0:00:02 > 0:00:06- This is Absolute Genius. - 'We're going to introduce you to some incredible geniuses,
0:00:06 > 0:00:08'amazing people who had groundbreaking ideas.'
0:00:08 > 0:00:12'And we'll see how their genius shapes the world we live in today.'
0:00:12 > 0:00:15'So sit down, buckle up
0:00:15 > 0:00:17'and get ready for take off!'
0:00:36 > 0:00:39'Three, two, one, liftoff.'
0:00:51 > 0:00:54Ah, you join me in the bath, where today we go inside
0:00:54 > 0:00:59one of the greatest scientific minds this world has ever seen.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02He was famous for coming up with the genius idea whilst in the bath.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05Not only was he a fantastic mathematician and engineer,
0:01:05 > 0:01:08but his genius machines are still being used today.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12He did all of this over 2,000 years ago.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14Why are you in my bath?
0:01:15 > 0:01:18I don't... I don't know.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22Ladies and gentlemen, we give you Archimedes.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24Why are you in his bath, Dom?
0:01:24 > 0:01:27'Archimedes was a Greek guy with a great beard
0:01:27 > 0:01:32'born a ridiculously long time ago, around the year 287BC.'
0:01:32 > 0:01:37'Archimedes was a genius when it came to maths, physics and engineering.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40'He was so clever, he was hired to solve tricky problems
0:01:40 > 0:01:42'by the King of Syracuse.'
0:01:42 > 0:01:46'He came up with brilliant theories about why objects float.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50'And he built amazing machines to help defend the king's city against attack.'
0:01:52 > 0:01:55You might know the story of Archimedes being in a bath
0:01:55 > 0:02:00and coming up with a fantastic idea that helped him solve a problem that had been puzzling him for ages.
0:02:00 > 0:02:02He was so excited about solving this problem
0:02:02 > 0:02:07that he jumped out of the bath, nudey, shouting out, "Eureka! Eureka!"
0:02:07 > 0:02:09In Greek that means, "I've got it, I've got it!"
0:02:09 > 0:02:11But what exactly had he got?
0:02:11 > 0:02:14If only Fran, our genius scientist, was here to tell us more.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18So, Archimedes was working on a problem he had been set by the king
0:02:18 > 0:02:21because the King didn't know whether his crown was made of pure gold or not.
0:02:21 > 0:02:26- So it was at that moment in the bath that Archimedes solved the problem?- Yes.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28But why did he get so excited about that?
0:02:28 > 0:02:30Well, the solution didn't just allow him to work out
0:02:30 > 0:02:32whether crowns were made of pure gold or not,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35it allowed him to figure out why things float and why things sink.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39And that is much more useful. Come with me.
0:02:39 > 0:02:44I mean, we're not complaining or anything, but what's all this got to do with Archimedes?
0:02:44 > 0:02:48He knew that different materials could weigh the same
0:02:48 > 0:02:51but you get different amounts of material for that same weight.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53So what you're saying is, basically,
0:02:53 > 0:02:57some light and frothy marshmallows, you get loads of them for 100 grams.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00- Yeah.- Ah, but only a few aniseed balls.- Exactly.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04And Archimedes figured out that the more of the material you get for that certain weight,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08the more likely it is to float. If you don't believe me, let's try it.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11Ah, sinkage. Get them in.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14There we are. Floating!
0:03:14 > 0:03:17- Eureka!- Eureka!- I'll say!
0:03:17 > 0:03:20'Until Archimedes came along more than 2,000 years ago,
0:03:20 > 0:03:24'building a ship that would float well was always a trial-and-error operation.'
0:03:24 > 0:03:27There's no doubt Archimedes was a really clever bloke.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29Look, there's something else here.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32He set to catch the full rays of the sun at noon.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34He's saying here that he set fire to boats.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37'2,000 years ago, Archimedes made a special heat ray
0:03:37 > 0:03:41'to defend his city walls against attack from Roman ships.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45'By cleverly positioning mirrors, Archimedes caught the sun's rays
0:03:45 > 0:03:49'and concentrated them to make one amazingly hot heat ray.'
0:03:49 > 0:03:53I've actually got a specially-shaped mirror here for you.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56- What can we set on fire? - I don't know.
0:03:56 > 0:04:01- Ah! Just like Archimedes did.- What? - Let's set fire to a boat.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04- Where are you going to find a big red boat?- There!- Oh!
0:04:05 > 0:04:08Right, in you come. Pop your safety specs on,
0:04:08 > 0:04:12because what we've got here is a heat lamp.
0:04:12 > 0:04:17- Oh!- And we're going to use this along with this other mirror as our artificial sun.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20So that's kind of like your sun and this is the reflector
0:04:20 > 0:04:24- which is going to be generating the heat, yes?- Yeah.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26We can't exactly set fire to a boat in here, though, can we?
0:04:26 > 0:04:29Well, no, that's why I've got two other things to show you.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31Firstly, this stuff, fuse wire.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33And that we can ignite in here
0:04:33 > 0:04:37but then that will take the flame outside where we can light the boat at a safe distance.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40- And I've also got this stuff. - What, cotton wool?
0:04:40 > 0:04:44No, no, this is flash wool. You remember me using this stuff as a magician.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46- It just bursts into flames and disappears.- Yeah.
0:04:46 > 0:04:51- Go on, then, ready? Oh! - That's my BBC pass!
0:04:52 > 0:04:56'Now, don't copy this at home. We're doing this as a controlled experiment.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00'But setting fire to stuff in your back garden is a no-no.'
0:05:00 > 0:05:04In three, two, one, go!
0:05:10 > 0:05:13- Oh!- Go on!- Right!
0:05:17 > 0:05:20There she goes, slowly and steadily to the boat down there.
0:05:20 > 0:05:25- What's in the boat? - I'll tell you what's in the boat. A nice combustible bag of tricks.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28'This is finally it.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33- 'Or is it?' - That boat's absolutely fine.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36A failed experiment. No bangs, flashes...
0:05:37 > 0:05:41- ..whooshes...- F-f-f-fire! - Hm?- F-f-fire!
0:05:41 > 0:05:45# I'm on fire
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Eureka! We've done it!
0:05:48 > 0:05:50FIRECRACKERS EXPLODE
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Archimedes, you are an absolute genius.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26'Three, two, one, liftoff.'
0:06:36 > 0:06:42"Two... One... Liftoff! We have liftoff!"
0:06:43 > 0:06:46'More than 40 years ago, the world watched
0:06:46 > 0:06:49'as Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.'
0:06:51 > 0:06:56Yes, this is exactly what it would've been like when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon!
0:06:59 > 0:07:02What are you doing? Stop it!
0:07:02 > 0:07:05Right, get out!
0:07:07 > 0:07:10HE GASPS
0:07:12 > 0:07:16'He was the mastermind behind the rocket that blasted Apollo 11 to the moon.'
0:07:18 > 0:07:22In the words of NASA, the greatest rocket scientist in history.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26We give you... Wernher von Braun.
0:07:26 > 0:07:27Let me out!
0:07:27 > 0:07:31'Von Braun was born in Germany in 1912.'
0:07:31 > 0:07:35With me, it started with the moon. My parents gave me a telescope.
0:07:35 > 0:07:40'As a child, he was fascinated by the idea of going to space.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45'So were a lot of other people. And they thought rocket power might be the way to get there.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48'But probably not in a car.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51'Von Braun studied maths and physics
0:07:51 > 0:07:54'to understand the science of how rockets work.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58'But it would be years before he built one to go to the moon,
0:07:58 > 0:08:03'because when he was 20, Von Braun started developing rockets for the German army.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06'Then, in 1939, the Second World War started.'
0:08:08 > 0:08:11'Von Braun led the team that developed the V2 missile
0:08:11 > 0:08:13'used by the Nazis during the war.
0:08:13 > 0:08:19'The V2 could hit targets up to 200 miles away, killing thousands of people.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23'As a weapon of war, it was deadly,
0:08:23 > 0:08:25'but as a rocket design, it was groundbreaking.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30'So, in 1945, when Germany was defeated and the war ended,
0:08:30 > 0:08:34'America secretly hired Von Braun and other Nazi scientists like him
0:08:34 > 0:08:36'to work for the US.'
0:08:38 > 0:08:41'Von Braun's genius idea was the Saturn V,
0:08:41 > 0:08:43'the world's most powerful rocket.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46'It stood 111 metres tall,
0:08:46 > 0:08:50'and fully-fuelled, weighed about the same as 400 elephants.'
0:08:50 > 0:08:54'And in 1969, it helped land men on the moon
0:08:54 > 0:08:56'in the Apollo 11 spacecraft.'
0:08:57 > 0:09:03"It's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
0:09:03 > 0:09:06'Now, we can't get to the moon,
0:09:06 > 0:09:09'but we have made it to the home of the East Anglian Rocket Society,
0:09:09 > 0:09:11'or EARS for short.'
0:09:11 > 0:09:16'We've asked one of their finest rocketeers to help us build and launch a rocket of our own.'
0:09:16 > 0:09:20Rockets normally have a tube that forms the main part of the body.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23Fuel goes in the back, pointy bit goes on the front,
0:09:23 > 0:09:24and that's kind of it.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31'Our rocket is almost ready to fly.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34'It just needs some rocket fuel and a name.'
0:09:34 > 0:09:37We're going to name this rocket Pat!
0:09:37 > 0:09:39Oh, for goodness sake!
0:09:40 > 0:09:43'We're leaving Ben to add the rocket fuel and get Pat ready to fly,
0:09:43 > 0:09:48'but what we still need to find out is exactly how rockets work.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51'If only there was a friendly scientist around to explain.'
0:09:51 > 0:09:54Ah! Fran! We would like to know how rockets go up.
0:09:54 > 0:09:59To make something go up, all you've got to do is push something else down.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02- Agh!- Not like that! But we're going to do it with this pop bottle here.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06It's got some water in and we're going to push that water down
0:10:06 > 0:10:09and then that'll push the pop bottle up.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12- I've seen these in toy shops. - Yep. And to make the water go down,
0:10:12 > 0:10:17- all you've got to do is pump some air in.- Pump it! Right.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19- Pumping!- Do you want to put your foot on there, as well?
0:10:19 > 0:10:23- Keep pumping. That's it. Keep going.- Come on!- Keep going!
0:10:24 > 0:10:27- Agh!- Great!- That was brilliant.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31'But not as brilliant as our very own rocket, Pat!'
0:10:32 > 0:10:36Three... Two... One...
0:10:36 > 0:10:39- Pat! Pat! Pat!- Blast off!
0:10:41 > 0:10:43Ohhh!
0:10:44 > 0:10:48- Brilliant!- That's it! It's gone!
0:10:49 > 0:10:53'That was genius! But we don't want to stop there.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56'Inspired by Von Braun, we want to send a man all the way to space.'
0:10:58 > 0:11:02I did a bit of number crunching. We can't afford a bigger rocket to send into space,
0:11:02 > 0:11:05so instead we're going to be using a balloon!
0:11:05 > 0:11:09And here's the man we're sending up, Diddy-Dom, complete with tin-foil spacesuit
0:11:09 > 0:11:12- cos we couldn't afford a real one. - And a massive slap-head.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16'To help get our idea off the ground, it's Steve Randall,
0:11:16 > 0:11:18'an expert in high altitude ballooning.'
0:11:18 > 0:11:21We want to try and send Diddy-Dom here up to the outer rim of space.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24- No trouble.- Is it possible? - Yeah, absolutely.- Great. How?
0:11:24 > 0:11:27- Well, we'll stick him into this rig. - Oh, OK.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30'Diddy-Dom will sit in his own polystyrene space pod.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34'We're using mini cameras to film him.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38'The helium balloon should lift Diddy-Dom thousands of metres to the edge of space.'
0:11:38 > 0:11:42This is it! Three... Two... One...
0:11:42 > 0:11:45- Blast off!- Whey!
0:11:47 > 0:11:52'Just seconds after launch, he's already 275 metres high.'
0:11:53 > 0:11:57'We're tracking Diddy-Dom's flight using Steve's GPS system and sat-nav.'
0:12:03 > 0:12:09'Diddy-Dom is floating almost 30,000 metres above Earth.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12'So high, the blue has disappeared from the sky.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16'And he can see the curvature of the earth.'
0:12:16 > 0:12:20- No way! That is awesome! - It almost seems unreal!
0:12:20 > 0:12:23Von Braun, it was you that inspired us to do this.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27We salute him because he is an absolute genius.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29I am! Thank you!
0:12:54 > 0:12:58'Three, two, one, liftoff.'
0:13:07 > 0:13:10Today we're going to introduce you
0:13:10 > 0:13:12to one of the greatest scientists ever to live.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14A genius who helped uncover the invisible force
0:13:14 > 0:13:18that controls not only how everything in the world moves, but everything in the universe.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21- From this bouncing ball... - To the stars and moon in the sky.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24Ladies and gents, we give you the man who discovered how gravity works,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27- Sir Isaac Newton.- Oh! Get me down!
0:13:27 > 0:13:29All right, then.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33- There you are. Gravity.- Aghh!
0:13:33 > 0:13:36'Newton was born in 1643,
0:13:36 > 0:13:40'when the laws of nature and the universe were a big mystery.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42'It was the early days of modern science.'
0:13:44 > 0:13:46'Newton made many advances
0:13:46 > 0:13:49'in our understanding of the universe, maths and physics.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54'But it was here where he began to make his groundbreaking discoveries
0:13:54 > 0:13:56'about gravity.'
0:13:57 > 0:14:00And with this apple. Well, not this apple, the original is a bit mouldy by now,
0:14:00 > 0:14:03but with an apple. Watch this.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09Did that give you any genius thoughts?
0:14:10 > 0:14:13- No.- Well, it did for Isaac, because he started thinking,
0:14:13 > 0:14:17why did the apple go downwards instead of upwards or sideways?
0:14:17 > 0:14:20He started to think that there was some kind of invisible force
0:14:20 > 0:14:23that was pulling the apple and everything else towards the ground.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25And this force was gravity.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30'Newton's genius idea was in understanding how gravity works.
0:14:30 > 0:14:35'He realised it's a pulling force that makes apples fall to the ground
0:14:35 > 0:14:38'and stops people floating off into the sky.'
0:14:38 > 0:14:42'And he discovered gravity's force even tugs on the moon,
0:14:42 > 0:14:45'keeping it orbiting the earth. Genius!'
0:14:46 > 0:14:49- Hey, Fran! How you doing?- Hello! - We've been learning about gravity
0:14:49 > 0:14:52but we want to know how it affects us as people.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56- Well, first of all, step on these scales, Dom.- Right. OK.
0:14:56 > 0:14:5975 kilograms, yeah? Let's say that.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01- Is it too many dirty kebabs?- I have. - You have eaten a bit much.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04Is there any way by science you can make me lighter?
0:15:04 > 0:15:08Yeah, there is. Here on Earth, gravity is what it is, we can't really change it.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11But what we can do is there's another way to change your weight,
0:15:11 > 0:15:16by changing the push and pulls on your body, and that's called G-force.
0:15:16 > 0:15:21So, here I have got Mr Newton,
0:15:21 > 0:15:24and we can see how much he weighs on these scales.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27What we're going to do to Mr Newton is speed him up and slow him down.
0:15:27 > 0:15:32And that will subject him to different pushes and pulls and it should change his weight.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34- Get on the swing. - All right. Here we go.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37Oh, yeah. It's getting heavier. Is that right?
0:15:37 > 0:15:40Yeah. He should be getting heavier when you speed up.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43- When you slow down, he should get a bit lighter.- Yes.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45- And that's G-force.- Agh!
0:15:45 > 0:15:47Ohh! SMASHING
0:15:47 > 0:15:49Oh, painful!
0:15:49 > 0:15:53'We want to experience some proper G-force,
0:15:53 > 0:15:57'so one of us is about to go on this, the human centrifuge.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00'And it's not going to be me!'
0:16:00 > 0:16:02- You look quite nervous now, to be honest.- Good.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14'A human centrifuge is used to test the effect of G-force on the body.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17'The kind of G-force experienced by jet pilots.'
0:16:18 > 0:16:21'Jet pilots can experience up to 9 G.
0:16:21 > 0:16:25'It makes their bodies feel incredibly heavy with the blood inside pulled downwards.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29'Some people experience blackouts or G-LOC,
0:16:29 > 0:16:31'that's G-induced Loss Of Consciousness.'
0:16:34 > 0:16:37'Is it any wonder I'm looking nervous?'
0:16:38 > 0:16:40Stand by.
0:16:46 > 0:16:48No, no, no.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55I'm going to be honest, I can't bear it.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57Let's do it one more time.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02So this time they're starting out a lot slower, so he gets used to it.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05So this is 1 G. Come on, Dom.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09'At 2.6 G, the centrifuge will make Dom weigh
0:17:09 > 0:17:13'around two and a half times his normal weight.'
0:17:13 > 0:17:16My cheeks are really coming down now.
0:17:16 > 0:17:21- I'm having to push against the floor to stop blacking out. - Look at his face!
0:17:21 > 0:17:24It feels like this bag is made out of solid metal.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31'He's done it! Dom's made it up to 2.6 G in the human centrifuge!'
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Slowing down now.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36- HE SIGHS - Wow.
0:17:36 > 0:17:41- Happy with that?- I'm glad I did it. I don't think I want to do it again.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45'We've seen G-force make Dom go very heavy.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48'Now we're ready to take on gravity itself.'
0:17:48 > 0:17:53We are going to defy gravity in what is quite cosily known as
0:17:53 > 0:17:57- the wall of death! - It's quite frankly nuts.
0:17:57 > 0:18:02'Riding the wall of death is a daredevil stunt that dates back to the early 1900s.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05'It involves motorcyclists defying gravity
0:18:05 > 0:18:08'by riding around circular vertical walls.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10'But before we do our challenge,
0:18:10 > 0:18:13'we've got to learn how the bike will stay on the wall.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16'So we're off to Cambridge University, where Newton studied.'
0:18:16 > 0:18:20'And Dr Hunt is going to show us how it works.'
0:18:20 > 0:18:24I want to show you what force it is that's pushing you out onto the wall of death.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28I can feel it a bit. I'm holding myself here really tight.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30It's getting harder! Agh!
0:18:30 > 0:18:35OK! Whey! THEY LAUGH
0:18:35 > 0:18:38- Whoa! - THEY LAUGH
0:18:38 > 0:18:43That force pushing you out is holding your bike onto the wall.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46'So, the bike's pushed outwards by a force.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50'But it needs something else to help it stick to the wall and defy gravity.'
0:18:50 > 0:18:54You need friction for your wall of death to hold you up, to stop you falling down.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58- Now, put that glass of water on my tray here.- Yes.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02- What's he doing now?- The guy's a lunatic!- I know, that's the idea.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05THEY LAUGH Here he goes!
0:19:05 > 0:19:08'Friction is helping hold the water in place.
0:19:08 > 0:19:13'And that same friction should help Dick's bike tyres stick to the wall.'
0:19:13 > 0:19:15ENGINE REVS
0:19:15 > 0:19:20'Dick will now defy gravity by riding the wall of death!'
0:19:26 > 0:19:28'We're off the ground! Just.'
0:19:28 > 0:19:31That's enough. Can we come down now?
0:19:31 > 0:19:33Why are you taking it off?
0:19:33 > 0:19:38- I'm done. - You are such an absolute wuss!
0:19:38 > 0:19:42'Ladies and gentlemen, using what Newton taught us about forces,
0:19:42 > 0:19:44'I will now attempt to beat gravity.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47'But will I be able to go higher than Dick?
0:19:47 > 0:19:49'We're picking up speed.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52'Moving off the floor.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55- 'Getting higher.'- I can't watch.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01'This is unreal.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04'I'm defying gravity.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10'The bike's being pushed out to the wall and friction's helping the tyres stick.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14- 'This really is genius!'- Genius!
0:20:14 > 0:20:17- Now do you know what I mean? - Big wussie!- Do you know what I mean?
0:20:17 > 0:20:20- No! It was like riding a bike! - DICK LAUGHS
0:20:46 > 0:20:50'Three, two, one, liftoff.'
0:21:00 > 0:21:03Today we're going to introduce to you a real bright spark.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06Yeah, a genius who helped us understand electricity.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09Without him, this show might have looked like this.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11- What? No! Don't do that... - CLATTERING
0:21:11 > 0:21:16'Our whole world is alive with electricity.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20'If it hadn't been for today's genius and other pioneers like him,
0:21:20 > 0:21:24'we might never have understood its amazing possibilities.'
0:21:24 > 0:21:27'So who is today's genius?'
0:21:27 > 0:21:31Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Michael Faraday.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33You all right?
0:21:33 > 0:21:38'Faraday was fascinated by electricity, but what is it?'
0:21:38 > 0:21:40'Electricity is a form of energy.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42'We depend on it for just about everything.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45'But more than 200 years ago when Faraday was young,
0:21:45 > 0:21:50'scientists were only just beginning to unlock the incredible potential of electricity.'
0:21:51 > 0:21:54'Faraday was intrigued.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58'So he came to the Royal Institution, the home of scientific research.'
0:21:58 > 0:22:03- Don't touch it!- 'Here he made some of his greatest discoveries.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05'You can almost smell the genius in the air.'
0:22:05 > 0:22:08Can you smell a genius?
0:22:09 > 0:22:13'Faraday's genius idea was to work out the powerful relationship
0:22:13 > 0:22:16'between magnets and electricity.'
0:22:18 > 0:22:22'Faraday found out you can use magnets to make electricity.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25'All you have to do is move a magnet near a wire
0:22:25 > 0:22:30'to get the electricity flowing and... bingo!'
0:22:30 > 0:22:32We want to learn the basics of electricity today.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35Here we've got a coil of wire around this tube.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38Inside the tube, we've got some very strong magnets.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42And here we've got a light, but there aren't any batteries in that.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46- If I just do a bit of simple shaking...- Look at that!
0:22:46 > 0:22:50- Why was this discovery so important? - Well, this exact same thing,
0:22:50 > 0:22:52a magnet moving through a coil of wire,
0:22:52 > 0:22:55is used in gas power stations, coal power stations,
0:22:55 > 0:22:58even wind turbines, to generate the electricity we all use.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04'Thanks to Faraday's generator, electricity can be made
0:23:04 > 0:23:07'on a massive scale, so we can all have it in our homes.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10'It's transported by miles of cables
0:23:10 > 0:23:12'connected up with pylons and substations.'
0:23:12 > 0:23:15'The people who look after the network
0:23:15 > 0:23:18'often have to work with high voltage electricity.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21'High enough to cause a deadly shock.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24'That's where Faraday's genius strikes again.'
0:23:24 > 0:23:27'He discovered people can be shielded from its harmful effects
0:23:27 > 0:23:30'by a metal screen, known as a Faraday Cage.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33'Live-line workers wear a type of Faraday Cage
0:23:33 > 0:23:36'as their suit contains metal thread.'
0:23:37 > 0:23:40'So, the suit is a Faraday Cage,
0:23:40 > 0:23:42'containing positive and negative charges.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45'Positives, which are drawn to the electricity from the power lines,
0:23:45 > 0:23:49'and negatives, which are repelled in the opposite direction.'
0:23:49 > 0:23:52'In all the kerfuffle, they cancel each other out.
0:23:52 > 0:23:58'The inside of the Faraday Cage becomes a charge-free zone. Genius!'
0:23:58 > 0:24:01'So, to test Faraday's Cage to the limit
0:24:01 > 0:24:03'with a human volunteer - Dick.
0:24:03 > 0:24:08'Our challenge - to see how well it protects him from almost a million volts of electricity.'
0:24:09 > 0:24:13'Our problem - if Faraday is wrong...
0:24:13 > 0:24:15'Let's not even go there.'
0:24:17 > 0:24:20- ELECTRICITY BUZZES - Agh!
0:24:20 > 0:24:23HE LAUGHS
0:24:24 > 0:24:26On the head! THEY LAUGH
0:24:27 > 0:24:30THEY LAUGH
0:24:33 > 0:24:35What will I feel like, then, in here?
0:24:35 > 0:24:37- You'll feel nothing.- At all? - Nothing at all.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40You'll possibly smell something.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43- Like what?- Your own trouser juice.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46THEY LAUGH
0:24:47 > 0:24:50'I'm putting all my trust in Faraday's genius discovery.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53'Faraday, don't let me down!'
0:24:53 > 0:24:56ELECTRICITY BUZZES
0:25:01 > 0:25:05'It's working! All those positive and negative charges
0:25:05 > 0:25:09'rushing around the metal of the cage are actually cancelling each other out.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12'No nasty shocks for Dick after all.'
0:25:12 > 0:25:14ELECTRICITY BUZZES
0:25:19 > 0:25:23I'm shaking! The strangest part is the smell.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26The smell of copper just gets really strong.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31- That's not copper. - THEY LAUGH
0:25:31 > 0:25:35Michael Faraday, you are an absolute genius.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37Go on, it's late. Turn off the lights, will you?
0:25:37 > 0:25:39- Not that one! - ELECTRICITY BUZZES
0:26:05 > 0:26:08'Three, two, one, liftoff.'
0:26:18 > 0:26:22Today we're going to introduce you to a genius with a difference.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25A real trailblazer who helped revolutionise
0:26:25 > 0:26:27the way that modern music was made.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31Pioneering techniques that produced sounds that we'd never heard before.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36And she produced possibly one of the most famous pieces of music in this country.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39- DR WHO THEME TUNE PLAYS - 'Today's genius helped create
0:26:39 > 0:26:44- 'the most iconic TV theme tune of all time, Dr Who.'- What did you say?
0:26:44 > 0:26:48'And when Dr Who hit our screens back in 1963,
0:26:48 > 0:26:52'it was the first time that most people had ever heard electronic music.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54'It was groundbreaking.'
0:26:54 > 0:26:56'But she didn't just come up with a catchy tune.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00'In fact, she didn't even write it. It was the way she made it.'
0:27:00 > 0:27:05- Ladies and gentlemen, we give you... Delia Derbyshire.- Hello, chaps!
0:27:05 > 0:27:07'This is a journey into sound.'
0:27:12 > 0:27:16'Born in 1937, Delia grew up during World War II.'
0:27:16 > 0:27:20'Delia loved music, but music back then was very traditional,
0:27:20 > 0:27:24'played by orchestras and nothing like the electronic tunes that she'd go on to create.'
0:27:24 > 0:27:27'Along with music, maths was her other passion,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30'and she graduated with a degree in, yep, you guessed it,
0:27:30 > 0:27:32'maths and music from Cambridge University.'
0:27:32 > 0:27:36First it's the simplest sound of all, which is a sine wave.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39'Having finished university, she got a job at the BBC
0:27:39 > 0:27:42'in a new department called the radiophonic workshop.'
0:27:42 > 0:27:48'The workshop's purpose was to provide unusual music and sound effects for TV and radio.'
0:27:48 > 0:27:52'Of course, shows had used music and sound long before the workshop existed,
0:27:52 > 0:27:54'but it all tended to be much more traditional.'
0:27:57 > 0:27:59Oh, hello darling. How was your day?
0:27:59 > 0:28:02Marvellous, thank you. I went to market.
0:28:02 > 0:28:07- Oh! Did you see anything nice? - Yes. I bought a horse called Brian.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10Brian the horse? COCONUTS CLOP
0:28:10 > 0:28:12Stop this!
0:28:12 > 0:28:16Of course, traditional sound effects like these were very effective
0:28:16 > 0:28:19and are still used today in radio plays to Hollywood movies.
0:28:19 > 0:28:25But by the early 1960s, TV programmes were getting more adventurous and needed sounds and music to match.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29'Back then, space travel was new and exciting.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32'The public was fascinated by the idea of new worlds.'
0:28:32 > 0:28:35'And all this was happening at the same time as Dr Who was launched.
0:28:35 > 0:28:40'But programmes about aliens needed alien sounds.'
0:28:40 > 0:28:45Thankfully, though, new technology meant that by the time Dr Who was ready to hit our screens,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48there was a brand new generation of young, new musicians.
0:28:48 > 0:28:53'And these geniuses were Delia and the radiophonic workshoppers.'
0:28:53 > 0:28:57'The radiophonic's genius idea was to make music and sound effects
0:28:57 > 0:28:59'that no-one in the world had ever heard before.'
0:28:59 > 0:29:03'Using unusual recording equipment, they created strange sounds,
0:29:03 > 0:29:06'such as the sounds of spaceships, monsters and aliens,
0:29:06 > 0:29:09'and, of course, the sound of the TARDIS.'
0:29:13 > 0:29:15No. Still don't get it.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18- 'We needed some serious help.' - Is this really important tape?
0:29:18 > 0:29:22'And we found it in the form of genius composer Mark Ayres,
0:29:22 > 0:29:26'who worked at the radiophonic workshop and even knew Delia.'
0:29:26 > 0:29:30We've been looking around the building at all these machines, but what do they actually do?
0:29:30 > 0:29:34Well, these machines, these are quarter-inch tape machines.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37- On here I've got a very simple tone. - LOW NOTE - One note.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40- If I double the speed of the tape machine... - HIGHER NOTE
0:29:40 > 0:29:43It's gone up an octave. If I halve the speed of the tape machine...
0:29:43 > 0:29:45- LOWER NOTE - It's gone down an octave.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48If I play it and start varying the speed while we do it...
0:29:48 > 0:29:50PITCH GOES UP AND DOWN
0:29:50 > 0:29:53So you can actually make a tune by just...
0:29:53 > 0:29:55That is a bit of a tune, just by going faster and slower.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58And that's the start of making music with tape.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01'And what a start it was.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05'But Mark was about to pull something out of the bag that would blow our minds.'
0:30:05 > 0:30:08- Guess what that is. - What is it? Let's have a look.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11- That is the original master tape. - The original theme tune?- Wow.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14- What year is this from?- 1963.- Wow!
0:30:14 > 0:30:18- Don't drop it!- 'Surely it wouldn't still work, though?'
0:30:18 > 0:30:21- DR WHO THEME TUNE PLAYS - 'Of course it did. '
0:30:21 > 0:30:24That sounds like the tone I was playing with earlier.
0:30:24 > 0:30:26Absolutely. It was done exactly the same way,
0:30:26 > 0:30:29varying the speed of tone and adding some echo to it.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32'Her music was so ahead of its time
0:30:32 > 0:30:35'that it still inspires electro music acts today.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38'Like Orbital, who, with a little help from the Doctor,
0:30:38 > 0:30:42'played their version of Delia's famous tune at a recent festival.
0:30:43 > 0:30:47'The truth was that, although we love our music, we're more about the dancing.'
0:30:48 > 0:30:51But what we have found out is that, Delia Derbyshire,
0:30:51 > 0:30:53you were an absolute genius.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55Thank you, boys!
0:31:20 > 0:31:24'Three, two, one, liftoff.'
0:31:34 > 0:31:37Today we're going to introduce you to an amazing man
0:31:37 > 0:31:40who came up with a genius solution...
0:31:40 > 0:31:42TOILET FLUSHES
0:31:42 > 0:31:45..to a very whiffy problem. I'd leave it for a minute if I were you.
0:31:45 > 0:31:49Yeah. Thanks to him, whatever was in there has now gone
0:31:49 > 0:31:51and we don't have to worry about where it is.
0:31:51 > 0:31:53Just leave it to today's genius,
0:31:53 > 0:31:56who invented London's first giant sewer system.
0:31:56 > 0:31:59Ladies and gentlemen, we give you
0:31:59 > 0:32:02Sir Joseph Bazalgette.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06- HE GASPS - Do you mind? I'm rather busy!
0:32:08 > 0:32:12'Have you ever wondered what happens when you flush the loo?
0:32:12 > 0:32:14'All the waste that goes down your toilet
0:32:14 > 0:32:18'ends up underground in the sewer where it's safely carried away.'
0:32:18 > 0:32:22'But more than 150 years ago in London,
0:32:22 > 0:32:25'there was nowhere for raw sewage to go.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28'So it was dumped straight in the River Thames.'
0:32:29 > 0:32:34'And in the hot summer of 1858, the smell became unbearable.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37'It was called The Great Stink.'
0:32:40 > 0:32:44'We're recreating the River Thames in Victorian London.
0:32:45 > 0:32:50'This represents the poo produced by two and a half million Londoners.'
0:32:50 > 0:32:53Look! That's splatted on my trousers!
0:32:53 > 0:32:55Let's recreate the moment
0:32:55 > 0:32:59to see what the river would've looked like back in the day.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02- See if it flows.- There you go.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05Oh, someone had a bad night there, somewhere in East London.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10THEY LAUGH
0:33:11 > 0:33:13'But it was no laughing matter.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16'People were getting sick and dying.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18'At first, they blamed the smell.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21'But disease was actually being spread by harmful bacteria
0:33:21 > 0:33:24'leaking from the river into people's drinking water.'
0:33:25 > 0:33:27'To find out more about the bacteria in poo,
0:33:27 > 0:33:29'we've come to the University of Reading.'
0:33:30 > 0:33:34'We want to examine our own stool to see the bacteria inside.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37'Well, not ours, someone lent us one.'
0:33:37 > 0:33:41I think we should give a name to our donator.
0:33:41 > 0:33:43- Do you? What would you like to call it?- Er, Steve.
0:33:43 > 0:33:46Steve? All right. I'll just pick up Steve's sample.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52- Steve's not been very well. - DICK LAUGHS
0:33:52 > 0:33:56- So just take a small amount. - 'Some bacteria in poo is harmful,
0:33:56 > 0:33:57'so we're wearing protective gear.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01'Examining your own stools at home is not recommended.'
0:34:01 > 0:34:06Right, let's see how much bacteria Steve's sample has on it.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10- All these little shapes that you see here are bacteria.- Ah, OK.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13'Human waste contains billions of bacteria.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16'That's why we wash our hands after going to the loo.
0:34:16 > 0:34:20'But in Victorian times, people were washing in and drinking
0:34:20 > 0:34:23'dirty water contaminated by sewage.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27'The Great Stink was the final straw.'
0:34:27 > 0:34:29'Enter Joseph Bazalgette,
0:34:29 > 0:34:34'London's chief engineer, with a background in building railways.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40'Parliament gave him the job of solving London's sewage nightmare,
0:34:40 > 0:34:44'and what he came up with was a genius piece of engineering.'
0:34:45 > 0:34:49'Bazalgette's genius idea was to build a system of big sewerage pipes
0:34:49 > 0:34:53'to catch London's waste before it flowed into the river,
0:34:53 > 0:34:55'and London's drinking water.'
0:34:56 > 0:35:00'The sewage was then carried eastwards and pumped out to sea.
0:35:01 > 0:35:03'No more stink. Genius!'
0:35:05 > 0:35:08Right now we're here at London's glittering Leicester Square.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11We're not going to be going to a premiere. Oh, no.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14No, no. We're going underground into the sewer.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19'Not many people get to go inside Bazalgette's sewers,
0:35:19 > 0:35:20'so this is a real treat.'
0:35:22 > 0:35:24DICK LAUGHS
0:35:24 > 0:35:29OK. I can't even describe the smell in here.
0:35:30 > 0:35:32A little bit soft under foot, isn't it?
0:35:32 > 0:35:37'Bazalgette's genius sewer system took over ten years to finish.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41'It used 318 million bricks
0:35:41 > 0:35:44'and involved 82 miles of new underground sewers
0:35:44 > 0:35:48'linking to more than 1,000 miles of street sewers.'
0:35:48 > 0:35:52- Is this Bazalgette's exact design? - Yeah.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56- Why did he make it so big? - It's what you call forward planning.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59It's what you call... Well, he was a genius.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01'Bazalgette predicted the population would grow,
0:36:01 > 0:36:05'so he designed his sewer tunnels big enough to cope.'
0:36:05 > 0:36:07And breathe! Phew!
0:36:09 > 0:36:12London air has never smelt so good.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15Glad you liked my tunnels, boys. Now go and get washed!
0:36:40 > 0:36:44'Three, two, one, liftoff.'
0:36:54 > 0:36:58Today we bring you a man who had a very special kind of genius.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01He took an invention that had been around for more than 50 years,
0:37:01 > 0:37:03the steam engine, and made it a shedload better.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05He also made a shedload of cash.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08So good was he that you can still find his face on a 50 quid note.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12And also, the first letter of his surname you will find
0:37:12 > 0:37:15stamped on pretty much every light bulb around the house.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19Ladies and gentlemen, we give you... James Watt!
0:37:19 > 0:37:21All right, boys?
0:37:21 > 0:37:25'James Watt was born in 1736 in Greenock, Scotland.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27'The story goes that as a boy,
0:37:27 > 0:37:31'he was fascinated by the steam pouring out of a boiling kettle.'
0:37:31 > 0:37:34'When he grew up, he became a mechanical engineer
0:37:34 > 0:37:38'and started to eagerly explore how steam engines worked.'
0:37:39 > 0:37:42'James Watt's genius was to take the steam engine,
0:37:42 > 0:37:44'an invention that had been around for many years
0:37:44 > 0:37:47'and make it work better and more efficiently
0:37:47 > 0:37:49'than anyone else had managed.
0:37:49 > 0:37:52'And make himself a shedload of money in the process.'
0:37:53 > 0:37:57'Watt's engines were the first to power big machines in factories,
0:37:57 > 0:38:00'paving the way for the industrial revolution.'
0:38:00 > 0:38:03'This is a Newcomen steam engine.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05'They were used to pump water out of mines
0:38:05 > 0:38:11'and were invented nearly 25 years before James Watt was even born.'
0:38:12 > 0:38:14Watt had his first bit of genius inspiration
0:38:14 > 0:38:18when he was given a small Newcomen engine to repair.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22And while he was doing this, he came up with an idea for his own steam engine
0:38:22 > 0:38:24that would be even better than the Newcomen engine.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27Hang on a bit. Backtrack a bit.
0:38:27 > 0:38:29I didn't... I'm having problems piecing it all together anyway.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33Yeah, me, too. I mean, how does something as flimsy as steam
0:38:33 > 0:38:37move big slabs of metal about, like we saw with the steam engine?
0:38:37 > 0:38:41Yeah, I know. If only Fran, our resident genius scientist, was here to tell us...
0:38:44 > 0:38:46- Hi!- Hi!
0:38:46 > 0:38:48This is my model of a steam engine.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51Doesn't look anything like a steam engine.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55Well, we've got a sealed chamber at the bottom and a moveable plunger at the top.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58- So this plunger's like the piston or something?- Yeah, exactly.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01And we've got a little bit of water in the bottom.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04I'm going to heat up that water. Some of it will turn into steam
0:39:04 > 0:39:07and let's just see what happens. Goggles on.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15- Whey!- Ohh!
0:39:15 > 0:39:17- Ohh!- Look at that!
0:39:17 > 0:39:21'When the heated water turns to steam, it pushes the plunger up.'
0:39:22 > 0:39:25'And when the steam cools and turns back to water,
0:39:25 > 0:39:28'the plunger is pulled back down again.'
0:39:28 > 0:39:32- Whey! There it goes! Look! - It's going down.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36And the same pushes and pulls can move something as strong as metal.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38And I've got something to prove it.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41So over here I have got a can that's got a little bit of water in it
0:39:41 > 0:39:45and that water is boiling away and producing lots of steam.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49'Fran's an expert. This is not something to be messed with at home.'
0:39:49 > 0:39:52OK, I'm going to dunk it in this ice water here.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56And let's cool it down as quickly as possible, so dump that ice on it.
0:39:56 > 0:39:58All right. METAL BANGS
0:39:58 > 0:40:00- Pop it on top.- Agh!
0:40:00 > 0:40:04Brilliant! Look at that!
0:40:04 > 0:40:07'That sudden cooling of the can
0:40:07 > 0:40:09'turned the steam back into water really quickly,
0:40:09 > 0:40:13'creating what's called a vacuum, a powerful sucking force
0:40:13 > 0:40:16'strong enough to crush metal!'
0:40:16 > 0:40:20'But back to James Watt and his genius ideas for improving steam engines.
0:40:20 > 0:40:26'As we've seen, these engines were a new way of getting lots of power 250 years ago.
0:40:26 > 0:40:29'But they used an incredible amount of coal as fuel.
0:40:29 > 0:40:34'Watt reckoned he could do a lot better, so he invented his own steam engine.'
0:40:34 > 0:40:37'And if you want to see what he came up with,
0:40:37 > 0:40:42'then there's no better place than this - the Crofton Pumping Station in Wiltshire.'
0:40:42 > 0:40:46What we're looking at here is James Watt's separate condenser,
0:40:46 > 0:40:47his most important invention.
0:40:47 > 0:40:51The original engine by Thomas Newcomen,
0:40:51 > 0:40:54you have to heat up the cylinder and cool it down
0:40:54 > 0:40:57every time the engine works, which is incredibly inefficient.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01And what James Watt did, he said, "I'll leave that bit hot
0:41:01 > 0:41:03"and I'll put the cold bit in here."
0:41:03 > 0:41:07- So the engine stays hot all the time, saving money!- Yes!
0:41:07 > 0:41:10'In fact, Watt's brilliant separate condenser
0:41:10 > 0:41:15'meant his steam engines used 75 percent less coal than other engines.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18'His engines were also more powerful.'
0:41:18 > 0:41:22'Together, that meant they could be used to power all sorts of different machines
0:41:22 > 0:41:25'in factories across the world. Genius.'
0:41:25 > 0:41:27Aye, it was pretty clever, wasn't it?
0:41:27 > 0:41:32'But Watt's genius was about more than just clever machines.'
0:41:32 > 0:41:35Back in Watt's time, horses did a lot of the jobs
0:41:35 > 0:41:38- that machines do for us today. - So Watt had to try and prove
0:41:38 > 0:41:41that his steam engines could do everything that a horse could.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45His answer was to come up with a measurement of power that we still use today, horsepower.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49- Ta-da! Ready?- Giddy up! - Giddy up. Agh!
0:41:50 > 0:41:52'In those days, one of the jobs horses did
0:41:52 > 0:41:55'was to lift coal out of coalmines.
0:41:55 > 0:42:00'Watt worked out that your average horse could shift 150 kilos of coal up a mineshaft
0:42:00 > 0:42:03'a distance of 30 metres over one minute.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07'He called that one horsepower.'
0:42:07 > 0:42:10- Stop. Billy, stop, stop. - Hey, for goodness sake, stop it.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14I think we need something with a lot more horsepower.
0:42:17 > 0:42:24This Jaguar racing car can get to a top speed of 167 miles per hour.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27Yeah, that's cos it's got an incredibly powerful engine.
0:42:27 > 0:42:32265 horsepower.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35'So, what does all that horsepower feel like?'
0:42:35 > 0:42:37- ENGINES REV - Ohhh!
0:42:38 > 0:42:40'This is terrifyingly fast.
0:42:40 > 0:42:44'These engines are way more powerful than anything from Watt's day.'
0:42:46 > 0:42:50Seriously, that was one of the maddest things I've ever done.
0:42:50 > 0:42:54Now, it's not just engine power where our genius James Watt left his mark.
0:42:54 > 0:42:59Oh, no. We use his very name, Watt, as a way of measuring electrical power.
0:42:59 > 0:43:03For example, the bulb inside here is a 60 Watt.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06And our cameraman, Pat, is using a lamp there
0:43:06 > 0:43:08that's 40 Watts of power so that you can see us.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11Yeah. So, there you go. When it comes to measuring power,
0:43:11 > 0:43:13- Watt is your man.- Genius.
0:43:13 > 0:43:16Too kind, boys, too kind.
0:43:42 > 0:43:45'Three, two, one, liftoff.'
0:43:55 > 0:44:00Today we're going to introduce you to a scientist who had a real appetite for experiments.
0:44:00 > 0:44:02A genius who helped us to understand what's in our food
0:44:02 > 0:44:06and also what food to eat to stay fit and healthy.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09In fact, her recommendations helped this country
0:44:09 > 0:44:12to become the healthiest it's ever been.
0:44:12 > 0:44:16- Ladies and gentlemen, we give you... - Elsie Widdowson.
0:44:16 > 0:44:18Hello, chaps.
0:44:18 > 0:44:23'Widdowson was born in 1906 in the days when food was something people just ate.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27'They didn't know too much about what's in it and how it affects our bodies.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30'Widdowson's genius idea was to write a book
0:44:30 > 0:44:32'that told us what's in our food.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36'It listed things like how much energy all our foods were giving us.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39'She wrote it with her partner in science, Robert McCance,
0:44:39 > 0:44:43'and it was called The Chemical Composition Of Foods. Catchy, eh?'
0:44:43 > 0:44:47'And she didn't just look at energy. The book also listed important nutrients,
0:44:47 > 0:44:50'like the carbohydrates, protein, fats and minerals
0:44:50 > 0:44:53'that we find in all our foods. Genius!'
0:44:53 > 0:44:57So, we're going to do an Elsie. We're going to take some food
0:44:57 > 0:44:59and recreate the experiments that she did.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02- A little pepperoni pizza there and some other stuff.- Urgh!
0:45:02 > 0:45:05Not urgh! Carrot, broccoli and beans? Good for you.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08Now, all of these foods would've been very familiar to Elsie.
0:45:08 > 0:45:10I wanted to try something that she wouldn't have tested.
0:45:10 > 0:45:12Lift that lid!
0:45:12 > 0:45:15- Oh, my goodness, look at them! - It's got maggots in it!
0:45:15 > 0:45:17These are mealworms.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21'And, believe it or not, you can make a meal out of them.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23'Here's some Stefan prepared earlier.'
0:45:23 > 0:45:25- Now, these are ready to eat. - Don't look, lads.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29There's some of your mates over there. They're looking a bit crispy.
0:45:29 > 0:45:33'Time to give them a try. But, as I'm vegetarian, I'll leave that to the others.'
0:45:33 > 0:45:35Ready, lads? OK.
0:45:37 > 0:45:39Yes?
0:45:41 > 0:45:45- Weirdly, they're quite nice. - They taste very much like crisps.
0:45:45 > 0:45:47- They're actually pretty tasty. - Really?- Seriously.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53'We already know how many calories our everyday foods contain.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56'But how many calories are in mealworms?
0:45:56 > 0:45:59'To help us do our own experiment,
0:45:59 > 0:46:02'we've turned to genius assistant Rosie.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05'She's used a nifty bit of kit called a bomb calorimeter.'
0:46:05 > 0:46:09What's the final calorie content of those lovely little worms?
0:46:09 > 0:46:14Erm, it's not as low as you think. It's 421 calories.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16- What?- Per 100 grams.- Wow!
0:46:16 > 0:46:21'That's almost as many calories as in a big bag of crisps.' That's quite a lot!
0:46:21 > 0:46:24- So there you go, right? No more mealworms for you. - No more mealworms for me.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27- Just stick to pizza. - THEY LAUGH
0:46:27 > 0:46:31'So, with the help of Elsie, we can find out exactly what's in our food.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34'But what does our body do with these calories?'
0:46:34 > 0:46:37How do you think you get that energy from the food? What do you do to it?
0:46:37 > 0:46:39- Eat it.- Yeah, you eat it. - Digest.- Yeah.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43But then it makes energy parcels.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46'We're using these bottles of lemonade and some mints
0:46:46 > 0:46:48'to create our own energy parcels.'
0:46:48 > 0:46:52When you digest the food, it's broken down into those really small bits.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55Then they react with oxygen to make little energy parcels
0:46:55 > 0:46:59that can then be moved around your body and used whenever your body needs to.
0:46:59 > 0:47:03'Energy parcels ready. Time to release that energy!'
0:47:04 > 0:47:07- Yes! Yes! - I'm dropping, I'm dropping!
0:47:07 > 0:47:12- Ohh!- OK, right, leave it a bit. Go on, go on, go on!
0:47:12 > 0:47:15- Yay!- There you go! ALL CHEER
0:47:15 > 0:47:18# Come on, show them what you're worth #
0:47:18 > 0:47:21- And that's how you get the energy from food.- She did it!
0:47:21 > 0:47:24'Widdowson's genius book told us exactly how many calories
0:47:24 > 0:47:28'and other nutrients were in all the different foods we eat.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31'This information became essential during the Second World War.'
0:47:31 > 0:47:34'Food was scarce and the government rationed supplies.
0:47:34 > 0:47:38'Widdowson helped work out the basic foods each person needed to stay healthy.
0:47:39 > 0:47:45'Here's the plan! Our genius idea - to fuel up on World War II inspired food rations.'
0:47:45 > 0:47:48'Our challenge - to complete a series of physical tests,
0:47:48 > 0:47:52'including battling an assault course and scaling a 12-metre wall.'
0:47:52 > 0:47:55'Hopefully our rations will give us enough energy to run across the countryside
0:47:55 > 0:47:58'all the way to the finish line.'
0:47:58 > 0:48:01'There wasn't much meat around during the Second World War.
0:48:01 > 0:48:06'Widdowson's advice was to eat loads of fresh veg to stay healthy and full of energy.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09'So we've been rationed to a meat-free pasty.'
0:48:09 > 0:48:11'Is that it? A vegetable pasty?'
0:48:11 > 0:48:16- 'Yep. About 500 calories worth.' - Come on, eat it up!
0:48:16 > 0:48:21'Fuelled up and ready to go, it's finally time to put those rations to the test.'
0:48:22 > 0:48:26- Go!- 'Come on, pasty, give us some energy!'
0:48:26 > 0:48:29Go, go. Keep going.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32Come on, Dom. Up you get. Burn those rations.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35'Hang in there, Dick, we're almost there!'
0:48:37 > 0:48:39'I can see the finish line!'
0:48:39 > 0:48:42'Think of Widdowson! We're doing it for her.'
0:48:42 > 0:48:44It's the finish! Let's go!
0:48:44 > 0:48:49- 'We've done it!' - 'But I've no idea why. One thing's for certain, though.'
0:48:49 > 0:48:52Elsie Widdowson, you are an absolute genius.
0:48:52 > 0:48:54Oh, thank you, boys. You're very kind.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57Right, double cheeseburger, triple...
0:49:23 > 0:49:27'Three, two, one, liftoff.'
0:49:37 > 0:49:40- Today we introduce you to a man that had not one...- Not two...
0:49:40 > 0:49:43..but hundreds of genius ideas
0:49:43 > 0:49:45that were hundreds of years ahead of their time,
0:49:45 > 0:49:49- like the futuristic flying machine. - Boots that enabled you to walk on water.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52But you and I know him better as a painter.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54Mm. But not any old painter. This guy painted
0:49:54 > 0:49:58one of the most famous pictures the world has ever seen,
0:49:58 > 0:50:00the Mona Lisa.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05Come on over here and please meet Leonardo Da Vinci!
0:50:05 > 0:50:07Ciao, Dick and Dom!
0:50:07 > 0:50:11'Leonardo Da Vinci was born in 1452
0:50:11 > 0:50:13'near the town of Vinci in Italy.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17'His name actually means Leonardo of Vinci.'
0:50:17 > 0:50:20'So we've learnt that Da Vinci was awesome at painting.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23'But he also fancied himself as a bit of an inventor.'
0:50:23 > 0:50:26'And how do we know all this? Because Leonardo left behind
0:50:26 > 0:50:30'thousands of pages of notes in his secretive journals.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34'Da Vinci's genius idea was to invent stuff
0:50:34 > 0:50:36'that was centuries ahead of its time.'
0:50:36 > 0:50:39'His secret journals were packed full of incredible designs.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42'There were flying machines, a parachute,
0:50:42 > 0:50:44'a robotic knight and even a tank!'
0:50:44 > 0:50:48Check me out! I'm going to blow you up from the 16th century!
0:50:48 > 0:50:50So, which one's your favourite idea so far?
0:50:50 > 0:50:53I've got to say, instantly, I think the robotic knight.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57- It does look quite awesome, doesn't it?- I don't understand,
0:50:57 > 0:51:00cos that'll need power and there was no electricity in those days.
0:51:00 > 0:51:05Well, it worked a bit differently. He had rope, he had a series of pulleys,
0:51:05 > 0:51:08and he could make the arms move, make the robot sit down and stand up.
0:51:08 > 0:51:11What about if we go big with the tank?
0:51:11 > 0:51:15I do like this tank. And like most of Leonardo's ideas, this was really revolutionary.
0:51:15 > 0:51:17No-one had ever seen anything like it before.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20- Have you got a model of it? - I haven't.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23But I do know somewhere you can go to find out all about tanks.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27'This place has got the biggest collection of tanks in the world!'
0:51:27 > 0:51:31'It was time to get inspired. It was time to get serious!'
0:51:31 > 0:51:3498. 99.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39So would you say Da Vinci's designs would've worked?
0:51:39 > 0:51:43He's got protection on the outside, he's got a cannon for firepower.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46The only one that might be a bit of a doubt is the mobility,
0:51:46 > 0:51:50because it's human power trying to manoeuvre a big vehicle along.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54So that may be one of the issues you might have to have a look at.
0:51:54 > 0:51:59'Our genius idea - to build a tank based on Da Vinci's designs.'
0:52:00 > 0:52:03'Our challenge - to test its mobility,
0:52:03 > 0:52:06'its firepower and its protection.'
0:52:06 > 0:52:10'Our problem - we haven't a clue where to start.'
0:52:10 > 0:52:15'What we did know was that Da Vinci's design was a wooden shell on wheels.'
0:52:15 > 0:52:19'There were no engines back then, so it would've been driven by men turning wheels by hand.'
0:52:19 > 0:52:22'To help us build our version of Da Vinci's tank,
0:52:22 > 0:52:24'we've enlisted engineer Grant Cooper.'
0:52:24 > 0:52:28So what's your solution instead of hand power?
0:52:28 > 0:52:31I think a much more efficient method is using normal bicycles.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39'Screws had been tightened, tyres had been pumped.
0:52:40 > 0:52:45'So, the time had come to test our version of Da Vinci's tank.'
0:52:47 > 0:52:50THEY GROAN
0:52:50 > 0:52:52- It's not easy, is it?- No.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55- 'It was all going so well.' - 'Until...'
0:52:55 > 0:52:58THEY SCREAM
0:52:58 > 0:53:03- CLATTERING - Mobility - potentially a fail.
0:53:06 > 0:53:10On Da Vinci's tank design, he had cannons. We have paintball guns.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14Three, two, one, go!
0:53:14 > 0:53:16Go on! Go on!
0:53:18 > 0:53:20Move onto the next gun!
0:53:20 > 0:53:24- Oh, yes! Score!- All of them?- Come on!
0:53:24 > 0:53:26- Da Vinci would be pleased with that. - I think so.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29'So, things were looking up.'
0:53:30 > 0:53:33- What's that noise? - ALL YELL
0:53:35 > 0:53:38- Er, stop.- Who are you?
0:53:38 > 0:53:41We're His Grace the Duke of York's retinue.
0:53:41 > 0:53:45- Don't be so silly! What's your real name?- Oh. Dave.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48Oh. So, I mean, what would an army like you do with weapons like that
0:53:48 > 0:53:50- to something like this? - Smash it to bits.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53- Right. Off you go, then.- Wait!
0:53:53 > 0:53:55We've got to get out, haven't we? Silly men.
0:54:06 > 0:54:09- Right, stop! Leave it alone! - Silly men.
0:54:09 > 0:54:13- All right, back to your castle. See you later, lads.- Come on, lads.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17'The tank had withstood the arrows. OK, not the assault.
0:54:17 > 0:54:20'So in our books, that's a pass!'
0:54:20 > 0:54:24Da Vinci, we can most definitely say you were an absolute genius.
0:54:24 > 0:54:26Grazie, Dick and Dom!
0:54:26 > 0:54:31- I wonder how this tank would fare against a modern-day tank. - Doesn't matter. We'll never find out.
0:54:34 > 0:54:36THEY SCREAM
0:55:02 > 0:55:05'Three, two, one, liftoff.'
0:55:15 > 0:55:17Today we're going to introduce you to
0:55:17 > 0:55:20a truly great man and a great Briton.
0:55:20 > 0:55:23One of the best engineers this world has even seen.
0:55:23 > 0:55:25Yeah. He could build and design pretty much anything.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28- Bridges, tunnels.- Ships, railways.
0:55:28 > 0:55:30Ladies and gentlemen, we give you...
0:55:30 > 0:55:32Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
0:55:32 > 0:55:34Good day!
0:55:35 > 0:55:38'Isambard was born in 1806 in Portsmouth, England.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41'His dad, Mark, was a very good engineer
0:55:41 > 0:55:43'and taught his son everything he knew about the job.'
0:55:43 > 0:55:47'In the 1820s, Isambard and his dad were working together
0:55:47 > 0:55:49'on the banks of the River Thames in London.
0:55:49 > 0:55:54'They were attempting what no engineer had previously achieved.'
0:55:54 > 0:56:00'Their incredibly ambitious plan was to dig the world's first ever tunnel under a river.
0:56:00 > 0:56:03'And here, in the streets of Rotherhithe, East London,
0:56:03 > 0:56:05'is where it all started.'
0:56:05 > 0:56:09Now, what a lot of people don't know is that Brunel and his dad
0:56:09 > 0:56:11had a very unique way of digging a tunnel.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14- But it was a lot cleverer than using a bucket and spade.- Mm.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16- SMASHING - Ohh.
0:56:16 > 0:56:19Until then, engineers, if they wanted to dig a tunnel,
0:56:19 > 0:56:22would just dig a big trench and then stick a roof on top.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25But, of course, you couldn't do that for a tunnel under the Thames,
0:56:25 > 0:56:28because if you did, the river would flood in and everyone would get wet.
0:56:28 > 0:56:33- Very wet.- So they needed to dig down right underneath the river bed.
0:56:33 > 0:56:38But in order to do this, they had to burrow a really massively long hole.
0:56:38 > 0:56:42The Brunels took their inspiration from a creature that's very good at burrowing.
0:56:42 > 0:56:46- And I'm not talking about a rabbit. - No.- Believe it or not, it was a worm.
0:56:47 > 0:56:51'Meet top marine biology dude, The Blowfish.'
0:56:51 > 0:56:54'He's brought along something called a shipworm.'
0:56:54 > 0:56:57I'm not surprised the Brunels found some inspiration from this guy.
0:56:57 > 0:57:00The shipworm lines his burrow with calcium.
0:57:00 > 0:57:03'As Dom will now demonstrate.'
0:57:03 > 0:57:08- This is your calcium cocoon. - No, it's a sheet. - It's a sheet of calcium.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11'Let the tunnelling begin!'
0:57:11 > 0:57:16- Go! That's it! Go on, son, dig that earth! Go on!- He's doing well.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20- THEY LAUGH - This is stupid!
0:57:20 > 0:57:24This means nothing, it's achieving nothing, no-one's learning from this!
0:57:24 > 0:57:26- Stop this! - THEY LAUGH
0:57:26 > 0:57:29'Dom may struggle to dig like a shipworm,
0:57:29 > 0:57:35'but the tunnelling technique of that creature is very similar to what the Brunels used for their Thames tunnel.
0:57:35 > 0:57:37'It's time to go underground.'
0:57:37 > 0:57:42So is this the first tunnel that went underneath a river, ever?
0:57:42 > 0:57:44Yes, the first in the world.
0:57:44 > 0:57:49'And when it was finally finished in 1843, there was great excitement!'
0:57:49 > 0:57:53'They even had dinner in the tunnel and invited all their friends.'
0:57:53 > 0:57:56The idea of walking under a river the size of the Thames
0:57:56 > 0:57:59- is like walking on the moon.- Right.
0:57:59 > 0:58:01Well, that really was absolute genius.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04But Brunel didn't stop with the Thames Tunnel.
0:58:04 > 0:58:06'Brunel loved building bridges.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09'And here in Bristol is his most famous one of all.'
0:58:09 > 0:58:11The Clifton Suspension Bridge.
0:58:14 > 0:58:19'When it was designed, it was the highest and longest suspension bridge in the world.
0:58:19 > 0:58:24'End to end, it stretches 214 metres!
0:58:25 > 0:58:29'Nearly 12,000 cars cross it every day.'
0:58:29 > 0:58:31The weirdest part for me is that we're on this bridge
0:58:31 > 0:58:34and it is moving slightly in the wind.
0:58:34 > 0:58:37When the cars go across, as well. Is that normal for a bridge this high?
0:58:37 > 0:58:40Of course it is. It is a suspension bridge.
0:58:40 > 0:58:44It hangs. And this is where I can show you where it moves.
0:58:44 > 0:58:47- Wow.- And it's meant to do that? - That's right.
0:58:47 > 0:58:50'And that's the brilliance of Brunel.
0:58:50 > 0:58:52'This whole bridge was designed to be flexible,
0:58:52 > 0:58:55'to move and to adapt to changing weather conditions.
0:58:55 > 0:58:58'Sheer genius.'
0:58:58 > 0:59:00Very kind of you to say so, boys.
0:59:02 > 0:59:06Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:59:09 > 0:59:11THEY LAUGH
0:59:11 > 0:59:14- DOM SHOUTS - Ohh!
0:59:18 > 0:59:21- It went right through me!- Oh!
0:59:21 > 0:59:24- Don't wobble it!- I'm not doing anything!- Just stand still, then!
0:59:26 > 0:59:29DICK LAUGHS
0:59:29 > 0:59:29.