Episode 3 Richard Hammond's Blast Lab

Lab rat, just let me in!

It's me, Richard, it's my lab, let me...

Hit the button, open the door, let me in! Lab rat!

Yep, it's very reassuring

to know that my anti-intruder cannon is working, but I'm not an intruder,

and if you do that again it'll be your head in the cannon next time.

Hello, I'm Richard Hammond. This is my Blast Lab!

On with my lab coat. I've invited two teams of young scientists here

to take part in challenges.

The winning team will take home prizes.

The losing team gets to blow theirs up.

Let's have a look at what's in store.

Now, what with this being a

top secret underground lab and everything,

it's usually guarded round the clock by an elite team of SAS officers.

Unfortunately, they all put their balaclavas in

the wash with a Red jumper yesterday and they came out pink.

So they've had to go balaclava shopping instead of coming here.

But don't worry, I've replaced them with a lady who's

less SAS and more OAP.

She is, of course, my Ninja Nan.

Ninja Nan, thanks for standing in.

I know, she looks fragile.

But she's actually a trained Ninja.

See? Ninja Nan, if you...

Oh, turn it up! Ninja Nan!

If you'd like to make your way to Security, thank you very much.

Off she goes with her little ninja shopping trolley there.

Look at the speed.

She came back from the Olympics with a gold medal, you know.

She didn't win it, she beat up the rowers who'd won it.

OK, she should be about there by...

Oh, she is. Oh no, there's a lab rat in the chair. She didn't like that.

OK, let's get her settled in.

It's great to know she's there to look after us all.

What's she looking for now?

I know what that is. That's her toffees.

They're not just chewy, they're ninja-chewy.

I started one last Christmas, finished it this morning. Let's meet

the people trying to get into my lab today. Let's have a look at ya.

Hold on, hold on! We're getting all excited.

We don't know yet, they say they're the Yellow Team.

They've got to prove it.

A lot of people try to get into my lab.

It's secret in here. So I've got some security checks here.

Identify yourselves by name and I can check. Your names.

-Toni!

-Lauren!

-India!

Toni, Lauren, India. Yes, that checks out with the security file.

Under "hidden talent," I have, India, your name.

-What are you going to do for us, India?

-Karate.

Don't move a muscle, please!

If Ninja Nan hears you even thinking that, it'll be terrible.

Thank you, lab rat. Make her safe

with the special anti-ninja tape. So you're going to demonstrate karate.

OK, if you can do karate that will prove that you're the Yellow Team.

Right, oh yes, OK. Well, I'd say that was karate.

You are the Yellow Team. Come in to the Blast Lab.

Hello, Yellow Team. Where have you all come from?

-Bedfordshire, and we are Chemical Reaction!

-No you're not!

You're the Yellow Team. But it's great to have you here.

Let's meet the people who claim to be the team

you'll be playing against. Let's have a look at ya.

This lot claim to be the Red Team.

Your names, please, for security purposes.

-Joe!

-Connor!

-Finn!

Joe, Connor and Finn. That checks out. Under "hidden talent,"

Finn, I've got your name. It says you play a musical instrument.

-It's not the tuba, is it?

-No.

-OK, it's the violin.

If you can play the violin, we'll let you in.

HE PLAYS TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR

What do you reckon? Yeah. OK, the audience are nodding.

That was playing the violin. You're cleared. Come into the Blast Lab.

Sorry about the security checks.

I can't let anybody in. We have to be careful.

-Where have you all come from?

-Leeds! And we are the Triplet Tornadoes!

Wow! You actually are triplets, aren't you, as well?

-Yeah.

-You needn't have made up a name,

because you're the Red Team, and that's that. Thank you very much.

Right, Red Team, Yellow Team. Time to get ready for round one.

Away you go, because that's what's coming up next.

To help us with that, let's bring on a good friend of mine.

His brain is full, but his petrol tank is empty cos it leaks.

It is, of course, Oliver.

When I fitted Oliver with his state-of-the-art, high-tech Fact Nav

system, it really was a piece of cake to do. That's the problem.

I think there's still some bits of cake stuck in it,

and that's why it doesn't work very well.

Not all the facts he comes out with are true.

I'm going to need my two teams to tell me whether the science facts

I give them are true or false.

Oliver will then give us the real answer.

If it's true, he'll do this.

HIGH-PITCHED HORN

And if it's false, he'll do this.

LOW -PITCHED HORN

OK, You're settled and comfortable? Reds, you're going first.

I'm going to give you science fact.

Tell me whether this is true or false.

The loudest recorded burp was as loud as a chainsaw.

True or false? Have a good chat amongst yourselves.

Audience, what do we think?

The loudest recorded burp was as loud as a chainsaw.

What, was it one of you lot or something?

There seems to be a lot of confidence from the audience,

but I wouldn't always go with what they think.

They're bright, but you might be brighter.

-What do you reckon?

-True.

-Our Red Team thinks it's true.

Oliver, is it true or false?

HIGH-PITCHED HORN

Yep, it's true. That's a point for the Red Team straight away!

Well done!

Actually, it was 104.9 decibels,

and it was achieved by the UK's Paul Hunn.

I don't know whether he was a sort of champion burper or what,

but the average decibel level of a chainsaw

is 100 decibels. So it was louder than a chainsaw. Imagine that!

Einstein asked the same question, I'm sure.

Yellows, this is your science fact.

Tell me whether this is true or false.

If you heat a diamond to 760 degrees Celsius, it'll simply vanish

and leave pretty much nothing.

Have a think. Audience, true or false, what do you think?

50-50, I reckon. But Yellows, you're the ones after the point.

You need this to equalise, or drop behind immediately. No pressure!

So what do we think?

False.

OK, Yellows are going for false. Oliver, is it true or false?

HIGH-PITCHED HORN

No! It's true, it's true.

I'm sorry, Yellows. No point for you there.

It's the hardest known naturally occurring mineral, diamond,

and they can burn in a high enough temperature

in the presence of oxygen.

Right, time, then, for your third question.

This isn't a true or false. I want an actual answer to this one, OK?

That's why you've got the boards in front of you,

and I'm going to give the point to the team

that gets the nearest to the actual answer, OK?

What percentage of the air we breathe is oxygen?

What percentage of the air we breathe is oxygen?

OK, teams, let's have a look at your answers, please.

Reds, you've got 40 per cent.

OK. Yellow Team, 35 per cent.

The actual answer is 20.95 per cent.

The Yellows take the point and equalise!

At the end of the first round, it's one all.

That's all to come, but first, prepare yourselves.

It's time for mini science.

The teams are about to carry out scientific experiments

with ordinary household objects,

and to help me, I've transported my old science teacher through time

to be with us in the Blast Lab...

Although, something did go a bit wrong on the way.

So please welcome my 65-year-old former teacher, Mini Miss.

-Good day, Richard.

-Good day, Miss.

I'm really sorry about the whole, going in a time machine

and coming out as a 10 year-old thing.

That's not the only thing you've ever done wrong, is it?

You never were the shiniest test tube in the rack.

What does that mean, Miss?

Never mind, Richard. Just get on with your work.

OK, so what are we doing today?

Well, today the teams are going to be tube surfing.

-Wow! What is it?

-Each team has got

40 cardboard tubes, and the first team to go has to choose how many

tubes they think will support all three team members' weight.

They then have to put the amount of tubes they've chosen

under the surfboard, and all three team members

have to stand on the surfboard, unsupported, for five seconds.

OK. So if none of the tubes are crushed

it's then the other team's go.

But the other team has to remove at least one tube to stay in the game

and then try standing on the board themselves. So the aim is to surf on

as few of these cardboard tubes as possible without squashing any.

The team that does that on the fewest

will win the game and win a point.

-That's right.

-Those are the rules. It's currently a draw, one-all.

So we have to decide which team gets the decision to go first.

We're going to do that using my pens.

I'm a scientist I carry many of them.

They're all the normal length apart from one which is the short one.

Whichever team draws the short one, the other team gets the choice.

Have a pen. Pick a pen. Help yourself. Very nice. Well done.

Reds, if you'd like to pick a pen.

If you'd like to pick a pen, Yellow team.

Oh right, OK Reds. It's going down to the wire, this.

Pick a pen. OK. Pick a pen.

Oh! You see.

-Reds you get the choice first or second?

-Second.

OK. Right now there's quite a bit of tactical thinking involved

here so I'm going to give you a bit of time to do that.

Teams gather around in a huddle, have a think.

I'll give you some time to do that.

THEY CONFER

This is all about compression which is just a fancy word really

for squashing things. With the tubes upright like that they've

got vertical walls going all the way down and because it's circular in

cross section that means if you chop the tube that way you get a circle.

The walls go all the way round

and the weight is spread evenly around them

and that makes them very strong when they're squashed that way.

If they're on their sides - the same tubes, the same amount of cardboard

in them - but with no straight walls they'd be squashed very easily

by the team's weight. Hopefully our two teams will work that out.

Let's see what they go for.

Teams, your thinking time is coming to an end.

There was a lot of urgent planning and talking going on there.

Have you all made your plans?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Yellows, you're going first. How many will you go with?

Ten.

Well, take ten tubes over to the board and we'll get them all set up.

Think about how you spread the weight around most evenly...

..bearing in mind all three of you have to stand on the board.

Remember the more evenly the weight is spread the better it'll be.

-Are we happy?

-Yes.

-We're happy with that.

Lab rats, come in please and surf board in place.

As soon as you're on and balanced we'll start the timer.

You'll hear it count five seconds and you can get off. Good luck.

-Same time.

-It's tense, tense.

Start the clock.

Oh, I think that was a collapse. Is that a collapse?

It is, we've lost one at the back. That's OK, what happens now is the

Reds get a chance to set the benchmark.

They come up with the number of tubes they think it can be done on.

You then have the chance of doing it one less or even more less.

-Reds, what are you going to go for?

-Nine.

-You don't have to go for less.

We're trying to establish the benchmark.

-You can go for more.

-Ten.

-You're going to still try for ten?

-Yes.

The important thing in this game is the structural shape of the tube is

what enables them to bear a lot more weight than you might expect.

So it's all about where the weight goes.

With those walls all the way round the outside of the tube,

the weight is spread around

those strong vertical walls. That makes each tube stronger.

If you arrange the tubes in the right way to spread the weight,

it'll make the whole lot stronger.

-Are you happy with the way you've laid those out?

-Yep.

Yellows, watch and learn

cos if this works you have another chance to have a go.

Lab rats, the board please. Let's go.

Good luck, Reds. Take your time, take your time.

Start the timer.

TIMER TICKS

That's your five seconds.

Well done. Off you get, lads.

Well done, Reds.

Hello, Yellows.

-Hello.

-No pressure, but they've just done it with ten

so you've got to do it with less. It's up to you.

-We'll do it with nine then.

-Nine?

-Yes.

-Come on then.

With each tube it's about where the weight goes.

With those strong vertical walls spreading it all the way around,

the structure of each tube is sound - it will hold the weight.

They then have to think about

the structure of the whole group of tubes -

where does the weight go around between them all?

Effectively they're making another structure out of tubes.

Yellows, are you happy with your formation?

-Yes.

-Yes.

-Yeah? OK, lab rats.

Yellows, remember this is it - fail this time, they've set the

benchmark at ten, you're out and the point goes to them and we move on.

OK? It will be the end of the game.

-Its twisting.

-Try forward a bit.

We'll start the timer as soon as you're all on board

and surfing all three together.

OK. They're on, start the timer, please.

Don't lean.

TIMER TICKS

There you go, well done, Yellows! You're still in.

You're still in the game.

The pressure is on, Reds - they did it.

-What are you going to go for?

-Six.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

OK.

-Right, you're happy with your formation then, Reds?

-Yes.

Lab rats can we have the board in place please. Let's see if the

three members of Red team can surf on just six cardboard tubes.

That's just two supporting each of you, remember.

So under each of you there's just two little cardboard tubes.

Start the clock.

TIMER TICKS

Wow, the Reds.

Looking rock steady there, boys. Really steady.

-Five?

-Yeah.

-Five. I've got two.

-Come on then.

-Are we happy then, team?

-Yes.

-Lab rats let's have the board on please.

We're going with five now.

That's less than two each to support their weight.

Good luck. We'll start the clock as soon as all three are on.

Go.

Oh, I think we've had a crush. We have.

Yellows, I'm sorry that means the point goes to the Red team.

Which brings the total scores now,

2-1 to the Reds at the end of that round.

Right, well done.

Sorry, Yellows. So cardboard seems to be pretty strong.

What if we use paper instead?

I wonder just how strong that could be?

Today in one of my top secret test facilities my lab rats

are trying to discover just how strong paper can be.

First up we're gonna find out if paper can be used

to protect what's most important in life - eggs and melons.

Our lab rat here is mixing a solution of wallpaper paste

and paper to make something called papier-mache.

He's coating eggs and melons with the paper

and then leaving them to harden,

the idea being that the hardened paper coating

will protect the valuable foodstuffs if they fall from a height.

Let's drop them and find out.

# Shut up and let me go... #

# Hey! #

Let's see what state he's in.

Ah, slightly scrambled I'd say.

Maybe we'll have more luck with the melon.

Amazing, practically unharmed.

Well, it seems paper's not

looking very strong so far.

So, limited success thus far

but I think we should take it to the next level.

The lab rats are going to use this huge piece of paper and some science

to create a bridge that will enable them to

cross a swimming pool... without falling in.

Lab rats are stupid creatures bred

exactly for this sort of thing, we know you'd never do this at home.

Real bridges are designed to spread out the weight of their load.

Here with our paper bridge the weight'll be spread out

down the zigzags of the folds and over a large area of the paper.

By spreading out the load in this way

the paper should be able to take a fair bit of weight.

So, will it be able to support the weight of our lab rat

or will he take an early bath?

With the hard work done and the bridge in place, it all comes down

to one lab rat's quest for glory.

But will the paper save him from getting his feet wet?

OK. Hold the experiment, because there's an extra

point in this. The scores right now, 2-1 to the Reds. Yellows, this is a

chance to equalise which means you'll go in to the Messy Mess

Test with no advantage to the Reds, you'll all start at the same time.

The question I'm going to ask is, does it work?

Will that paper bridge support my lab rat's weight?

-What do you think, is it going to hold his weight or not?

-No.

-No?

-Reds?

-Yeah.

-What's your answer?

-It won't break.

-It won't break?

So, Yellows think it won't work, Reds think it will work.

Let's find out what happens.

His whole life has built to this moment.

One lab rat's chance of immortality.

Brilliant. A complete disaster.

There you go. Quite clearly it didn't work,

which means a points the Yellow Team. So it's now 2-2.

APPLAUSE

Actually, unusually, my lab rat was

being quite clever there. He was right.

We were talking about the structure.

The corrugations. That is strong, changing the paper structure

or making a structure out of the

paper, those corrugated shapes, may well have supported the lab

rat's weight if it distributed it evenly across the bridge.

If he'd lain down on it, it would have worked. But he went...

Stuck his foot down. And he went straight through.

Both teams on 2-2.

If you'd like to get off now and get changed ready for the Messy

Messy Mess Test, because that's what we're moving on to right now. And...

Oh, that's...

quite annoying. Sorry, audience. You see, my lab is powered by

a water wheel outside and occasionally it breaks down.

But it's OK, I've been working on something here.

Lab rat, perfect. Yes. Is that on nice and sound? Good.

I'm not even going to explain how this works,

because it's immensely complicated.

This windmill, hold that in your little paw. Blow.

There you go.

Keep blowing, keep blowing.

There you go. Perfect. You see?

It's extracting the energy

from the top of its head that... It's very complicated.

It could solve all the world's power problems but it would take

too long to explain. Just keep blowing.

Don't stop. Don't stop! Keep going.

Right. Let's move on to the Messy Messy Mess Test.

Which today is the Bridge of Destiny.

-DEEP VOICE:

-The Bridge of Destiny.

-Yeah.

Your prizes, like an MP3 player, a bionic copter

and Hot Wheels Trick Track need to be transported across this tank

of hideous, toxic gunge.

If they fall in they'll be useless, because

they'll melt in the hideous toxic gunge you're standing in. To do

this, you will need to construct your own Bridge of Destiny.

-HIGH VOICE:

-The Bridge of Destiny.

And then use it to get from one side to the other.

All the bits you need for your bridge are in the gunge with you.

Unless some of the hideous, slithering, biting eel-like

creatures I've seen in here have eaten... Don't worry, it'll be fine.

All you do is feel in the toxic gunge, find all the

pieces you need and assemble your bridge before your prizes

are lost in the yawning chasm below your Bridge of Destiny.

-DEEP AND HIGH VOICES:

-The Bridge of Destiny.

When you finish your bridge,

pull the lever to release the car, pulling your trailer-full

of prize pods across.

Yellows, you clawed it back in that last round. Well done.

It's a draw, that means neither team has the advantage.

You're both going to start at the same time.

A straight race to get your prize pods across the tank.

And that race starts... Boy, are these teams ready.

Look at that. That race starts...

now!

CHEERING

So, both teams set off together on their bridge-building adventure.

Lots of activity, lots of enthusiasm.

But not a huge amount of actual progress as of yet.

The Yellows are enjoying themselves, having the time of their lives.

They don't seem to realise there's serious business afoot here.

A piece in place. That's better.

The Reds having some difficulties there.

But if we look to the plan view, the teams are currently neck and neck.

Nail-biting stuff poolside today.

It's anyone's race.

Or is it the Yellow's race?

Another piece going in and they are looking supremely confident.

It's all Yellows now, with every piece they put in place

the pressure mounts on the Reds, who seem to have gone into meltdown.

The Yellows showboating now.

They have an almost sixth sense for exactly what piece is needed and

where. It is a privilege to be here today, watching a team operating

at this level. Beautiful stuff.

The Reds are frantic, whilst the

Yellows are jubilant as they pull the lever to start the prize car.

A convincing win there for the in-form team of the day.

Poor Reds never stood a chance.

KLAXON SOUNDS

Well, it was a straight race and the Yellow Team are the winners.

You have won... Are you ready Nan?

A Hot Wheels Trick Track.

An electronic project kit.

Crystal growing kit.

Bionic copter.

20 Questions game.

An MP3 player.

For each of the Yellow Team, because they are the winners. Well done.

Reds...

You would have won all of that. Unfortunately,

you have to blow your prizes up instead of taking them home, because

now it's time for Bidet Goes Bang.

It's the funniest thing as we stand here.

The Yellow Team look really happy behind this big

wheelbarrow full of prizes that you're taking home with you.

Well played, well won. You must be delighted.

-Yeah.

-Good. The Reds, by contrast, a different mood from this team.

How are you feeling, guys?

-Disappointed.

-Nice way of putting it.

-What went wrong?

-Couldn't find the pieces.

-We couldn't do it in time.

-It was close.

Did that make it worse?

-Yes.

-I thought it might do. OK.

Got to decide who'll push the plunger. Which one of you?

-All of us.

-Share the blame, I think that's the best.

I like to end the show with a bang.

Although the losing team aren't really with me on that one, because

it is their prizes that are going to go bang in my exploding bidet.

Those prizes are loaded in.

If you step forwards, if all three of you

do the plunge, lift the plunger into position.

Don't put it down yet cos we're going to give you a countdown.

Are we ready?

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Well, there you go. That's all we've got time for today.

We've had a great time investigating the strength of structures.

My lab rats are about to learn all about

the strength of another structure - my lab.

Cos they're not getting out until they've scrubbed this floor. Bye!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Blast Lab was recorded before a live studio audience.

No lab rat was harmed during the filming.

Mind you, I have to send a few on the health and safety course

at my kaboom-iversity.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

E-mail [email protected]