| 75% of the universe is hydrogen, the simplest and most common element | Hydrogen |
| Hydrogen is extremely flammable and will easily explode | |
| Water is made of hydrogen and oxygen, but it can quench fires | |
| Henry Cavendish discovered hydrogen in 1766 | |
| The word hydrogen is Greek for "water creator", as burning it makes water | |
| Helium is the second most common element, making almost 25% of matter | Helium |
| Inhaling helium emphasises the higher-pitched tones in our voices | |
| Helium was discovered after spectral analysis of sunlight in 1868 | |
| Because of that it was named after Helios, the Greek sun god | |
| Helium is lighter than air and not flammable so it's used to fill airships | |
| Oxygen, in air and water, is essential for complex life forms like animals | Oxygen |
| Ozone is a type of oxygen formed by 3 rather than the usual 2 atoms | |
| When oxygen was first discovered in 1774 it was named "dephlogisticated air" | |
| Most of the oxygen in our air is produced by plants photosynthesising | |
| Despite its name, oxidation doesn't necessarily involve oxygen | |
| Carbon forms more compounds than any other element | Carbon |
| There are many carbon allotropes (forms) including diamonds and graphite | |
| All life on Earth is based on carbon. Alien life may be different | |
| Carbon has the highest melting point of all elements: 3,500 degrees Celsius | |
| Carbon was "discovered" in 1789, but men were using it since ancient times | |
| Neon is the 5th most abundant element in the universe but is rare on Earth | Neon |
| When electrically charged neon gas emits a brilliant red-orange light | |
| This made it useful for advertisers and in 1913 a large sign was set up in Paris | |
| The name "neon" means "new" in ancient Greek | |
| It was discovered in 1898 by Sir William Ramsay and Morris W Travers | |
| Approximately 78% of the air we breathe is nitrogen | Nitrogen |
| Nitrogen is present in DNA and proteins so is essential for all living things | |
| Nitrogen was named "azote", meaning "without life", by Antoine Lavoisier | |
| Liquid nitrogen boils at -96 degrees Celsius. It has uses but is very dangerous | |
| "The bends" happens when nitrogen bubbles form in the blood | |
| If you pour water on a magnesium fire you make it worse. Hydrogen is made | Magnesium |
| Chlorophyl, essential for photosynthesis, contains magnesium | |
| We need it too for 300 or so bodily functions | |
| It was discovered in 1755 but was not isolated until 1808 by Humphrey Davy | |
| It takes its name from the Magnesia region of Greece | |
| Silicon is a metalloid. It behaves as a metal and a non-metal | Silicon |
| Silicon is the second most abundant element on Earth after oxygen | |
| Sand is made of silicon (silicon dioxide), and so is glass | |
| Silicon has many uses as varied as microprocessors and medical implants | |
| Jöns Jacob Berzelius discovered silicon in 1824. Its name means "flint carbon" | |
| The Earth's core is made of iron. It generates our magnetic field | Iron |
| Iron reacts with oxygen and water to make rust, or iron oxide | |
| We need iron to carry oxygen around our bodies | |
| Iron's symbol is Fe, short for its Latin name, "ferrum" | |
| People first discovered and started using iron as early as 5,000 BCE | |
| Sulfur is also known as "brimstone" which means "stone that burns" | Sulfur |
| It can be spelt as "sulphur" or "sulfur". The latter is always used in science | |
| Sulfide compounds stink. They are in skunk scent and rotten eggs | |
| Acid rain is caused by sulfur dioxide, a by-product of burning fossil fuels | |
| We've known sulfur for millennia but it was not seen as an element until 1789 | |
