Elements: Bromine
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 17 September 2014
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Bromine puts out fires - both in the home and in the heart. But despite its reputation as an anti-aphrodisiac, this chemical element's biggest use is in fire retardants, found in everything from your sofa to your radio. But do these bromine-based chemicals pose a risk to your health? Presenter Justin Rowlatt hears from chemistry professor Andrea Sella of University College London, about his own childhood encounter with this noxious red liquid.
Justin speaks to chemicals industry analyst Laura Syrett of Industrial Minerals about why she thinks bromine may have been the victim of 'chemophobia' - an irrational public prejudice against chemicals. And, the BBC's Mark Lobel travels to the world's biggest source of bromine, the Dead Sea, to see the bromine works of Israel Chemicals Ltd, and comes face-to-face with some of the company's allegedly dangerous products in the hands of deputy head Anat Tal.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I am the god of hell fire, and I bring you fire. |
| 0:04.6 | Hello and welcome to an episode of Elemental Economics from Business Daily that promises |
| 0:09.5 | to quench your burning desire for chemistry. |
| 0:12.9 | That's because this week's element is one that downs his flames both in your home and in your |
| 0:18.2 | heart. |
| 0:18.7 | During the First World War, bromide was given to soldiers, certainly in Italy, |
| 0:24.4 | supposedly to dampen their libido. |
| 0:27.2 | Yes, today we are looking at bromine. |
| 0:29.4 | In its elemental form, it's a pretty vicious, rare liquid that you would not want on your skin. |
| 0:35.4 | But bromine-based chemicals crop up in everything from the sofa you're |
| 0:39.1 | sitting on to the radio you are listening to and have saved thousands of people from burning |
| 0:44.5 | to death. Yet despite this good work, in recent years bromine has also caused one or two |
| 0:50.0 | health scares. It's pretty dangerous if it does get into the human body and it can cause |
| 0:54.4 | cancer, developmental disorders, thyroid problems. In other words, no matter how much you may love us, |
| 1:00.5 | don't eat your radios. |
| 1:07.7 | So today we will be handling very carefully a liquid that is both noxious and life-saving. |
| 1:15.2 | But does bromine deserve its unpleasant reputation? |
| 1:18.1 | And what is it that makes it so good at dampening the flames? |
| 1:21.4 | Well, there's only one person to put these questions to our own chemical inferno, |
| 1:26.7 | Professor Andrea Seller of University College London. |
| 1:30.8 | Bromene is an element from the right-hand side of the periodic table, and it's actually a very |
| 1:35.3 | close relative of chlorine, iodine, and fluorine. The four of them really form a nice little group, |
... |
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