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