Here’s element number 17, chlorine, in our International Year of the Periodic Table series with the Royal Society of Chemistry. Chlorine is essential for safe drinking water, but also has a history of use in chemical warfare. Chlorine is a green-yellow gas at room temperature. It’s a toxic gas and was used as a chemical weapon …

Continuing the International Year of the Periodic Table theme, today we look at the elements we can’t live without. Which elements from the 118 in the periodic table are essential for human life, and what role do they play? See the full graphic on the C&EN site. https://www.compoundchem.com/2019/04/03/iypt-essentialelements/

Element 16 in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is sulfur. Known since ancient times, but only confirmed as an element in the late 1700s, it’s responsible for a host of bad smells we encounter, and also finds uses in car tyres and gunpowder. Got a whiff of a bad smell? There’s a …

The latest element in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is phosphorus – essential for life, found in several forms, and the element that helps safety matches light when you strike them. Phosphorus is essential for life, and is a part of the sugar-phosphate backbone of DNA. It crops up elsewhere, too – …

Element number 14 in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is silicon. The second most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, silicon is found in almost all electronic devices, glass, and in some lubricants. Sand is silicon dioxide, and is the principal ingredient in glass. There’s more discussion of the different types of …

The thirteenth element in our International year of the Periodic Table series is aluminium. The most abundant metal in Earth’s crust, aluminium finds use in drinks cans, aluminium foil, and aeroplane construction. Aluminium is the most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust, at 8.1% by mass. However, its higher reactivity compared to other metals like …

Magnesium is element number 12 in our International Year of the Periodic Table elements series. It’s a key component of the pigment that plants use to photosynthesis, and also finds use in sparklers and fireworks. A single magnesium ion is bound at the centre of chlorophyll, the pigment that plants use to harvest energy from …

Element number 11 in our International Year of the Periodic Table series is sodium. Found in salt, and responsible for the traditional yellow glow of streetlights, sodium is also an important element for the normal function of our bodies. The best-known sodium compound is sodium chloride or table salt. As well as seasoning your food, …

Here’s element 10 in our International Year of the Periodic Table element series: Neon. Best known for its use in neon lights, neon also finds use as a refrigerant. Its unreactive nature means it has no known stable compounds with other elements. Neon lends its name to neon lights – though, in truth, only those …

8 March is International Women’s Day. In the past few years, Ci has featured graphics on women in chemistry to mark this occasion; first, this one on women in chemistry history, and last year this one on women in chemistry present. This year, here’s another edition, looking at twelve more underappreciated women from chemistry history. …