BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

Business Daily

Factual: Money

The daily drama of money and work from the BBC.

Business Daily: Elements: Magnesium

Bulletins

Elements: Magnesium

30/09/2015 GMT

BBC World Service - Business Daily, Elements: Magnesium

The metal that overcame a fiery reputation to regain its role in making planes and cars

The metal that overcame a reputation for fuelling explosive fires and being prone to corrosion, and regained its role in making planes and cars lighter and more efficient.

This metal played a part in the worst car crash in history, the 1955 Le Mans disaster, helping to make the resulting inferno explosively dangerous. Yet despite its fiery reputation, and its proneness to corrosion, magnesium has regained its historic role in making planes and cars lighter and more efficient.

Presenter Laurence Knight visits Magnesium Elektron, the company behind the alloy used in the ill-fated Le Mans car, to find out how a new breed of alloys has exorcised the demon's in this metal's past. We also hear from researcher Kristin Persson about an entirely new role magnesium could play in the car industry - as an even lighter and more compact replacement for lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles.

(Photo: Magnesium alloy flame test. Credit: Magnesium Elektron)

BBC World Service

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Business Daily

Elements: Magnesium

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

About BBC World Service