Nitrogen

Nitrogen makes up about 78% of the air we breathe. Its two atoms hold each other with a strong triple bond, so the gas is very unreactive, which is why it is used to shield food, chemicals and electronics from oxygen. Industry gets it by cooling air until it turns liquid, then separating the parts.

Breaking that bond takes effort. The Haber–Bosch process does it by reacting nitrogen with hydrogen to make ammonia, the starting point for most fertilizer. In the television, nitrogen holds the copper in place in copper phthalocyanine, sits in the rings of the red pigment, forms the reactive ends of oxydianiline, and bonds with titanium to make the hard, golden titanium nitride used in chips.