Everything around you — water, salt, metal, your own body — exists because atoms join together in a few specific ways. This episode explains chemical bonds, the invisible glue that turns a handful of elements into the endless variety of the material world.

You’ll come away understanding why atoms bond at all, the difference between ionic, covalent and metallic bonds, and how the way atoms stick together explains why salt dissolves, why diamonds are hard, and why metals conduct electricity.

Talking Science is sponsored by Kinsoft. Visit www.kinsoft.com.au

Further reading: Khan Academy – “Chemical bonds”; Royal Society of Chemistry – “Bonding”; Peter Atkins, Chemistry: A Very Short Introduction.