Molybdenum

By John Emsley2015-03-09T00:00:00

John Emsley looks at an element that holds the key to life on Earth

In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the city-sized supercomputer Deep Thought calculates the ‘Answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything’. After seven and a half million years of processing the result is … 42. Confusing to Deep Thought’s creators, but to a chemist, the answer makes sense: 42 is the atomic number of molybdenum – the key to life on Earth.

John Emsley explores how molybdenum, essential to all living creatures, can cause sore feet and heads.

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