemistry equipment and much of the glassware we use in our day-to-day lives. Professor Andrea Sella demonstrates how this element puts the flub into flubber. Colin Roberson, founder of body armour firm Advanced Defence Materials, explains why being shot is like standing at the bottom of a volcano. And the BBC's Kim Gittleson travels to the deserts of California where the modern-day story of boron first began. (Photo: Boron, California, Credit: Kim Gittleson/BBC)

91,297 Listeners

43,837 Listeners

27,011 Listeners

26,242 Listeners

7,913 Listeners

863 Listeners

1,067 Listeners

5,576 Listeners

1,808 Listeners

3,196 Listeners

1,729 Listeners

1,952 Listeners

4,873 Listeners

965 Listeners

756 Listeners

363 Listeners

4,203 Listeners

3,245 Listeners

1,024 Listeners

779 Listeners

1,010 Listeners

907 Listeners