Elemental
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Top 10 Elemental Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Elemental episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Elemental for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Elemental episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
11/07/19 • 8 min
Technetium 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 83 of Elemental.
Dmitri Mendeleev predicted some of the properties of element 43, but it remained stubbornly undiscovered until l937.
The reason it was hard to discover is that the radioactive element doesn't really exist on Planet Earth.
Its great claim to fame is that it was the first element to be synthesised, hence its name, technetium, from the Greek tekhnetos, meaning 'artificial', says Professor Allan Blackman from the Auckland University of Technology, in episode 83 of Elemental.
10/10/19 • 8 min
Ruthenium 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 73 of Elemental.
Ruthenium is a rare transition metal produced mostly as a by-product of nickel mining.
It is not widely used industrially, although it is found in some catalysts and alloys. It is more useful in the chemistry laboratory, where it has helped several chemists win Nobel Prizes.
Ruthenium is toxic and if you have the bad fortune to be exposed to it, it smells of ozone says Professor Allan Blackman from the Auckland University of Technology, in episode 73 of Elemental.
10/06/19 • 9 min
Rubidium is a reactive metal with few uses, named 'deepest red' due to its beautiful red spectral lines, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 72 of Elemental.
Rubidium is named after the Latin word rubidius, meaning 'deepest red.'
It is a group one metal, which makes it soft, highly reactive with water and with a low melting point.
Rubidium helped win a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001 for the discoverers of Bose-Einstein condensates, says Professor Allan Blackman from the Auckland University of Technology, in episode 72 of Elemental.
12/10/19 • 9 min
Xenon is a noble gas that turns up in various lights, gets used in xenon ion propulsion systems for spacecraft & plays a key role in the search for dark matter, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 94 of Elemental.
Xenon is a noble gas that turns up in various lights.
It gets used in xenon ion propulsion systems for spacecraft.
Xenon plays a key role in the XENON detector which is used in the search for dark matter.
Xenon is also the 'perfect' anaesthetic, says Professor Allan Blackman from the Auckland University of Technology, in episode 94 of Elemental.
12/05/19 • 8 min
Named after the planet Uranus & associated with Hiroshima & nuclear bombs, uranium is the highest-numbered element found naturally in significant quantities on earth, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 92 of Elemental.
Uranium is named after the planet Uranus.
Uranium (atomic number 92) is the highest-numbered element found naturally in significant quantities on earth
It is associated with Hiroshima and nuclear bombs, says Professor Allan Blackman from the Auckland University of Technology, in episode 92 of Elemental.
12/01/19 • 8 min
Tungsten's very high melting point made it an ideal filament for incandescent light bulbs, & as it is in some enzymes it is the heaviest element used in nature, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 91 of Elemental.
Tungsten is the metal with the highest melting point and this made it an ideal filament for incandescent light bulbs.
It also has the highest tensile strength of any metal.
It occurs in some enzymes (in a few bacteria and archaea only), making it the heaviest element used in nature, says Professor Allan Blackman from the Auckland University of Technology, in episode 91 of Elemental.
11/28/19 • 8 min
Titanium 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 90 of Elemental.
Titanium is light, strong and corrosion resistant, and widely used in aircraft, bike frames, golf clubs and spectacle frames.
It is used to repair broken limbs as it is able to be integrated into the bone, says Professor Allan Blackman from the Auckland University of Technology, speaking from personal experience, in episode 90 of Elemental.
11/26/19 • 10 min
The 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 89 of Elemental.
The element tin turns up in all sorts of alloys, especially bronze.
Tin is found in tin whistles, organ pipes and with lead in electrical solders.
Tin cans are - mostly - not made from tin, says Professor Allan Blackman from the Auckland University of Technology, in episode 89 of Elemental.
11/24/19 • 9 min
Isolating the element thulium was a truly laborious process that took many years, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 88 of Elemental.
Isolating the element thulium was a truly laborious process that took many years.
Charles James had to carry out 15,000 recrystallisations to prepare his sample when he was wanting to determine the atomic weight of thulium, says Professor Allan Blackman from the Auckland University of Technology, in episode 88 of Elemental.
11/14/19 • 8 min
A 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 85 of Elemental.
A discovery from the chemically prolific Swedish village of Ytterby, the lanthanoid terbium produced the green on old TV sets & adds security to Euro notes, says Professor Allan Blackman from the Auckland University of Technology, in episode 85 of Elemental.
For further elements named after Ytterby, see erbium, yttrium and ytterbium (although you'll have to wait for the latter two).
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FAQ
How many episodes does Elemental have?
Elemental currently has 98 episodes available.
What topics does Elemental cover?
The podcast is about Podcasts and Science.
What is the most popular episode on Elemental?
The episode title 'Zinc - more useful than you realise' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Elemental?
The average episode length on Elemental is 10 minutes.
How often are episodes of Elemental released?
Episodes of Elemental are typically released every 3 days.
When was the first episode of Elemental?
The first episode of Elemental was released on Feb 19, 2019.
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