Everything we can see and touch, and quite a lot that we can’t as well, is made of tiny particles called atoms. Some substances, like particles of this iron, contain only one kind of atom. Iron is an ...

In this video excerpt from NOVA's "Hunting the Elements," New York Times technology columnist David Pogue investigates chemical reactions involving sodium. Find out how the electron configuration of ...

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. WOMAN: The Greeks had many ideas about the chemistry of things. But the one who came closest to the ...

You may have noticed that the rock formations are very different colors. The rock formations on the left are from Red Rock State Park in Texas, and on the right is El Capitan Mountain in Yosemite ...

Helium, the most noble of the noble gases, long thought to be completely inert and thus too standoffish to bond with other atoms, recently surprised chemists by forming chemical compounds after all.

The heaviest element that humans have ever found is called oganesson. Each atom of the stuff packs a whopping 118 protons into its dense center. In contrast, hydrogen—the most abundant element in the ...

Changing the chemistry of a compound is difficult by itself, but modifying materials only a few atoms thick is its own challenge. A group of University of Chicago scientists announced an innovative ...

Which is your favourite chemical element? To mark the International Year of the Periodic Table, our science journalists will be arguing for their pick from the 118 known elements. In this instalment, ...