Elements

The second most abundant element in the universe, helium is rare on Earth. In liquid form it is used as a coolant in sup... Read more

Light, strong and flexible, aluminium is used in drinks cans, window frames, aircraft and packaging. Ubiqitous today, wh... Read more

This metal played a part in the worst car crash in history, the 1955 Le Mans disaster, helping to make the resulting inf... Read more

Mercury is beautiful, yet deadly poisonous. Known as quicksilver, the Minamata international treaty aims to phase its us... Read more

Lead is the sweetest of poisons, blamed for everything from mad Roman emperors to modern-day crime waves. Yet a lead-aci... Read more

Uranium is the fuel for nuclear power stations, which generate carbon-free electricity, but also radioactive waste that ... Read more

Cobalt, the metal in magnets and phone batteries, is synonymous with the colour blue. But what exactly are magnets, how ... Read more

Potash plumps up fruit, vegetables and grains, and the potassium it contains is an essential nutrient. Yet India is comp... Read more

Traditionally used as a magic ingredient to produce tougher, more wear-resistant steels, vanadium has discovered a surpr... Read more

Tungsten is one of the hardest, heaviest and highest melting metals, used in everything from bulbs to bullets, x-rays to... Read more

Rare and toxic, beryllium can do serious damage to your lungs. Presenter Laurence Knight explores whether and how we can... Read more

Plutonium is one of a family of highly radioactive "synthetic" elements cooked up in nuclear reactors. But does it and i... Read more

Could we finally be about to crack this source of potentially unlimited clean energy - thanks in part to a plethora of p... Read more

Carbon is a great energy store – in plants and animals, but also as hydrocarbons – coal, oil and natural gas. From the I... Read more

Neither rare nor earths, these 17 elements are nonetheless difficult and unpleasant to mine and refine. Chemically near-... Read more

Some 78% of the Earth's atmosphere is nitrogen. Yet this seemingly inert gas is the key component of bombs and explosive... Read more

Lithium is the electro-chemical element - big in batteries and bipolar disorder. Over two decades it has shot from obscu... Read more

The atomic clock runs on caesium, and has redefined the very meaning of time. But it has also introduced a bug into time... Read more

Sulphur is in abundant supply thanks to its extraction from sour oil and gas, in order to prevent acid rain pollution. B... Read more

Nanotech, virtual reality, Moore's Law - we look at germanium, the substance that could oust the silicon from Silicon Va... Read more