Chemical Elements

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the chemical elements. The aim and challenge in chemistry, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, is the understanding of the complex materials which constitute everything in existence since the Big Bang, when the whole universe emerged out of the two elements of hydrogen and helium. For Aristotle there were four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Now there are one hundred and eight, sixteen of which are produced artificially, and none of which figure in Aristotle’s original four. But they are all still elements - defined as substances which cannot be broken down, the building blocks of all life.Today we have the key to understanding these elements, the Periodic Table, which is a pattern embedded in nature and was miraculously discovered in a dream.

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Guests

• Paul Strathern No other episodes
  Former lecturer in philosophy and science, Kingston University
• Dr Mary Archer No other episodes
  Visiting Professor of Chemistry at Imperial College, London
• John Murrell No other episodes
  Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, University of Sussex

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Programme ID: p00546sz

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00546sz

Auto-category: 540 (Chemistry)

Hello (First sentence from this episode)

Hello. Aristotle thought there were four elements, earth, air, fire and water.