Site terms

What this site is

Minerals, materials, elements and how they connect, where every figure is shown with the source it came from and how well established it is. Those judgements are on the page rather than hidden behind it, so you can weigh a claim yourself. How that works is set out in how we work.

This site does not cover everything, and it says so wherever the shortfall matters — including on its own coverage page. An absence here means we have not covered something yet, not that it does not exist.

What it is not

Nothing on this site is safety, medical, engineering, legal or financial advice. Materials data has real physical consequences: a substance that is inert in one form is hazardous in another, a figure measured under one set of conditions does not transfer to a different set, and a property recorded for a pure element may not hold for an alloy or a commercial grade of it.

If you are specifying a material, handling a substance, or making any decision where being wrong has a cost, treat this site as a starting point and verify against the primary source — which every claim here names precisely so that you can.

We publish what our sources support and mark our confidence in it honestly. We do not warrant that any figure is correct, current, or fit for a particular purpose, and we cannot accept liability for decisions taken on the basis of it.

Reusing what is here

There is no single licence covering this site, and claiming one would be wrong. What is here is drawn from sources that carry their own terms — some public domain, some open licences with attribution or share-alike conditions, some that permit reading but not redistribution. Every one is listed on data sources with where its terms stand and whether we are free to publish from it.

Facts themselves are not owned by anybody. A melting point is a measurement, and reusing it is not a licensing question. What licences govern is the particular expression of a dataset, and the compilation.

So: quote and cite freely, and follow the original source’s terms if you are reusing a substantial part of a dataset. Our editorial writing — the prose explaining and connecting things — is ours, and we ask for attribution and a link if you reuse it. If you want to do something larger, ask; the answer is likely to be yes.

Automated access

Crawling for indexing is welcome within the published robots policy. Bulk scraping that degrades the service for other readers is not. There is no API yet; if you need structured access to any of this, it is easier for both of us if you ask.

Getting something corrected

If a claim here is wrong, we want to know, and correcting it is not a favour — it is the point of recording sources in the first place. See contact and corrections.

Changes

These terms may change as the site grows — an API, or accounts, would need terms that govern them. The version on this page is the one in force.

Use of HEKNO services

HEKNO services are provided for lawful, ordinary use. You must not misuse a service, interfere with its operation or security, attempt unauthorised access, or use it in a way that breaches applicable law or another party’s rights.

Content is provided for general information. HEKNO does not warrant that material is complete, current or fit for a particular purpose, and nothing on a HEKNO service is professional advice unless expressly stated. Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, and statutory consumer rights are unaffected.

Rights in HEKNO material are governed by intellectual property and content use. Personal information is governed by privacy.

Questions about these terms: hello@hekno.co.uk.