The Modern Alchemist : Ri Channel. When medieval alchemists staged spectacular stunts in front of royalty they never revealed the secrets of their mystical potions and fire-breathing creations.
Today's chemists can perform equally impressive feats, but they do so to explain and explore the extreme frontiers of our material world. Dr Peter Wothers is the Modern Alchemist. Strange Matter.
The Periodic Table. Abundance of elements in Earth's crust. Abundance (atom fraction) of the chemical elements in Earth's upper continental crust as a function of atomic number.
The rarest elements in the crust (shown in yellow) are not the heaviest, but are rather the siderophile (iron-loving) elements in the Goldschmidt classification of elements. These have been depleted by being relocated deeper into the Earth's core. Their abundance in meteoroids is higher. Additionally, tellurium and selenium have been depleted from the crust due to formation of volatile hydrides. The table shows the abundance of elements in Earth's crust.
Silicon. Oxygen. Concrete. Gold. Wool. Aluminium. Sodium. Petroleum. Wood. Iron. Glass.