Atoms and Elements

Learn about the wide variety of fuels used in vehicles.

This backgrounder explains what greenhouse gases are and how they contribute to climate change.

What is the nitrogen cycle? How do human activities such as using fertilizer affect the nitrogen cycle? How can this cause greenhouse gases?

Dmitri Mendeleev’s version of the periodic table was brilliant - find out why!

The life and death of stars form the chemical elements that make up Earth, making stars critical to life as we know it.

The periodic table was last updated in 2016 with four new chemical elements. What is a chemical element? What is the atomic structure of the newest chemical elements? How did they get their names?

Sodium is a useful chemical element. You consume it as table salt regularly. Learn about salt mining, sodium uses, and what problems too much sodium can cause.

Hydrogen’s tendency towards combustion is what makes it both a dangerous chemical element and a useful energy source.

Heavy metal is a term for some toxic chemical elements. They can cause problems like bioaccumulation, but are useful in nuclear medicine and medical imaging.