The discovery of phosphorus | Chemistry: A Volatile History

01: Discovering the Elements | Chemistry: A Volatile History

The story of how the elements were discovered and mapped begins with the alchemists who questioned that the worl...

Hydrogen | Chemistry: A Volatile History

Cavendish accidentally discovered hydrogen, the first elemental gas, when experimenting with air.

Lavoisier's Elements | Chemistry: A Volatile History

Lavoisier was the first scientist to define what an element was.

Mercury | Chemistry: A Volatile History

Mercury is fourteen times heavier than water, and so dense even a steel bolt will float in it.

Oxygen | Chemistry: A Volatile History

The story of how Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen.

Properties of Potassium | Chemistry: A Volatile History

Spec references J248: C4.1a J250: C4.1a. Professor Jim Al-Khalili describes properties of potassium and some of its u...

Nylon | Chemistry: A Volatile History

Jim Al-Khalili reveals the breakthroughs which harnessed elements' ability to release vast power, showing how scientists are trying to ...

Einstein and the beetle | Gravity and Me: The Force that Shapes our Lives

Professor Jim Al-Khalili explains Einstein's analogy of gravity that he told his son to explain his...

Prof Jim Al Khalili goes inside Calder Hall for his first look inside the core of a nuclear reactor | Britain's Nuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield

Nuclear physicist Professo...

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore on teenage brains | The Life Scientific

Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore talks to Jim Al-Khalili about her research on the developing teenage brain.

The race to prove Maxwell's theory | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Jim Al-Khalili explains how physics professor Oliver Lodge proved Maxwell's theory that electrom...

Fukushima: Is Nuclear Power Safe? | Horizon

Six months after the explosions at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, Professor Jim Al-Khalili sets out to discover whether nu...

Arabic, the language of God | Science and Islam

Jim Al-Khalili looks at how Islamic caliphs encouraged scientific research and made Arabic the official language of their vas...

Introduction to Electronic Structure and Chemical Properties | Atom

Spec references J248: C2.2h J250: C2.2h. Professor Jim Al-Khalili explains how chemical properties are de...

Electrolysis - Discovery of Potassium | Curriculum Bites

Spec references J248: C3.4b J250: C3.4b. Professor Jim Al-Khalili recreates the electrolysis experiment that lead to...