Chemistry: A Volatile History Chemistry: A Volatile History Chemistry: A Volatile History is a 2010 BBC documentary on the history of chemistry presented by Jim Al-Khalili. It was nominated for the 2010 British Academy Television Awards in the category Specialist Factual. Only in the last 200 years have we known what an element is – a substance that cannot be broken down further by chemical reaction. The Ancient Greeks, with no way of breaking open substances, could only base their ideas of the elements on what they could see: Earth, Fire, Water and Air. In the 16th century alchemists were busy trying to turn
Solidus (chemistry) not coincide. If a gap exists between the solidus and liquidus it is called the freezing range, and within that gap, the substance consists of a mixture of solid and liquid phases (like a slurry). Such is the case, for example, with the olivine (forsterite-fayalite) system. In eutectic mixtures the solidus and liquidus temperatures coincide at a point known as the eutectic point. At the eutectic point, the solid congruently melts (i.e., melts completely). Solidus (chemistry) In chemistry, materials science, and physics, the solidus is the locus of temperatures (a curve on a phase diagram) below which a given substance