NOVA: Hunting the Elements

In a chemistry lab at New Mexico Tech, Senior Research Scientist Christa Hockensmith shows David how to test for elements in bomb debris.

Credit: Courtesy of WGBH Educational Foundation

David Pogue spins viewers through the world of weird, extreme chemistry on a quest to unlock the secrets of the elements.

What are things made of? It’s a simple question with an astonishing answer. Fewer than 100 naturally occurring elements form the ingredients of everything in our world — from solid rocks to ethereal gases, from scorching acids to the living cells in our body. David Pogue, host of NOVA: Hunting the Elements, airing Wednesday, April 4, 2012 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV/HD (DT21.1/cable 11/cable 1011), spins viewers through the world of weird, extreme chemistry on a quest to unlock the secrets of the elements. Why are some elements, like platinum and gold, relatively inert, while others, like phosphorus and potassium, are violently explosive? Why are some vital to every breath we take, while others are potentially lethal? Punctuated by surprising and often alarming experiments, David Pogue takes NOVA on a roller coaster ride through nature’s hidden lab and the compelling stories of discovery that revealed its secrets.