Everything in nature, from the mountains and the oceans to the air we breathe and food we eat are made up of simple substances called elements.
You may have already heard of several of them, including gold, iron, oxygen, and helium, but these are just four out of a total of 118. Many have unique – and sometimes surprising – chemical and physical properties.
Gallium, for example, is a solid but melts in your hand. A compound of sulfur gives off a nasty smell of rotten eggs. Fluorine is a gas that can burn a hole straight through concrete!
The elements are rarely found in their pure form. Mostly, they are combined with each other to make compounds, which make up substances around us.
For example, hydrogen and oxygen make water, sodium and chlorine form salt, and carbon is found in millions of compounds, many of which – including proteins and sugars – make our bodies work.
To find out more about the elements, we need to take a good look at the periodic table.
This is used by scientists around the world to list and detail the elements. It shows the key information
