Cerium - combustible and confusing

Cerium is the most abundant rare-earth element and pops up in self-cleaning ovens, cigarette lighter flints and spectacle glass. Find out more with Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 19 of Elemental.

Cerium is one of the lanthanoids, also known as rare-earth elements. They are a series of chemical elements that sit on a separate line at the bottom of the periodic table.

Cerium is the most abundant of the rare-earth elements and it pops up in spectacle glass and as a UV filter in window glass.

It is also how self-cleaning ovens clean, and how cigarette lighter flints spark.

All this and more as we explore cerium with Professor Allan Blackman from AUT.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details