Elements

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 see how just a smidge of a titanium-based catalyst transforms a type of natural gas into the stuff of food packaging, bottles and car bumpers. He hears from Prof Andrea Sella why most of us spend our lives surrounded by titanium without even realising it. And Brian Pickett of pigments manufacturer Cristal explains why his company has been painting various bits of London to further the fight against city smog. (Picture: Window cleaner; Credit: Peter Parks/Getty Images)

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 refinery in Scotland. But while most traditional acids are based on the power of hydrogen ions, Prof Andrea Sella of University College London explains that many modern industrial "acids" do not, and come in startlingly unexpected forms such as powders. Many of the most corrosive acids are very tricky to contain, resulting in the occasional nasty accident, as chemical engineer Keith Plumb explains. Also, Justin Rowlatt has a report on acid attacks in southern Asia in which he speaks to campaigner Selina Ahmed of the Acid Survivors Foundation on how Bangladesh has tackled the problem. (Picture: A team working with toxic acids and chemicals secures chemical cargo train tanks crashed near Sofia, Bulgaria; Credit: Cylonphoto/Thinkstock)

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 bulk chemical, whilst Laurence Knight heads to BOC's air separation unit in Fawley to see how it is mass produced. Meanwhile Justin climbs a mountain, scuba dives and pedals like mad on an exercise bike inside a low oxygen chamber. But it's all in the name of science, as husband-and-wife medics-cum-mountaineers Denny Levett and Mike Grocott explain.

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 widespread chemical element is so difficult to extract from its ore. Presenter Laurence Knight then heads to Yorkshire, where metallurgy pioneers Metalysis are trying to commercialise a novel way of doing just that - the so-called FFC Process. We also visit Epsom hospital, south of London, where orthopaedic surgery head Philip Mitchell explains why titanium makes such great bone implants, and Philip Dewhurst of mineral consultancy Roskill casts doubts on whether titanium will ever become cheap and ubiquitous, at least in his lifetime. (Picture: Hip implant; Credit: Photodisc/Thinkstock)

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 “incredibly dangerous”, and how its advent turned Planet Earth into a snowball. Pawanexh Kohli, in charge of India’s national cold chain strategy, explains over a cup of chai why the oxygen needs of fresh vegetables and fresh meat are very different. Physics polymath Baldev Raj unpicks the mystery of Delhi’s 1,600-year-old iron pillar, and explains just how damaging rust and corrosion can be. And former “smoke-jumper” Frankie Romero explains the mesmerising attraction of wildfires, and why stamping them out isn’t always a good idea. (Photo: Wildfire in Los Alerces National Park, Argentina; Credit: Emiliano La Salvia/AFP/Getty Images)

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 Knight hears from chemistry professor Andrea Sella of University College London why a permanent magnet is like a flock of birds, and he travels to Arnold Magnetics near Sheffield where manager Martin Satyr explains how magnets are used in everything from recovering the heat energy from sportscar engines to recycling your trash. Also in the programme, Mark Dummett of Amnesty International, back from Katanga in southern Congo - source of half the world's cobalt - tells of his concerns about the conditions in which artisanal miners work, including children. And David Weight of the Cobalt Development Institute explains what the industry is doing to ensure it knows where its cobalt is coming from. (Photo: Andrea Sella picking up lumps of cobalt with a magnet; Credit: Laurence Knight)

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 29 of the periodic table that mean that half of the world's mined copper is used to conduct electricity. Justin travels to the rapidly growing Indian city of Gurgaon to ask Jasmeet Khurana of solar consultancy Bridge to India what his government's plans to increase solar power a hundredfold mean for the best way to build the country's electricity grid. Electricity entrepreneur Simon Daniel of Moixa Technology argues that solar power and battery technology could transform the century-old debate between Tesla and Edison over AC vs DC power. And Zolaikha Strong of the Copper Development Association says the transition to renewable energy means the world will still need plenty more of the metal. (Photo: Copper cable, Credit: Yukosourov/Thinksto

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 Scotland to see the art of whisky still-making first-hand. Also in the programme, Gideon Long reports from Chile on why the source of one-third of the world's copper supply has not succumbed to the "resources curse". And Bill Keevil of Southampton University explains why copper's anti-microbial properties mean it could soon be leading the fight-back against hospital super-bugs such as MRSA. (Photo: A whisky still at the Abercrombie copperworks, Credit: Mike Wilkinson/Abercrombie Copperworks)

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)

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 every two decades, and travels to Sheffield University where research centre head Jon Heffernan explains what on earth III-V materials are and why making an LED is like baking a pizza. Meanwhile chemistry stalwart Prof Andrea Sella of UCL demonstrates these two metals' surprisingly buttery melt-in-the-mouth properties. (Photo: Times Square New Year's Eve ball, Credit: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)

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 a new one just about to begin? And will humanity, one day, stop digging this element up altogether? (Photo: Skyscraper under construction in Pudong, Shanghai, Credit: Getty Images)

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, to get a taste of just how hard it is to produce unbreakable parts for nuclear power stations and oil rigs. (Photo: Steel component at Forgemasters Steelworks, Credit: Laurence Knight/BBC)

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 right here in the British Isles.

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 sparked by this mysterious radioactive metal.

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 its incredible array of final uses. And we find out why an exploding Mercedes car has caused a trans-Atlantic chemistry tiff.

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 brought to public attention by Erin Brockovich.

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.

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 table, Justin Rowlatt travels to Sizewell in Suffolk, in a taxi driven by a former uranium prospector. He is given a tour of the operational power station, Sizewell B, which generates 3% of the UK's electricity, by EDF's head of safety Colin Tucker, before popping next-door to the original power station, Sizewell A, where he speaks to site director Tim Watkins about the drawn-out process of decommissioning and cleaning up the now-defunct reactors. But while Sizewell remains reassuringly quiet, big explosions come at the end of the programme. We pit environmentalist and pro-nuclear convert Mark Lynas against German Green politician Hans-Josef Fell, the joint architect of Germany's big move towards wind and solar energy, at the expense of nuclear. Is nuclear a

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 heavyweight element? Justin Rowlatt travels to arts shop Cornelissen in London's Bloomsbury to find out why they have stopped stocking lead paints, and hears from professor Andrea Sella of University College London about the unique properties that have made this metal so handy in everything from radiation protection to glassware. Yet lead in petrol is also accused of having inflicted brain damage on an entire generation of children in the 1970s, as the economist Jessica Wolpaw-Reyes of Amherst College explains. And, producer Laurence Knight travels to one of the UK's only two lead smelters - HJ Enthoven's at Darley Dale in Derbyshire, the historical heartland of the UK lead industry - to see what becomes of the lead in your car battery. And, we speak to the director of the Internation

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. Justin Rowlatt travels to the birthplace of modern time, the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, England, to speak to Krzysztof Szymaniec, the keeper of the 'Caesium Fountain', and Leon Lobo, the man charged with disseminating time to the UK. He also hears from Felicitas Arias, director of time at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures in Paris, about plans to abolish the 'leap second'. And, the Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees, explains why even the atomic clock can never hope to provide an absolute measure of time.