Archimedes Absolute Genius with Dick and Dom


Archimedes

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This is Absolute Genius.

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'So sit down, buckle up and get ready for take off!'

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'Each show, we'll introduce you to a different genius.'

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'An amazing person, who had a genius idea, which shaped the world.'

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'And they will inspire us

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'to come up with our own genius idea at the end of each show.'

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'But will it be any good?'

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'Will it be any good?! It'll be...Absolute Genius!'

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'And on today's show we're going to get wet...'

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'Very wet.'

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'As we explore the murky depths of an absolute genius!'

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You know what this means? This means war.

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Three, two, one... Liftoff.

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Ah. You join me in the bath where today we go inside

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one of the greatest scientific minds this world has EVER seen.

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He was famous for coming up with a genius idea whilst in the bath.

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Not only was he a fantastic mathematician and engineer,

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but his genius machines are still being used today.

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He did all of this over 2,000 years ago.

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Why are you in my bath?

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I, I don't know.

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Ladies and gentlemen, we give you... Archimedes!

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Why are you in his bath, Dom?

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I don't know...

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Inspired by HIS genius ideas, we're going to be coming up

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with our OWN genius idea later on in the show.

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'We bring one of his maddest and baddest inventions to life

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'when we make a deadly heat ray.'

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-Ah!

-Oh!

-Come on!

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But first, let's find out a little bit more

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about the great man himself.

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Archimedes was a Greek guy with a great beard,

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born a ridiculously long time ago, around the year 287 BC.

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That's why he's called an ANCIENT Greek.

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Who are you calling ancient?

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Sorry, Archie.

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Ooh, numbers and algebra!

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Archimedes was a genius when it came to maths, physics and engineering.

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He was so clever he was hired to solve tricky problems

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by the King of Syracuse.

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He came up with brilliant theories about why objects float.

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AND he built amazing machines

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to help defend the king's city against attack!

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Ow! Stop it!

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'We're on a mission to find a really genius invention of Archimedes'

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'that we can bring to life at the end of the show.

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'He liked nothing better than coming up with those inventions

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'whilst having a good, long soak.'

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To really FEEL the inspiration of this great man Archimedes,

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we've come to one of his favourite places.

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You may know the story of Archimedes being in a bath

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and coming up with the idea that helped him solve a problem

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that had been puzzling him for ages.

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He was so excited about solving this problem

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that he jumped out of the bath - naked -

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ran down the street - nudey - shouting out, "Eureka, Eureka!"

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In Greek that means, "I've got it! I've got it!"

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But what exactly had he got?

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I...I don't know.

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If only Fran, our genius scientist, was here to tell us more.

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'This is Fran. She just loves experimenting...'

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Aah!

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'..to help explain the ideas of our geniuses.

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'She's sure to pop up just when you really need her.'

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-Ah.

-What are you two doing in my bath?

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BOTH: We don't know.

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I'm not going to talk to you here! Get dressed and come with me.

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I am dressed.

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Archimedes was working on a problem that he'd been set by the king,

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cos the king didn't know if his crown was made of pure gold or not.

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So it was at that moment in the bath that Archimedes solved the problem?

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-Yeah.

-But why did he get so excited about that?

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His solution didn't just allow him to work out

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whether crowns were made of pure gold or not,

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it allowed him to figure out why things float and why things sink.

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And that is much more useful. Come with me.

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-Sweeties!

-Sweet shop!

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So, boys, choose anything you want...

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We can have any bag of sweets we want,

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so long as it weighs exactly 100 grams.

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-100 grams of Teeth, please.

-Comin'.

-DOM MUMBLES

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-Which ones?

-Down the end!

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100 grams of Aniseed Balls, please.

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Aniseed Balls, Aniseed Balls.

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No, Sports Mix! No, they're the same as Midget Gems.

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I want some Mini Marshmallows. Lots of them.

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-Can I try a Rainbow Pencil, please? Down the bottom.

-OK, I'm on it.

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-Mm, that's good. No, I don't like them.

-No.

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Wait, stop stuffing your faces!

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We're not complaining or anything, Fran,

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but what's all this got to do with Archimedes?

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Archimedes, he didn't spend his time in sweet shops,

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but he spent his time studying materials.

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And he knew that different materials could weigh the same,

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but you get different amounts of material for that same weight.

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So what you're saying is, you get some light and fluffy marshmallows,

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-you get loads of them for 100 grams?

-Yeah.

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-Ah, but only a few Aniseed Balls?

-Exactly!

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And Archimedes figured out that the more of a material

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you get for that certain weight, the more likely it is to float.

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Mmm. So these, cos there's more of them,

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are more likely to float than these few Aniseed Balls?

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Yeah. Exactly. If you don't believe me, let's try it.

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Ah, experiment time. Go on, then.

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-Ah!

-Sinkage!

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-Sinkage, yes.

-Sinkage, you see that? So?

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-Get them in.

-There you are... Floating!

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-It's eureka!

-Eureka! There your are. But hang on a minute.

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Metal sinks just like the Aniseed Balls, doesn't it?

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You don't get much for its weight.

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But how come a metal boat floats? There's loads of metal.

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That's a good question, that.

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But to explain it, we're going to need loads more water than this.

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Oh.

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I think this should just about do it.

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It's a very nice pool,

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but you were supposed to be showing us how metal boats float?

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The thing is, we know that if you've got two objects of the same weight,

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then the bigger one is more likely to float.

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So like with the Aniseed Balls and the marshmallows?

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-Ah...

-Mallows.

-Yep.

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That's why metal boats float.

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If you had just a lump of metal, like iron,

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all crushed together, then it wouldn't float.

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But if you make that metal bigger, by making it into a boat shape,

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you've got the same weight, but a bigger object...

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And then it's going to float!

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Exactly, and it's the same with people too.

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You two, get your trunks on!

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-And...

-Yeah?

-..Jump in!

-Right!

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Yeah... See what you mean.

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Just like the Aniseed Balls, we don't float in water.

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But you can make a person more likely to float, more buoyant,

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by adding armbands and rubber rings to them,

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cos that makes them bigger without changing their weight much.

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BOTH: Oh, like this!

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So basically, what Archimedes is saying is

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now we're in essence bigger, we're more likely to float?

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-That's exactly what I'm saying.

-That's very clever. No, no!

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Now with armbands and rubber rings making us bigger, we float.

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BOTH: Eureka!

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I'll say!

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Archimedes' discoveries about how well different objects float

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was crucial.

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Until Archimedes came along more than 2,000 years ago,

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building a ship that would float well

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was always a trial and error operation.

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While we go looking for some more Archimedes brilliance,

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here's a selection of Greek geniuses fond of facial hair.

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It's The Genius Top Five.

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Five - the astronomer Aristarchus who worked out that the Earth

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revolves around the sun.

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Four - Eratosthenes.

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He invented geography

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and drew the very first map of the world.

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Come on, dear, let's go.

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Three - our mate Stavros. He makes brilliant kebabs.

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Oh, yes, his tzatziki is to die for!

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# La la, la la. #

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Two - the mathematician Euclid.

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He's the reason you do geometry at school. Thanks, Euclid!

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Ah-ha!

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And one - Plato.

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A brilliant philosopher who once said...

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Speaking of fools...

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'So far, we've found out that Archimedes had a brilliant idea

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'whilst having a bath

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'and that he worked out why some objects float better than others.'

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'Coming up...

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'We see how he turned his genius to weapons of war.'

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I presume this is the Archimedes' claw?

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Turn on the sun.

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-Ah!

-Oh!

-Come on!

-Faster!

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Quack!

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Now, here's another one of Archimedes' genius inventions.

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It's called the Archimedes' screw.

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It looks like a giant corkscrew,

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but it's actually the world's first water pump.

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This is how it works - when you turn the wheel... Turn the wheel!

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When you turn the wheel, it scoops up water here in the bottom...

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it brings it up, up, up, up, all the way to the top

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and then eventually, it deposits it into this trough here.

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-Genius, eh?

-Yeah, 2,300 years ago before pumps, taps,

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and hoses were invented, farmers that planted their crops

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near a river could now transport the water uphill.

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Before then, it was always transferred by hand,

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or by container, or a very, very tired donkey.

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-EEY-ORE!

-Exactly. The Archimedes' screw -

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a simple yet brilliant invention that's still being used today

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and we are going to see one!

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No! Come on. Are we? Exciting, isn't it?

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Hang on, where are we going?

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I've got a feeling... You know, Archimedes, Greece.

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It's going to be somewhere like Athens? No? Err... Corfu?

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-No.

-Where?

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Stockton-on-Tees.

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I LOVE Stockton-on-Tees!

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This is Stockton-on-Tees. Home to the Tees River.

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And this genius white water rafting and canoeing centre.

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-Yeah-heh!

-Looks good that, doesn't it?

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Isn't it mad to think that this is all thanks to Archimedes?

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-Mm. Come on, then, let's have a go!

-All right. Look!

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'Just before we get wet, though...'

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'..we're going meet ace canoeist and genius expert Andy Laird.

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'He designed this white water centre

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'and took his inspiration from a great Archimedes invention.'

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What's the secret behind this white water rafting course?

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We take the water from the River Tees, divert it down this channel.

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There's a few obstacles in there.

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Goes round, makes some rapids, gets down to the bottom pool

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and we lift it back to the top and it goes round again.

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-The water goes from down there, uphill, and then ends up here?

-Right.

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So this is where Archimedes comes into it?

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-You're right. Let's go and have a look.

-Ah!

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Whoa-ho! Look at the size of that!

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Bit bigger than that one in the museum.

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Andy, these are absolutely HUGE. What are they all about?

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We've got four massive Archimedean screws here.

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We lift the water from the bottom, right back to the top.

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At the flick of a switch we can have instant white water, 24 hours a day.

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-Brilliant.

-How heavy are they?

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These things weigh about 30 tons each, about ten metres long.

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-They're seriously big bits of kit.

-Yeah.

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In fact, each one of these enormous Archimedes' screws

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is twice as tall as a giraffe and as heavy as six African elephants.

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And the water power they generate is about to give us

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a white-knuckle white water ride.

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-Here we go! Holdin' on!

-Aargh!

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Put it down.

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-Down.

-Wet!

-Oh, it's wet!

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-Wet!

-Wet! Right...

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-Aah!

-Oh!

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Wet!

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Well, that was quite a drop. But look what's coming up...

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THEY SHOUT

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Well, that went, em, swimmingly...

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It's fast. And it was freezing. Best theme-park ride you've ever been on.

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Very exhilarating.

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-He's a bit cold!

-Oh-ho!

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This course hasn't beaten us yet, though...

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This one's for you, Archimedes!

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We've made it! Yes!

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-That was absolutely brilliant!

-Thank you, Archimedes!

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You bearded beauty!

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Delighted to be of service.

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So thanks to the Archimedes' screw we had the world's first water pump

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and today we can go white water rafting in Stockton-on-Tees.

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'Yes, Archimedes came up with lots of clever ideas,

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'but there were some ancient Greeks whose inventions were, um,

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'not quite so brilliant.'

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It's The Not So Genius Idea.

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Daedalus was a mythical ancient Greek inventor

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who wanted to fly away from the Island of Crete.

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He made wings out of feathers for himself and his son Icarus

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and stuck them on to their arms with wax.

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They took off, but Icarus apparently flew so high

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-that he got too close to the sun.

-What a lovely view!

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-The wax melted, he lost his wings...

-Aah!

-..And fell into the sea.

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That'll learn me!

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Never underestimate the power of the sun.

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'Coming up... Things are about to get hot and dangerous.'

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-Ah!

-Oh!

-Come on!

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There she goes.

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'We're trying to find an invention by the great Archimedes

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'that WE can recreate.

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'So why are we driving in the fog along a farm track

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'somewhere in a remote corner of Shropshire?'

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'Well, we're looking for the home of someone who can tell us

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'more about Archimedes' inventions.'

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I think we're lost.

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No, I think we're on the right road.

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No, the milometer says we've gone at least two miles

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since we turned off that main road earlier.

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Yeah, which means we must nearly be here. And you know the milometer?

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That's another spin-off of one of Archimedes' great creations.

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Yeah, I knew that. But his was actually called the odometer.

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-Odometer?

-Hmm.

-Oh.

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Good knowledge, Dick.

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Yes, Archimedes' odometer was a cart with gears that measured

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the distance it travelled.

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Why have we stopped?

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-I think we've run out of fuel.

-Oh, great!

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You're so busy looking at your milometer,

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that we've gone and run out of fuel. Brilliant(!)

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Well, there's only one thing for it, isn't there?

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'We're on our way to the home of genius helper Ivan Williams...

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'If we can find it in this fog!'

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'Ivan is fascinated by the clever engineering ideas

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'that people from the Middle Ages and ancient world came up with.

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'Especially their weapons and war machines.'

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'At the moment he's working on his own design

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'of one of Archimedes' most brilliant inventions.'

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Archimedes was famous for creating several weapons that were

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used to defend the city of Syracuse in Sicily against the Romans.

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Yes, the Romans had started to lord it up in the Mediterranean.

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But they hadn't reckoned upon Archimedes.

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So we've come here to find out more about one of his inventions

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that held the Roman Empire back. It's the Archimedes' claw!

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Yes, it was absolutely deadly.

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'Now, our genius helper Ivan has his own theory about

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'just what Archimedes' claw was.'

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So, Ivan, tell us about Archimedes' claw.

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Rather than explain, I've made a model if you want to see it.

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Under your magic black cloth?

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-What do you think's under there?

-I'll help you.

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One, two, three.

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-Reveal!

-He's made a fortress!

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And I presume this is the Archimedes' claw?

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That's it. Big claw. Under the water. Hidden.

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-It must have been massive.

-To sink a boat it's got to be really big.

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-Ready?

-Hang on, hang on.

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-Yes.

-Come on. Come on, come on. Ready?

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Aah! Hello, sailor!

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Got him!

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What we've got is an enormous weight on the bottom.

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The idea would be when the iron came up, the cords would be pulled tight.

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That would smash through the bottom of the boat and grip it.

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These would slam round the sides

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and then they would have these in the towers -

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big stone yo-yos, if you like.

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-Yeah.

-And the higher the tower, the better.

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And they would have been sat on a ramp.

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They'd pull a chock away, it would roll forward,

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-the weight would drop down and then go down...

-Yep, bang!

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So it sunk in, gripped it, and sunk the ship.

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So, the Roman boats would come along thinking they'll take the castle.

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Before they knew it, a spike would pierce the boat from underneath,

0:18:070:18:11

the grabbers would come from either side.

0:18:110:18:13

A boulder would come down, smash the front of the boat

0:18:130:18:15

-and it would get dragged back down underneath?

-Yep.

0:18:150:18:18

-They weren't having a good day!

-Wow.

0:18:180:18:20

-You know what this means?

-No, what does this mean?!

0:18:200:18:23

-This means war!

-Yeah? War?

0:18:230:18:25

-War!

-Yeah?

-Hmm.

0:18:250:18:27

On one side - the Greek genius Archimedes, defender of Syracuse.

0:18:270:18:33

On the other - the Romans

0:18:340:18:36

with their mighty fleet!

0:18:360:18:38

Come on, then, you rascally Romans!

0:18:410:18:44

-We'll have you lot!

-Grrr!

-Yeah, you like feta cheese with olives!

0:18:440:18:48

-Yeah, but you like candles! Yeah!

-Here we go.

0:18:480:18:50

You cobbledy road-makers! Come on, then!

0:18:500:18:53

You've been clawed!

0:18:560:18:58

-Ready? It's going to get you now.

-DOM GROWLS

0:18:590:19:03

Grrr!

0:19:040:19:06

Just a little further... Got him, Dom!

0:19:070:19:11

Do you think that's how they did it back in those days?

0:19:110:19:15

-I think that's very similar.

-Yes, I do too.

0:19:150:19:18

That was amazing, wasn't it?

0:19:200:19:22

There's no doubt Archimedes was a really clever bloke,

0:19:220:19:25

but which one of his inventions can we have a go at making?

0:19:250:19:28

Cos I don't think we've found the right one yet.

0:19:280:19:31

Look, there's something else here.

0:19:310:19:32

"He set to catch the full rays of the sun at noon."

0:19:320:19:35

He's saying here that he set fire to boats, to Roman boats.

0:19:350:19:38

-With a special ray?

-Yeah.

0:19:380:19:40

-Fire.

-Hm.

-Boats.

-Hm.

-Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

0:19:400:19:43

Stroke of genius!

0:19:430:19:44

2,000 years ago, Archimedes made a special heat ray

0:19:450:19:49

to defend his city walls against attack from Roman ships.

0:19:490:19:52

So how could we make our own deadly heat ray?

0:19:520:19:57

To find out more we've again called in the help

0:19:570:19:59

of our friendly scientist Fran.

0:19:590:20:02

Fran, Archimedes' heat ray sounds amazing. But what actually was it?

0:20:040:20:08

Well, he created his heat ray by using lots of mirrors

0:20:080:20:11

or one specially-shaped mirror to concentrate

0:20:110:20:14

the sun's heat into one place.

0:20:140:20:16

And that one place became so hot that you could set things on fire.

0:20:160:20:20

-Ah.

-Sounds like our type of thing, that, Fran.

0:20:200:20:22

It does, and I've actually got a specially-shaped mirror for you.

0:20:220:20:25

-Oh, yeah.

-You know where the sun is.

0:20:250:20:27

So we've got the sun, the mirror, what can we set on fire?

0:20:270:20:30

-I don't know.

-Ah! Just like Archimedes did.

-What?

0:20:300:20:34

-Let's set fire to a boat.

-Where are you going to find a big red boat?

0:20:340:20:37

-There, there.

-Oh.

0:20:370:20:39

Right, here's the plan.

0:20:420:20:44

Our genius idea is to create

0:20:440:20:46

our own version of Archimedes' heat ray.

0:20:460:20:49

By cleverly positioning mirrors, Archimedes caught the sun's rays

0:20:490:20:53

and concentrated them to make one amazingly-hot heat ray.

0:20:530:20:56

Our challenge is to use Fran's special mirrors

0:20:570:21:01

to send the red boat up in flames.

0:21:010:21:03

-Right, boat.

-Yes.

-Reflectors.

-Let's set it on fire.

0:21:060:21:10

'We, of course, know exactly what we're doing.'

0:21:100:21:12

Ouch!

0:21:120:21:14

'But don't try this at home.

0:21:140:21:16

'You could give yourself a pretty nasty burn.'

0:21:160:21:18

Look at that, we've got smoke.

0:21:180:21:20

What I want to do, I want to try and get it to go on fire...

0:21:250:21:28

to really prove that this works.

0:21:280:21:31

Luckily, it's a sunny day. But even with that it's slow work!

0:21:310:21:35

It's gone behind a cloud.

0:21:350:21:37

Remember, Archimedes had the hot Mediterranean sun.

0:21:370:21:41

-It's working, but it's not very practical in war, is it?

-No, true.

0:21:410:21:44

If you stop the Romans and go, "Excuse me a minute..."

0:21:440:21:47

"Just going to stand here for half an hour!"

0:21:470:21:49

"Get me wok and put it on your boat."

0:21:490:21:52

Are you struggling a bit there, boys?

0:21:560:21:58

No, Fran, we're not struggling! Well, maybe a little bit.

0:21:580:22:01

We got smoke, we got heat,

0:22:010:22:02

but it's just going to take ages to get this on fire.

0:22:020:22:04

Your problem is this boat isn't that easy to set on fire.

0:22:040:22:07

Another problem is the sun keeps on going behind the clouds.

0:22:070:22:10

What we need is an artificial sun that we can have on all the time.

0:22:100:22:13

-You've got one of them?

-Funny you should say that.

0:22:130:22:16

-She's got everything, ain't she?

-Ain't she just.

0:22:160:22:19

Oh! Mmm!

0:22:190:22:20

Right, in you come. Pop your safety specs on...

0:22:220:22:25

-because what we've got here is a heat lamp.

-Hey!

0:22:250:22:29

And we're going to use this along with this other mirror

0:22:290:22:32

as our artificial sun.

0:22:320:22:34

It might look like it's facing the wrong way, but what's happening

0:22:340:22:37

is the light and heat from this lamp is being reflected off this mirror

0:22:370:22:41

and then over to that mirror, which will act as Archimedes' heat ray.

0:22:410:22:47

Right, I've got it. So that's kind of like your sun.

0:22:470:22:50

And this is the reflector

0:22:500:22:51

which is going to be generating the heat, etc? Yes?

0:22:510:22:54

-Yeah.

-OK, this is great. That's how it starts off.

0:22:540:22:57

But we can't exactly set fire to a boat in here, can we?

0:22:570:23:00

Well, no, that's why I've got two other things to show you.

0:23:000:23:03

Firstly this stuff - fuse wire - and that we can ignite in here.

0:23:030:23:06

That will take the flame outside where we can light the boat

0:23:060:23:09

a safe distance from the house.

0:23:090:23:10

It's like that stuff on cartoons... HE HISSES

0:23:100:23:13

-Exactly. Like the stuff that's on Mission Impossible.

-Got it.

0:23:130:23:17

-And I've also got this stuff.

-What, cotton wool?

0:23:170:23:19

No, no, this is flash wool.

0:23:190:23:21

-You know, you remember me using this stuff as a magician.

-Oh.

0:23:210:23:24

-It bursts into flames and disappears.

-Like this.

0:23:240:23:27

-Go on, ready... Whup!

-That's my BBC pass!

0:23:270:23:30

All right, fair enough.

0:23:300:23:32

So, to sum it all up - we've got the flash cotton, the fuse wire,

0:23:320:23:35

our artificial sun to make our very own Archimedes' heat ray,

0:23:350:23:38

which will concentrate the heat to set fire to the boat.

0:23:380:23:41

But we're going to do all this by ourselves?

0:23:410:23:44

Yeah...that doesn't sound like the best idea now you say it out loud.

0:23:440:23:47

Wrong, Franny. Wrong. It sounds genius!

0:23:470:23:52

-Careful.

-I am being careful.

0:23:540:23:56

Be more careful.

0:23:560:23:58

-Right, that's on.

-Right.

0:23:580:24:00

Now this is going to go all the way to the boat.

0:24:000:24:03

'Now, don't copy this at home.

0:24:070:24:09

'We're doing this as a controlled experiment,

0:24:090:24:12

'but setting fire to stuff in your back garden is a no-no.'

0:24:120:24:15

Now for the flash cotton. Don't switch that on yet.

0:24:150:24:18

-Fearne Cotton?

-Leave it.

0:24:180:24:19

-Am I going to do it?

-Yeah.

0:24:260:24:27

-Are we going to blow up a boat?

-We are! In three, two, one.

0:24:270:24:31

Go!

0:24:310:24:32

Come on.

0:24:350:24:37

We've got to get exactly the right angle so it hits the sweet spot.

0:24:400:24:45

That's it.

0:24:450:24:46

Is it working?

0:24:460:24:48

-Ah!

-Oh!

-Come on!

0:24:520:24:54

-Right, it's off!

-Good boy!

0:24:540:24:55

This has got to go all the way outside now. All the way round.

0:24:550:24:58

We've probably got, what, about three minutes of this?

0:24:580:25:01

And then it's going to get to the boat and BOOM!

0:25:010:25:04

Faster. Come on!

0:25:090:25:11

There she goes.

0:25:160:25:17

Slowly and steadily, making its way along the fuse wire

0:25:170:25:20

to the boat down there. What's in the boat?

0:25:200:25:22

I'll tell you what's in the boat. A nice combustible bag of tricks.

0:25:220:25:27

You see, the thing about fuses is they can take a long time to burn.

0:25:310:25:36

HE WHISTLES

0:25:370:25:39

Yeah, a, um... A very long time.

0:25:480:25:50

In fact, we're best fading to black, actually. Let's do that.

0:25:520:25:56

Look! The fuse wire is nearly in the boat.

0:25:560:25:58

Tense moment.

0:26:000:26:02

'After all that hard work, this is finally it...

0:26:030:26:07

'Or is it?'

0:26:070:26:09

That boat's absolutely fine. Failed experiment.

0:26:090:26:13

No bangs, flashes. Whooshes.

0:26:130:26:17

-F-F-F-Fire!

-Hmm?

-F-F-F-Fire!

0:26:170:26:21

-It's on fire! Look at that, Archimedes!

-Hey!

0:26:230:26:27

Eureka! We've done it!

0:26:290:26:31

FIRECRACKERS POP AND CRACKLE

0:26:310:26:34

Well done, boys! You've got a lovely fire going there!

0:26:350:26:40

I love Archimedes, me. He worked out how things float...

0:26:520:26:56

He invented the screw to make water go uphill

0:26:570:27:00

to save the poor old donkey

0:27:000:27:02

and give us a brilliant white water ride.

0:27:020:27:05

Then there was the Archimedes' claw.

0:27:050:27:07

And the heat ray.

0:27:080:27:09

Hm, Archimedes... you are an absolute genius.

0:27:090:27:13

Dick and Dom, it's been an absolute pleasure.

0:27:130:27:17

Now, roll the credits.

0:27:230:27:24

Go on. Oh, forget it!

0:27:260:27:28

Hey!

0:27:320:27:33

Aah!

0:27:360:27:37

THEY LAUGH

0:27:370:27:40

BOGIES!

0:27:400:27:41

-Oh!

-Whoa!

0:27:410:27:43

It went right through me!

0:27:470:27:49

-Don't wobble it.

-I'm not doing anything!

-Stand still, then!

0:27:490:27:52

Oi, oi!

0:27:520:27:54

DICK GIGGLES

0:27:550:27:57

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0:27:570:28:00

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