Kitchen Chemistry

Find out all about the chemistry of the kitchen

More From Kitchen Chemistry

Kitchen Chemistry: Elemental

Eating metal?

kitchen-chemistry-banner

Elements are like the building blocks of chemistry – there are around 100 found in nature – and tonnes of them are in the food we eat. Like Iron!

Yep, the metal stuff – it’s not just for saucepans – you get iron in breakfast cereals.

Other elements can be found in all sorts of food – Calcium is found in milk, and Sodium combines with Chlorine to make salt, and you get that in pretty much anything that tastes salty. Like crisps!

That’s not all either! Sulphur combines with Hydrogen to give eggs their eggy smell, and Potassium is another element – one our bodies need to keep healthy – and this is found in bananas and nuts.

And a very common combination of elements is when Carbon and Hydrogen combine with Oxygen to make Carbohydrates – you get these in starchy pasta and potatoes – and in sugars, like chocolate.

> Visit the Kitchen Chemistry Home
> Download the series as a free podcast from iTunes

Kitchen Chemistry

Find out all about the chemistry of the kitchen

More From Kitchen Chemistry
​