Elements

By BBC World Service

What's Elements about?

A close look at chemical elements, the basic building blocks of the universe. Where do we get them, what do we use them for and how do they fit into our economy?

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Elements episodes:

09.28.2016
Obscure Elements
In the final programme in our Elements series, Justin Rowlatt looks at the rarest and oddest members of the periodic table. Selenium, bismuth, molybdenum, antimony, rhenium, hafnium, zirconium, tellurium, thallium, barium. What are they? And what are they used...
09.21.2016
Gold (Au)
Why do we value this practically useless metal so highly? And does it bring out the worst in human nature? In a second look at this most coveted of metals, Justin Rowlatt hears both sides of the age-old argument....
09.16.2016
Thorium (Th)
This radioactive metal holds the promise of thousands of years of energy for the world. But is it really any cleaner or safer than traditional uranium-based nuclear power? Chemistry Professor Andrea Sella of University College London takes the helm, as...
09.07.2016
Platinum group (Pt, Pd, Ru, Rh, Os, Ir)
Six extremely rare metals that clean your car exhaust and turbocharge industrial chemistry, but which are also the focus of a violent power struggle in South Africa. Presenter Laurence Knight heads to Johnson Matthey, a company that pioneered the car...
08.31.2016
Arsenic (As)
The macabre poison we know from crime novels and history books has some surprising modern uses. Justin Rowlatt travels the Subcontinent - first to India's Forest Research Institute in the Himalayas where Sadhna Tripathi explains why the chemical element ends...
08.24.2016
Silver (Ag)
The shiniest and showiest of metals is still mainly used in silverware. But it also has some surprisingly modern applications. Justin Rowlatt heads deep under the city streets to the sparkling London Silver Vaults to talk tableware and frivolities -...
08.17.2016
Iodine (I)
Why does iodine deficiency still blight children in developing countries like India? Justin Rowlatt travels to Dehradun in the Himalayas with world expert Chandrakant Pandav to diagnose schoolchildren still suffering from the throat swelling called goitre, and from the permanent...
05.31.2016
Hydrogen (H) - fusion
Could we finally be about to crack this source of potentially unlimited clean energy - thanks in part to a plethora of private sector tech startups? Laurence Knight travels to one such company, Tokamak Energy in the UK, to...
05.25.2016
Cadmium (Cd)
This toxic metal is slowly being phased out of our lives. But as presenter Justin Rowlatt discovers, while nickel-cadmium batteries may have disappeared from our gadgets, they still help to keep planes up in the air. Chemistry professor Andrea Sella...
05.18.2016
Potassium (K)
Potash plumps up fruit, vegetables and grains, and the potassium it contains is an essential nutrient. Yet India is completely dependent on imports of this critical fertiliser to feed its population. Presenter Justin Rowlatt visits a farm on the Ganges plains...
05.10.2016
Hydrogen (H) - energy
Is the dream of a hydrogen-fuelled zero-carbon economy achievable? Presenters Justin Rowlatt and Laurence Knight ask where the hydrogen will come from and how we will store it. Professor Andrea Sella of University College London blows up a hydrogen balloon, while...
05.04.2016
Zinc (Zn)
The metal that brings shelter and good health to India's poorest. Presenter Laurence Knight travels to a bustling Delhi where Rahul Sharma of the International Zinc Association explains how this self-sacrificing chemical element fights off the ravages of the city...
04.27.2016
Hydrogen (H) - water (part 2)
As climate change threatens to play havoc with the rain, could we instead draw our water directly from the ocean? In his second gulp of H2O, presenter Justin Rowlatt hears from climatologist Raymond Pierrehumbert about how global warming is...
04.20.2016
Hydrogen (H) - water (part 1)
Northwest India is fast running out of groundwater. As much of the world faces growing water scarcity, will mass migration and water conflicts become inevitable? Do we take water for granted at our peril? Presenter Justin Rowlatt hears from chemistry...
03.23.2016
Noble Gases (Ar, Ne, Kr, Xe)
Neon, argon, krypton and xenon: Laurence Knight investigates their uses, from the blinding light of the arc welder's torch to the dying trade of the neon sign-making. Professor Andrea Sella explains how an alumnus of his home University College London -...
03.16.2016
Germanium (Ge)
Nanotech, virtual reality, Moore's Law - we look at germanium, the substance that could oust the silicon from Silicon Valley, and one day help computers supercede your brain. IBM's head of innovation, Bernie Meyerson, showcases the company's new prototype 7nm germanium-silicon...
03.09.2016
Radioactives (Po, Ra, Rn)
Radium, polonium and radon may be names to make your hair stand on end, but are they actually useful for anything? And is our fear of them overbaked? Laurence Knight gets the chemistry rundown from Prof Andrea Sella of University...
03.02.2016
Tantalum & Niobium (Ta, Nb)
Is coltan - the notorious conflict mineral from which these two metals are derived - still being smuggled from DR Congo into Rwanda, to evade taxes and sourcing controls? Laurence Knight investigates the hi-tech roles to which these two chemical...
10.22.2015
Beryllium (Be)
Rare and toxic, beryllium can do serious damage to your lungs. Presenter Laurence Knight explores whether and how we can make use of this metal safely. Prof Andrea Sella of University College London explains why beryllium's surprising scarcity is the...
09.30.2015
Magnesium (Mg)
This metal played a part in the worst car crash in history, the 1955 Le Mans disaster, helping to make the resulting inferno explosively dangerous. Yet despite its fiery reputation, and its proneness to corrosion, magnesium has regained its historic...
09.16.2015
Titanium (Ti) - catalysts
Titanium is the magic metal that made possible the mass production of plastics and paints, as well as buildings that clean both themselves and the air around them. Presenter Laurence Knight heads to the Ineos oil refinery in Grangemouth, Scotland, to...
08.19.2015
Hydrogen (H) - acids
These powerful chemicals are essential to obtain the minerals that build our world, the fertilisers that feed the planet, and the fuels that propel our vehicles - as presenter Laurence Knight discovers on a trip to the Ineos Grangemouth oil...
08.12.2015
Oxygen (O) - industrial uses
Why is oxygen essential to steelmaking, how do you extract it from the air, and can you inhale too much of it? Answering these questions leaves presenter Justin Rowlatt almost breathless. Prof Andrea Sella demonstrates the convenience and power of this...
08.05.2015
Titanium (Ti) - materials
Stronger and more durable than steel, this glamorous metal crops up in sportscars, hip replacements and jewellery - but a new chemical process hopes one day to make it as common as steel. Prof Andrea Sella explains why this relatively...
07.29.2015
Oxygen (O) - oxidation
The “element of life” also makes the air that we breathe a perilous and costly atmosphere in which to operate. Prof Andrea Sella of University College London provides presenter Justin Rowlatt with a characteristically striking argument for why oxygen is so...
07.22.2015
Cobalt (Co)
Cobalt, the metal in magnets and phone batteries, is synonymous with the colour blue. But what exactly are magnets, how do they work and where are they used? And is some of the cobalt being mined by children? Presenter Laurence...
06.25.2015
Copper (Cu) - electricity
Copper has long been the metal of electricity generators and wiring. But presenter Justin Rowlatt asks whether new technologies herald the death of the old-fashioned electricity grid. Prof Andrea Sella of University College London explains the special properties of element...
06.17.2015
Copper (Cu) - materials
Copper is the distinctive red metal in pots, pans and water pipes, and also plays a central role in whisky distillation. Presenter Laurence Knight and chemistry guru Professor Andrea Sella of University College London travel to the Abercrombie copperworks in...
06.11.2015
Boron (B)
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...
06.03.2015
Gallium & Indium (Ga, In)
LED lighting, solar power and lasers are just some of the electronics revolutionised by two obscure chemical elements - gallium and indium. Laurence Knight hears from Mike Simpson of Philips why we will only need to replace our lightbulbs once...
04.01.2015
Iron (Fe) - industrialisation
Iron is the chemical element at the heart of steel, and by extension of industrialisation, so what does the collapse in iron ore prices say about the economic progress of China and India? Is the steel-making party over, or is...
03.25.2015
Iron & Manganese (Fe, Mn) - steel-making
The two key ingredients that enabled the mass production of steel. We travel to Sheffield - the birthplace of modern steelmaking - to get up close to the technological mid-wife, a Bessemer converter. Plus we visit the modern Forgemasters steelworks,...
03.18.2015
Iron (Fe) - the Industrial Revolution
In the first of three programmes about iron, Justin Rowlatt explores two moments in industrial history that transformed this most abundant of metal elements into the key material out of which modern life is constructed. And they both took place...
03.11.2015
Technetium (Tc)
Technetium is essential for medical imaging, yet supplies of this short-lived manmade element are far from guaranteed. We see a technetium scan in progress and a cow being milked, and hear the yarn of the 70-year chemistry wild goose chase...
03.04.2015
Fluorine (F)
Itself a ferocious yellow gas, fluorine is also the key building block for a string of other gases that pose a threat to mankind - from the ozone-depleting CFCs to potent greenhouse gases. We track fluorine from the mine to...
02.26.2015
Chromium (Cr)
Chromium is the metal of modernity - spawning icons from the Chrysler Building to the Harley Davidson. This colourful element is the key ingredient in stainless steel and leather. But the shiny metal also has a dark side - one...
02.18.2015
Nickel & Rhenium (Ni, Re)
Nickel is the metal that made the jet age possible, not to mention margarine and bicycle sprockets. We visit Rolls Royce to discover the incredible materials science that this chemical element and its super-alloys have driven.
10.08.2014
Uranium (U)
Uranium is the fuel for nuclear power stations, which generate carbon-free electricity, but also radioactive waste that lasts a millennium. In the latest in our series looking at the world economy from the perspective of the elements of the periodic...
10.01.2014
Lead (Pb)
Lead is the sweetest of poisons, blamed for everything from mad Roman emperors to modern-day crime waves. Yet a lead-acid battery is still what gets your car going in the morning. So have we finally learnt how to handle this...
09.24.2014
Caesium (Cs)
The atomic clock runs on caesium, and has redefined the very meaning of time. But it has also introduced a bug into timekeeping that affects everything from computerised financial markets to electricity grids, and satellite navigation to the Greenwich Meridian....
09.17.2014
Bromine (Br)
Bromine puts out fires - both in the home and in the heart. But despite its reputation as an anti-aphrodisiac, this chemical element's biggest use is in fire retardants, found in everything from your sofa to your radio. But do...
09.11.2014
Plutonium (Pu)
Plutonium is one of a family of highly radioactive "synthetic" elements cooked up in nuclear reactors. But does it and its kin have any practical application besides the atom bomb? We travel to plutonium's sunny birthplace to find out. (Picture: Nuclear...
08.18.2014
Silicon (Si) - solar
Already responsible for the IT revolution, could silicon be about to pull off an energy revolution too? We hear from pioneer John Schaeffer about solar power's hippy roots, and Richard Swanson of Sun Power explains why it may be on...
07.31.2014
Silicon (Si) - chips
Silicon is synonymous with the computer revolution. We travel to its eponymous birthplace - Silicon Valley in California - to ask chip pioneers Intel why this chemical element has supported a billion-fold increase in computing power, and whether the exponential...
07.30.2014
Sulphur (S)
Sulphur is in abundant supply thanks to its extraction from sour oil and gas, in order to prevent acid rain pollution. But does the world face a glut of this devilish chemical element, famed for its colour and odour? And...
07.29.2014
Tungsten (W)
Tungsten is one of the hardest, heaviest and highest melting metals, used in everything from bulbs to bullets, x-rays to drill bits. Justin Rowlatt hears from the perennial Professor Andrea Sella of University College London about the properties of what...
07.28.2014
Vanadium (V)
Traditionally used as a magic ingredient to produce tougher, more wear-resistant steels, vanadium has discovered a surprising new calling in life. Could this neglected metal, and the gigantic batteries it produces, provide the perfect counterpart for temperamental wind and solar...
07.27.2014
Nitrogen (N) - fertilisers
Nitrogen is a crucial ingredient in fertilisers. And thanks to a pair of clever Germans, the Haber-Bosch process of fixing nitrogen from the air ensures that the planet's burgeoning population can still feed itself. But does it also threaten the...
07.26.2014
Nitrogen (N) - explosives
Some 78% of the Earth's atmosphere is nitrogen. Yet this seemingly inert gas is the key component of bombs and explosives. It has brought life and death on an epic scale since mankind first unlocked its potential a century ago....
07.25.2014
Carbon (C) - plastics
Polymers – or plastics – are enduring, cheap, mouldable and versatile. Yet their very durability mean they litter our landscapes. And their main raw material - crude oil - will not last forever. So could the future be to use...

What's Elements about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Elements episodes:

Obscure Elements

Gold (Au)

Thorium (Th)

Platinum group (Pt, Pd, Ru, Rh, Os, Ir)

Arsenic (As)

Silver (Ag)

Iodine (I)

Hydrogen (H) - fusion

Cadmium (Cd)

Potassium (K)

Hydrogen (H) - energy

Zinc (Zn)

Hydrogen (H) - water (part 2)

Hydrogen (H) - water (part 1)

Noble Gases (Ar, Ne, Kr, Xe)

Germanium (Ge)

Radioactives (Po, Ra, Rn)

Tantalum & Niobium (Ta, Nb)

Beryllium (Be)

Magnesium (Mg)

Titanium (Ti) - catalysts

Hydrogen (H) - acids

Oxygen (O) - industrial uses

Titanium (Ti) - materials

Oxygen (O) - oxidation

Cobalt (Co)

Copper (Cu) - electricity

Copper (Cu) - materials

Boron (B)

Gallium & Indium (Ga, In)

Iron (Fe) - industrialisation

Iron & Manganese (Fe, Mn) - steel-making

Iron (Fe) - the Industrial Revolution

Technetium (Tc)

Fluorine (F)

Chromium (Cr)

Nickel & Rhenium (Ni, Re)

Uranium (U)

Lead (Pb)

Caesium (Cs)

Bromine (Br)

Plutonium (Pu)

Silicon (Si) - solar

Silicon (Si) - chips

Sulphur (S)

Tungsten (W)

Vanadium (V)

Nitrogen (N) - fertilisers

Nitrogen (N) - explosives

Carbon (C) - plastics