Elemental
A journey through the periodic table of elements with chemistry professor Allan Blackman, from AUT, and Alison Ballance
Navigation for Elemental
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Platinum - another pricey precious metal
2 Sep 2019Platinum is useful in catalytic convertors, is used to treat testicular cancer and will be useful in hydrogen fuel cells, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 59 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Plutonium - nuclear bombs & nuclear power
6 Sep 2019A radioactive heavyweight associated with nuclear bombs & power, which is powering the Voyager spacecraft, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 60 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Polonium - few redeeming features
9 Sep 2019Polonium will be forever linked with the names Curie and Litvinenko and has negligible desirable features, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 61 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Potassium - a matter of life and death
13 Sep 2019From levitating burnt buttocks, to excitable nerves and sure-to-rise baking, potassium is highly reactive and vital to life, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 62 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Praseodymium - a long name but not many uses
16 Sep 2019Praseodymium is a metal wirh the second longest name on the periodic table and not many uses, says Prof Alan Blackman from AUT in ep 63 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Promethium - rare and unremarkable
20 Sep 2019Despite its gruesome mythical name, the radioactive element promethium has no particular claim to fame, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 64 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Protactinium - a very dull chemical element
23 Sep 2019Protactinium is a rare, radioactive element that has no uses and may be the most boring element, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 65 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Radium - famous but not very useful
27 Sep 2019Radium was famously found by the Curies, and was once widely used in face creams, drinks and luminous watch dials, despite being highly radioactive, says Allan Blackman in ep 66 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Radon - radioactive basement risk
30 Sep 2019The radioactive gas radon can be a risk in the basements of stone houses and used to, erroneously, be touted for its health benefits, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 67 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Rhenium - has a number of claims to chemical fame
2 Oct 2019Named after the Rhine river, rhenium is a metal with very high boiling and melting points, and it was the last naturally occuring, non-radioactive element to be discovered, says Prof Allan Blackman in… Read more Audio
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Rhodium - used in cars, drugs ... and aftershave
4 Oct 2019Rhodium is an expensive precious metal that is used in catalytic convertors, to make the Parkinson's drug L-DOPA, create shiny jewellery and add the menthol taste to toothpaste, says Allan Blackman… Read more Audio
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Rubidium - expensive and not very useful
7 Oct 2019Rubidium is a reactive metal with few uses, named 'deepest red' due to its beautiful red spectral lines, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 70 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Ruthenium - a 'sort of' precious metal
11 Oct 2019Ruthenium is a 'sort of' precious metal that is a useful catalyst and alloy. It is toxic and smells like ozone, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 71 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Samarium - magnets for making & listening to music
14 Oct 2019Samarium magnets are used in headphones & guitar pickups, and samarium was the first element named after a real person, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 72 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Scandium - the scandal of the scandium cricket bat
16 Oct 2019Predicted by Mendeleev & useful for alloying with aluminium, scandium was involved in a famous cricket scandal, says AUT's Allan Blackman in ep 73 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Selenium - good reason to eat seafood & Brazil nuts
18 Oct 2019New Zealand soils lack the vital element selenium, which also used to be important in photocopiers and bathroom plumbing, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 74 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Silicon - a ubiquitous part of modern life
21 Oct 2019Silicon is a blockbuster metalloid with many uses, from glass to computer chips & bathroom sealants, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 75 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Silver - a popular noble metal
23 Oct 2019Silver is widely used in jewellery, has interesting light sensitive abilities and has antimicrobial properties, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 76 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Sodium - a salt of the earth spectator
25 Oct 2019Sodium is vital for life & usually found in combinaton with other more interesting elements, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 77 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Strontium - from sensitive teeth toothpaste to nuclear fission
28 Oct 2019Named after a Scottish town, strontium can be highly radioactive & glow-in-the-dark, but also used in toothpaste, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT, in ep 78 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Sulfur - king of bad smells
1 Nov 2019Sulfur is responsible for some very bad smells, is the number one industrial chemical and is also an essential element, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 79 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Tantalum - a tantalising chemical element
4 Nov 2019The metal tantalum is usually found with the element niobium, has a very high melting point but is a 'conflict mineral', says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 80 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Technetium - the first synthetic element
8 Nov 2019Technetium was the first element on the periodic table to be synthesised. It is rare, radioactive and has only a few uses, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 81 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Tellurium - usually associated with gold
11 Nov 2019Tellurium is a metalloid often found with gold and the US town Telluride is named after it, says Prof Allan Blackman, in ep 82 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Terbium - turns up in old TVs & new Euro notes
15 Nov 2019A discovery from the chemically prolific Swedish village of Ytterby, terbium produced the green on old TV sets & adds security to Euro notes, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 83 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Thallium - the poisoner's poison
18 Nov 2019Thallium is most famous for some infamous poisoned family cases & its appearance in an Agatha Christie novel solved a medical mystery, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 84 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Thorium - potential source of cleaner nuclear energy
22 Nov 2019Named after Thor, the Norse God of Thunder, thorium could provide a cleaner source of nuclear power in the future, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in episode 85 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Thulium - the most laborious of the lanthanoids
25 Nov 2019Isolating the element thulium was a truly laborious process that took many years, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 86 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Tin - from whistles to organ pipes & anti-fouling paint
27 Nov 2019The element tin turns up in all sorts of alloys, but tin cans are - mostly - not made from tin, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT, in ep 87 of Elemental. Read more Audio
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Titanium - light, strong & quite pretty
29 Nov 2019Titanium is light, strong, corrosion resistant & is used to repair broken limbs as it is able to get integrated into the bone, says Allan Blackman from AUT speaking from personal experience in ep 88… Read more Audio
Elemental
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