0:00:03 > 0:00:06The buildings we live in,
0:00:06 > 0:00:08the roads we drive on...
0:00:10 > 0:00:13..the phones we speak into,
0:00:13 > 0:00:16the screens we watch at night.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19Our world is made up of materials.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32They are the framework, the stuff of modern life.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40Discovering and exploiting the materials that make up our planet
0:00:40 > 0:00:43has been one of the most enduring quests of science
0:00:43 > 0:00:45and helped us build the modern world.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48Learning how to manipulate these materials
0:00:48 > 0:00:53can be the making of both scientific reputations and potential fortunes.
0:00:54 > 0:00:59For over 40 years, Horizon and the BBC has followed
0:00:59 > 0:01:03science's bid to reveal and conquer the material world.
0:01:03 > 0:01:08Charting the discovery of new materials...
0:01:08 > 0:01:10We can see it and work with it,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13and that was really the moment of high excitement for me.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17..and proposing radical new uses for old favourites.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21Super connectivity is beyond question
0:01:21 > 0:01:24the most significant technological innovation
0:01:24 > 0:01:26since the invention of the wheel.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35Each new discovery offers a tantalising glimpse
0:01:35 > 0:01:38of the Holy Grail of material science -
0:01:38 > 0:01:42finding a material that's cheap to manufacture
0:01:42 > 0:01:46which has the potential to change our world.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48ROBOTIC VOICE: Go left onto the A3095.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57And a series of extraordinary breakthroughs have done just that.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00From superconductors to the silicon revolution,
0:02:00 > 0:02:03materials have changed everything.
0:02:21 > 0:02:26In 1990, an extraordinary new material hit the headlines.
0:02:26 > 0:02:31This laser burns through half an inch of steel in a fraction of a second.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35Few substances can survive such blasts of energy.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40If the claims of this former hairdresser are true,
0:02:40 > 0:02:44he holds the secret to a formulation that appears to defy science.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47He calls his invention Starlite.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53Maurice Ward was an amateur scientist,
0:02:53 > 0:02:58yet he claimed to have invented an astonishing new plastic.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04This torch here is producing a temperature of 1,200 degrees Celsius.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07Try cooking an ordinary egg like that
0:03:07 > 0:03:12and in a very few seconds, the results would be quite an explosion.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15I'm going to leave this torch here blowing on this egg
0:03:15 > 0:03:17for a couple of minutes before we crack it open
0:03:17 > 0:03:19and it ought to survive the inferno,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22because it's coated with a remarkable new plastic...
0:03:22 > 0:03:24Its heat-resistant properties
0:03:24 > 0:03:28apparently outstripped any known material.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30- So how is it doing? - It hasn't broken up at all.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34And you can see on the front, it's glowing red hot. Watch this.
0:03:34 > 0:03:35If I turn the flame off,
0:03:35 > 0:03:38and remember it was producing 1,200 degrees Celsius,
0:03:38 > 0:03:42and I take the charred bit and I put it flat in the palm of my hand,
0:03:42 > 0:03:45it only just feels warm.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48And if I then crack it open, what's more...
0:03:49 > 0:03:53..the egg hasn't even begun to start cooking.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58The scientific community was intrigued.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00We have heard so much about you.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04We have seen films of you torching the egg.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10In tests at the British Atomic Weapons Establishment,
0:04:10 > 0:04:15Starlite even withstood blasts of over 900 kilotonnes,
0:04:15 > 0:04:19more than 75 times the strength of the Hiroshima bomb.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26So much power is being reflected off the surface of the Starlite,
0:04:26 > 0:04:29it has actually blown up the thermal fuse
0:04:29 > 0:04:31and switched the interlock system of the laser down.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39It looked like Ward's new material had huge commercial potential...
0:04:44 > 0:04:50..and he was determined to protect his incredible find.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54No. We don't supply you the formulation.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01Yes. Yeah. If we give the world the formulation, that's exit us.
0:05:01 > 0:05:07Despite huge interest from big business and even NASA,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10Ward refused to let any samples of Starlite out of his sight
0:05:10 > 0:05:13or reveal any information about it.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15All we are saying really is that I'm protecting my material,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18and you ain't going to pinch it.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22In 2011, he died, having neither made his fortune
0:05:22 > 0:05:28nor diverged the formula of his plastic to anyone outside his family.
0:05:33 > 0:05:38In many ways, Starlite epitomises the cutthroat world of materials.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41A world where scientists search relentlessly
0:05:41 > 0:05:45for ways of exploiting a new substance and big business watches,
0:05:45 > 0:05:47waiting for signs of a breakthrough,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50but if that breakthrough doesn't happen,
0:05:50 > 0:05:54the spotlight sweeps on and one man's career-defining breakthrough
0:05:54 > 0:05:56becomes yesterday's news.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10Discovering new materials can be costly.
0:06:12 > 0:06:20Even a man-made substance like plastic is derived from the earth's natural resources
0:06:20 > 0:06:22and that means the expense of drilling for oil
0:06:22 > 0:06:24or mining underground.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33The lure for business is in finding the killer application.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37One that can turn a material from an intriguing oddity
0:06:37 > 0:06:40to a hot commodity almost overnight.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51And sometimes, that happens with materials
0:06:51 > 0:06:53we've known about for years.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55This film is the story of a metal.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57A metal which, for 150 years,
0:06:57 > 0:07:01since its discovery at the end of the 18th century, was virtually unused.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06Now, this metal is being dug and blasted from the earth
0:07:06 > 0:07:08at such a rapidly increasing rate
0:07:08 > 0:07:13that all known reserves could well be exhausted before the year 2000.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16This is the story of uranium.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25For decades, uranium had little value,
0:07:25 > 0:07:29but the discovery that it was radioactive
0:07:29 > 0:07:31was the key to unlocking its ultimate use...
0:07:33 > 0:07:35..nuclear power.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39Uranium doesn't have much of a past and it may well
0:07:39 > 0:07:41not have much of a future,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44but its present is to be the most sought-after
0:07:44 > 0:07:48and most politicised commodity of the last decades of the 20th century.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50For the last 25 years,
0:07:50 > 0:07:53uranium has been the fuel of the world's nuclear reactors.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57The fuel which is now expected to satisfy
0:07:57 > 0:07:59a growing proportion of our energy needs.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05And this is what all that effort is about.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08And unremarkable bronze grey metal which for 40 years now,
0:08:08 > 0:08:11we've known to have properties that make it unique.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21During the 1970s, it was thought that nuclear power
0:08:21 > 0:08:25would eventually supply more than half the world's electricity.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28And the assumption that uranium reserves were limited
0:08:28 > 0:08:30only added to its value.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37A stampede of prospectors headed for the planet's
0:08:37 > 0:08:41most remote locations in search of fresh uranium fields.
0:08:41 > 0:08:47The uranium Klondike of the 1980s is in northern Saskatchewan, Canada.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50The uranium that was known to occur around Uranium City
0:08:50 > 0:08:54it's now suggested may extend over the whole of a geological feature
0:08:54 > 0:08:57called the Athabasca basin.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00This is the sort of country where you may stumble upon a boulder
0:09:00 > 0:09:03made up of 50% uranium.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05Do you want to come over and take a look at this?
0:09:05 > 0:09:07I think we've got ourselves a bonus boulder.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11It puts this enormous deposit in perspective and is a measure of the uranium problem
0:09:11 > 0:09:14to realise that in the 1990s,
0:09:14 > 0:09:19we'll have to find and mine a new Athabasca Basin every two years.
0:09:23 > 0:09:28But more than 30 years later, new deposits are still being discovered
0:09:28 > 0:09:32and uranium prices have fallen in real terms.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37The idea that there's money to be made has often fuelled
0:09:37 > 0:09:39a boom or bust gold rush for new finds,
0:09:39 > 0:09:42but such obsessions are nothing new.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46200-odd years ago, aluminium was actually rarer than uranium
0:09:46 > 0:09:50and the Emperor Napoleon had an aluminium dinner set made.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53So valuable was it, he was the only one allowed to use it
0:09:53 > 0:09:58and his guests were forced to make do with plates of silver and gold.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Nowadays, most of us occasionally have an aluminium dinner set
0:10:01 > 0:10:04and when we've finished with it, we throw it away.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11Each time an idea for a potentially valuable material appears,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14both science and industry get excited.
0:10:15 > 0:10:21In 1978, it was the turn of something called manganese nodules.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23Take a fair-sized ship
0:10:23 > 0:10:26almost anywhere in the north-east Pacific Ocean.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28Drop overboard a television camera
0:10:28 > 0:10:31on the end of five kilometres of cable and you will see,
0:10:31 > 0:10:35as these German technicians are seeing, mile upon mile
0:10:35 > 0:10:37of small, round black things
0:10:37 > 0:10:41scattered across the deep ocean floor.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44They are manganese nodules, and they are infinitely more interesting
0:10:44 > 0:10:47than they look at first sight.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51What you are looking at is one small corner of a magic carpet
0:10:51 > 0:10:57whose cash value has been estimated at ten million million dollars.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00Manganese nodules are fascinating to scientists,
0:11:00 > 0:11:05who cannot completely explain what they are and where they come from.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09Manganese nodules are tempting to industrialists,
0:11:09 > 0:11:11who need the valuable copper and nickel in them.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15The past and the future of these humble blackish stones, then,
0:11:15 > 0:11:19is of absolutely vital interest to the world.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29The lure of rich profits prompted industrialists to pour money
0:11:29 > 0:11:32into identifying the best nodule fields.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38This computer can actually draw a contour map of the metal percentage
0:11:38 > 0:11:40of a field of nodules,
0:11:40 > 0:11:44but the information is destined to help the next boardroom decision.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47Oceanographers may never see it.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51But harvesting the nodules was just the first step.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55Scientists still had to work out a way to extract the valuable minerals
0:11:55 > 0:11:58once they'd brought them up from the sea bed.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02RINGING
0:12:02 > 0:12:04As much as success at sea,
0:12:04 > 0:12:09profitability depends on the tricky chemistry of turning dull, grey grit
0:12:09 > 0:12:12into shining and valuable metal.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16The basis of the process is to leach out the metals with ammonia,
0:12:16 > 0:12:19but with an extremely clever pre-treatment process.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27The capital cost of a full-size plant is thought to be 340 million dollars,
0:12:27 > 0:12:31another 220 million capital for the ocean mining system.
0:12:33 > 0:12:38Annual income - 250 million dollars from sale of the copper, nickel and cobalt.
0:12:38 > 0:12:43Assuming 48% tax, total profits from a 25-year project
0:12:43 > 0:12:47have been estimated as one-and-a-half thousand million dollars.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56Millions were ploughed into developing the industrial process
0:12:56 > 0:12:59needed to exploit the manganese nodules.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04But the huge investment bore little fruit.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08Within a few years, a cheaper source of nickel
0:13:08 > 0:13:13had been discovered on land, and the nodules lost their allure.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21In their continuing pursuit of profitable materials,
0:13:21 > 0:13:26scientists began to look even further afield.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38CONTROL TOWER: Go for landing.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41Eagle, Houston here. Go for landing. Over.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55The six Apollo missions had brought back several hundred kilograms
0:13:55 > 0:13:57of moon rock for scientific analysis.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03Tests revealed that the rock contained a fuel
0:14:03 > 0:14:06that could be used in fusion energy,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09thought to be the future of electricity production here on Earth
0:14:09 > 0:14:14and a resource potentially worth billions of dollars a tonne.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20The twelfth and final man to walk on the surface of the moon
0:14:20 > 0:14:26became obsessed with an extraordinary idea - mining it.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36Harrison Schmidt was the only research scientist
0:14:36 > 0:14:39among the 12 Apollo astronauts.
0:14:39 > 0:14:44- This boulder is typical of the granitic rocks that form the core...- He's a trained geologist.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46Probably an intrusive rock,
0:14:46 > 0:14:49although it's sometimes very difficult to tell.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52'See if I can't grab the corner and get that contact.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56'It's obviously very, very cohesive,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59'and fragmental-like.'
0:14:59 > 0:15:04Schmidt came back from the moon and analysed samples he'd collected.
0:15:04 > 0:15:09He found they contained significant quantities of helium 3.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15We have significant information about the distribution of helium 3.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17We of course sampled the soils
0:15:17 > 0:15:20at Tranquillity Base, where Neil Armstrong landed.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24We have indications of high titanium,
0:15:24 > 0:15:27which is a surrogate for helium 3,
0:15:27 > 0:15:29and then also, the polar regions
0:15:29 > 0:15:32have high concentrations there,
0:15:32 > 0:15:36so we have a pretty good basic understanding of where it is.
0:15:40 > 0:15:45Helium 3 is a gas ejected from the surface of the sun...
0:15:48 > 0:15:51..and blown through space by solar winds.
0:15:53 > 0:15:58When it reaches the Earth, it's blocked by the atmosphere.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02But on the moon, where there's nothing to block it,
0:16:02 > 0:16:04the gas is trapped by the lunar soil.
0:16:06 > 0:16:11Slowly, over billions of years, huge deposits have built up.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18At first blush, using the most conservative figures
0:16:18 > 0:16:22for the amount of helium 3 that's in the soils of the moon,
0:16:22 > 0:16:24what we call the regolith of the moon,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27there's about a million tonnes.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29That's a lot of helium!
0:16:31 > 0:16:34It would be enough to power the Earth for hundreds of years.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38It's only within the last few decades that we've ever
0:16:38 > 0:16:41thought about the moon as being a large source of energy.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44In fact, it may be the Persian Gulf of the 21st century.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50It seems preposterous, but Schmidt and Kulcinski
0:16:50 > 0:16:53have set up a company with the extraordinary idea
0:16:53 > 0:16:56of strip mining the moon and transporting helium 3
0:16:56 > 0:17:02as a liquefied gas a quarter of a million miles back to Earth.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19It's not a madman's dream to go to the moon and access these resources.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22We've been there, we know how to do it, we can estimate the cost.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27That's not a madman's dream.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38While it may be technically possible,
0:17:38 > 0:17:41the economics of mining the moon remain prohibitive.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48For now, Harrison Schmidt's dream remains in the realms of fantasy.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59Back on Earth, scientists have been constant in their quest
0:17:59 > 0:18:01not just to exploit the raw materials around us,
0:18:01 > 0:18:05but to understand them as well, and if the key to progress
0:18:05 > 0:18:08lies in manipulating materials, then we must know what gives them
0:18:08 > 0:18:12their distinctive properties,
0:18:12 > 0:18:14like clay - squishy, malleable.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19Iron - hard as.
0:18:26 > 0:18:32Through intriguing experiments and testing things to destruction,
0:18:32 > 0:18:38scientists gradually learned more about the nature of materials.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41It's a compact, almost claustrophobic world
0:18:41 > 0:18:44and the men working in it are, perhaps have to be,
0:18:44 > 0:18:46total enthusiasts.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49But to understand them fully,
0:18:49 > 0:18:52they needed to find a way of peering inside.
0:18:54 > 0:18:59In the 1970s, a new generation of technology changed
0:18:59 > 0:19:05materials research by allowing scientists to scrutinise them in far greater detail.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12They're helped by pictures produced by this machine.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14It's a scanning electron microscope
0:19:14 > 0:19:15and it can be used to study
0:19:15 > 0:19:19the internal structure of, for example, this specimen,
0:19:19 > 0:19:21something which, to the naked eye,
0:19:21 > 0:19:24looks like a tiny fragment of unfired pottery.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27The sample is enclosed in the inspection chamber,
0:19:27 > 0:19:30which is sealed so that it can be pumped down to a vacuum.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34The fragment will then be scanned by an electron beam
0:19:34 > 0:19:39to produce an image of the exposed surface, which is projected like a television picture.
0:19:43 > 0:19:49New imaging technology vastly improved our understanding of materials.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54Deeper insight enabled scientists to manipulate substances
0:19:54 > 0:19:56and push them to new capabilities,
0:19:56 > 0:20:00such as creating a metal that behaved like a plastic,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03a super-plastic metal.
0:20:03 > 0:20:08Here, a foot-square panel of metal is being heated
0:20:08 > 0:20:10and it'll be blown up by air pressure.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14Pressure is now coming on.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24An ordinary soft metal would already be thinning, ready to burst.
0:20:24 > 0:20:25Vacuum on.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31Stage two, it's now being sucked down into the box
0:20:31 > 0:20:34and still without any sign of bursting.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37This metal's an alloy of seven parts of zinc to two of aluminium,
0:20:37 > 0:20:40but it's not the composition that's important.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44It's the crystalline structure inside the metal which, in some way,
0:20:44 > 0:20:47makes it behave like bubblegum, which allows it to get thinner
0:20:47 > 0:20:50and thinner, the metal spreading and extending evenly.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53This behaviour is now totally unlike that of a metal,
0:20:53 > 0:20:55even of a soft, hot metal.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03What is it in the metal that causes it to behave like this?
0:21:03 > 0:21:06Nobody really knows, though it must be something to do with the abnormally
0:21:06 > 0:21:10small size of the crystal grains that are found in super-plastic metals.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14They're 100 times smaller than those in ordinary metal.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18They seem to move over each other as easily as grains of sand,
0:21:18 > 0:21:20but if you can press a pulley wheel in metal
0:21:20 > 0:21:24as easily as if it were made of plastic, you're onto a winner.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31These unusual new materials sometimes turned out
0:21:31 > 0:21:35to have unanticipated commercial benefits.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38A material doesn't have to be brand new to be surprising.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41Sometimes, it's just a matter of looking at
0:21:41 > 0:21:43a familiar substance in a different way.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46As simple a process as altering something's temperature
0:21:46 > 0:21:49can radically change its properties,
0:21:49 > 0:21:53and it was by cooling a metal that researchers made one of the biggest
0:21:53 > 0:21:58discoveries in material science - the discovery of super conductivity.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07This magnet's strength comes from
0:22:07 > 0:22:09an electric current
0:22:09 > 0:22:11that will run forever without any source of power.
0:22:20 > 0:22:25The phenomenon - zero electrical resistance, super conductivity.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32Super conductivity is beyond question the most significant
0:22:32 > 0:22:36technological innovation since the invention of the wheel.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39Now, that may sound facetious, but if you think of it,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42I think the statement can be defended.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46The wheel provided us with frictionless transport of matter,
0:22:46 > 0:22:48and super conductivity provides us
0:22:48 > 0:22:51with frictionless transport of electricity.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08Super conductors proved to be extraordinary materials.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13They behave normally at room temperature,
0:23:13 > 0:23:16but when they're made very cold,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19their properties change.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26At temperatures lower than minus 140 degrees Celsius,
0:23:26 > 0:23:29they emit a powerful magnetic force,
0:23:29 > 0:23:34and they also conduct electricity almost perfectly.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39Scientists were convinced that they were on the brink
0:23:39 > 0:23:41of a great leap for progress.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49I wanted to say I did something with my life,
0:23:49 > 0:23:50and when this thing came,
0:23:50 > 0:23:52for me, it was my chance
0:23:52 > 0:23:54to really try and make an impact on things.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59I had the feeling that we were very close to a breakthrough,
0:23:59 > 0:24:03so I could enjoy my beer in the evening.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07Scientists thought that super conducting transmission lines
0:24:07 > 0:24:09could revolutionise our power supply.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14Conventional cables lose around 10% of the electricity
0:24:14 > 0:24:17they carry because of resistance,
0:24:17 > 0:24:21the natural opposition a material poses to the passage of electrons.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25Zero resistance in a super conducting wire
0:24:25 > 0:24:28would mean no loss of energy.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34Niobium titanium rods are packed into copper canisters,
0:24:34 > 0:24:37and these are then drawn down to long thin rods,
0:24:37 > 0:24:39rather like making Blackpool rock.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46As well as transforming energy, super conducting engines
0:24:46 > 0:24:50could power our battleships, and their strong magnetic fields
0:24:50 > 0:24:54could give medical science new ways to look inside our bodies.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57It's something like an X-ray, but far more effective,
0:24:57 > 0:25:00and also much less damaging to the patient.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05Some scientists even thought they could revolutionise
0:25:05 > 0:25:10our transport systems by using superconductors to power a train.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16At the Massachusetts Institute Of Technology,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20they're developing something that could literally help superconductivity take off.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22A train filled with liquid helium
0:25:22 > 0:25:25that flies on superconducting magnets.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33This is a 25th scale model, built to demonstrate electromagnetic flight.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35This Magneplane vehicle contains
0:25:35 > 0:25:38three saddle-shaped superconducting magnets
0:25:38 > 0:25:41and another one is here.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44And a third one...
0:25:44 > 0:25:46As long as the test vehicle was kept cold enough,
0:25:46 > 0:25:50it could sustain a magnetic field that would lift it
0:25:50 > 0:25:52and hold it up off the track.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54It's not enough to lift the vehicle,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57we also need to propel it to move it along.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59For this purpose,
0:25:59 > 0:26:04we have wires across the centre of this guideway which form meanders...
0:26:04 > 0:26:10These wires could create magnetic waves to push the vehicle along.
0:26:33 > 0:26:39What looked like a fantasy in 1974 became a reality within ten years
0:26:39 > 0:26:42when the first Maglev trains broke all the records.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48Here, the superconducting magnets, cooled by liquid helium,
0:26:48 > 0:26:51are in the experimental train.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55As it gathers speed, they lift it off the track.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01It's not the only Maglev train in the world,
0:27:01 > 0:27:05but this Japanese superconducting prototype is certainly the fastest.
0:27:05 > 0:27:10In fact, it's claimed a world record 321 mph.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16Although superconductivity grabbed the world's attention,
0:27:16 > 0:27:19it was received with a note of realism.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22For the products of superconductivity to become real,
0:27:22 > 0:27:26it must bridge the gap from the laboratory to the marketplace.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29It must make the transition
0:27:29 > 0:27:32from a scientific phenomenon to an everyday reality.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35From a specialty item to a commodity.
0:27:38 > 0:27:43Today, superconductors do have some specialist applications.
0:27:43 > 0:27:471,600 of them power the large Hadron Collider.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53But the extremely low temperatures they need to function
0:27:53 > 0:27:58means they've not yet bridged that gap to commodity status.
0:27:58 > 0:28:03Greater insight into the internal structure of materials
0:28:03 > 0:28:05enabled us to manipulate them as never before.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09But the ultimate proof that scientists could understand them
0:28:09 > 0:28:12right down at the atomic level would only come
0:28:12 > 0:28:15if they could recreate that structure in the lab.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18And what more desirable a material to recreate than diamond!
0:28:21 > 0:28:26# The French are glad to die for love... #
0:28:26 > 0:28:31The brilliance of a diamond is what makes it so highly prized.
0:28:31 > 0:28:36But scientists love it because of its amazing properties.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40As well as being the hardest known naturally occurring material,
0:28:40 > 0:28:43it is the most transparent and least compressible.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47# ..Jewels
0:28:47 > 0:28:51# A kiss of the hand may be quite continental
0:28:51 > 0:28:56# But diamonds are a girl's best friend... #
0:28:57 > 0:29:03The idea of creating Earth's hardest substance in a laboratory seemed incredible.
0:29:03 > 0:29:10But in 1955, scientists at General Electric in the USA did just that.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16Using an ultra-high pressure and high temperature machine,
0:29:16 > 0:29:21they transformed a mixture of metal and carbon into diamond.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25The stones were perfect
0:29:25 > 0:29:27for industrial applications like cutting and polishing.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32But their small size and lack of sparkle
0:29:32 > 0:29:35gave them little appeal to the gem business.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40Over time, the process was refined,
0:29:40 > 0:29:45yet one thing still set synthetic diamonds apart.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48Their colour.
0:29:48 > 0:29:50Any synthetic diamond you grow
0:29:50 > 0:29:52will have a lot of nitrogen in the structure.
0:29:52 > 0:29:54This nitrogen is incorporated
0:29:54 > 0:29:57into single substitutional nitrogen atoms.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00Isolated nitrogen atoms dotted around the diamond lattice.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04The consequence of having nitrogen there is that it gives the diamond
0:30:04 > 0:30:06a not very attractive brown colour.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12In 2000, Horizon visited a Russian researcher
0:30:12 > 0:30:15who claimed to have solved the mystery
0:30:15 > 0:30:18of making perfectly clear synthetic diamonds.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22To get colourless diamonds,
0:30:22 > 0:30:25what we had to do was get rid of the nitrogen,
0:30:25 > 0:30:27which gives them the yellow colour.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37A clue for getting rid of the nitrogen
0:30:37 > 0:30:41came from an American experiment 20 years before.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45It suggested that the nitrogen atoms could be chemically attracted away
0:30:45 > 0:30:48from a growing diamond by using a nitrogen 'getter'.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56The nitrogen 'getter' Fiegelson chose was aluminium.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04Fiegelson found that by putting aluminium in the growth cell,
0:31:04 > 0:31:07it melted into the metal solvent
0:31:07 > 0:31:11and the nitrogen atoms were irresistibly drawn towards it,
0:31:11 > 0:31:15leaving the carbon atoms free to form as pure and colourless diamond.
0:31:20 > 0:31:26When we got our first good diamonds, we were absolutely overwhelmed.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35They have the same characteristics as real diamonds.
0:31:35 > 0:31:39The same hardness, same conductivity, the same sparkle.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43Although he can't make many,
0:31:43 > 0:31:46his diamonds can now be both clear and colourless.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55Within a short time, synthetic stones like these
0:31:55 > 0:31:59posed a serious threat to the diamond industry.
0:31:59 > 0:32:01One of the major players, De Beers,
0:32:01 > 0:32:06was determined to find a way of protecting their valuable material.
0:32:10 > 0:32:12So, at a discreet facility
0:32:12 > 0:32:13on the outskirts of London,
0:32:13 > 0:32:17De Beers created the Gem Defensive Program.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25At vast cost, the new scientific division was set up
0:32:25 > 0:32:30to develop techniques to distinguish between natural and synthetic diamonds.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33Clearly, we knew that some day, synthetic gems
0:32:33 > 0:32:36would be made available on the consumer market.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39The crucial thing for us was to make sure that first, the industry,
0:32:39 > 0:32:42but more importantly, the consumer,
0:32:42 > 0:32:46had every means possible to ensure we could detect
0:32:46 > 0:32:50the synthetic from the genuine article.
0:32:50 > 0:32:52The problem they faced
0:32:52 > 0:32:56was that synthetics were now very high quality.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59It forced them to study down to the diamond's atomic structure
0:32:59 > 0:33:04to detect even the tiniest differences.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07De Beers developed a machine that used ultraviolet light
0:33:07 > 0:33:12to reveal the difference between natural and synthetic diamonds.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15Under ultraviolet light,
0:33:15 > 0:33:19both natural and synthetic diamonds will glow to some degree.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21This is called fluorescence.
0:33:21 > 0:33:25But it is the patterns that are revealed by this glowing fluorescence
0:33:25 > 0:33:28that can tell the two apart.
0:33:29 > 0:33:30It's immediately obvious
0:33:30 > 0:33:34from the strong blocky, blue fluorescence patterns
0:33:34 > 0:33:37that this is a synthetic.
0:33:37 > 0:33:42You wouldn't get these strong shapes of blue fluorescence from a natural.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48Under the UV light, natural diamonds look very different,
0:33:48 > 0:33:52producing a consistent, yet very faint blue glow.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58De Beers are confident in the ability of their equipment
0:33:58 > 0:34:01to detect these new colourless diamonds
0:34:01 > 0:34:05and have sent their detection kit to gem labs around the world.
0:34:06 > 0:34:08But the question is,
0:34:08 > 0:34:10will that be enough to protect them in the long run?
0:34:13 > 0:34:15As it turns out,
0:34:15 > 0:34:19synthetic diamonds have never become as popular as the natural form.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23Once material scientists found a way
0:34:23 > 0:34:25of definitively identifying natural diamonds,
0:34:25 > 0:34:29consumers opted for the genuine article,
0:34:29 > 0:34:32proving that science can't always determine
0:34:32 > 0:34:35whether a material will have value.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46Diamond is a material made of pure carbon.
0:34:46 > 0:34:49And surprisingly, it is not the only one.
0:34:51 > 0:34:56Graphite, used in pencils, is also a pure carbon crystal.
0:34:57 > 0:35:02Scientists believed that these were the only two naturally occurring forms,
0:35:02 > 0:35:08until 1992, when they were stunned to find a third type.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11And it was found by accident.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19This story of discovery and revolution in chemistry
0:35:19 > 0:35:21begins with astronomy.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23The death of stars and the birth of planets.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29Dying stars are pumping out carbon atoms into the interstellar medium.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32The carbon in our body originated in space.
0:35:32 > 0:35:36We now know that it was ejected from some star a long, long time ago
0:35:36 > 0:35:40and was reprocessed and ended up on the Earth's biosphere.
0:35:40 > 0:35:44What's absolutely fascinating and certainly something that excited me
0:35:44 > 0:35:47when I first discovered it is that every one of us is made of carbon
0:35:47 > 0:35:50and therefore, every one of us is made of stardust.
0:35:50 > 0:35:55Ten years ago, Harry Kroto was studying stardust.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58One thing we're not so sure about is, what is the form of that dust?
0:35:58 > 0:36:00What's the structure?
0:36:00 > 0:36:04How does the carbon nucleate to form these little wodges that go on to grow into planets?
0:36:07 > 0:36:12Harry Kroto thought if he could create his own stardust here on Earth,
0:36:12 > 0:36:15he might be able to learn more about its carbon structure
0:36:15 > 0:36:19and even work out how planets formed.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27He wanted to vaporise pieces of graphite
0:36:27 > 0:36:31and then watch how the atoms came together.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36So when he was granted access to a high-powered laser in Texas,
0:36:36 > 0:36:38he jumped at the chance.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45I was so excited, I pinched some money out of my wife's bank account,
0:36:45 > 0:36:49got the cheapest ticket I could, and was there within three days.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55I was keen on doing the experiment myself.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58I was absolutely over the moon that I could do it.
0:37:05 > 0:37:09What followed, none of them will forget.
0:37:13 > 0:37:15Harry worked with the students,
0:37:15 > 0:37:18doing run after run of graphite vaporised by laser.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26It was practical, creative science at its best.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38They saw evidence of Harry's long chains of carbon atoms captured fleetingly by the laser.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42They also saw something else.
0:37:44 > 0:37:45Harry Kroto and his team
0:37:45 > 0:37:49repeatedly noticed clusters of 60 carbon atoms.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57Again and again, 60 was the cluster that carbon preferred.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00Why did carbon atoms form such a stable cluster?
0:38:02 > 0:38:05What was special about the magic number 60?
0:38:12 > 0:38:18The team tried to imagine what 60 carbon atoms would look like
0:38:18 > 0:38:20if they were in a stable structure.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23After trying every possible combination,
0:38:23 > 0:38:27they settled on one shape that seemed to work.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32It looked like they had discovered a new form of carbon.
0:38:34 > 0:38:36One that was round.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46The team turned to mathematicians for help.
0:38:49 > 0:38:51We couldn't be the first people in the universe
0:38:51 > 0:38:53to have discovered this structure.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56They ought to know about the mathematics department.
0:38:56 > 0:38:57So I called up Bill Beech and said,
0:38:57 > 0:38:59"Sorry to bother you,
0:38:59 > 0:39:02"but we have this hot new structure for a carbon molecule
0:39:02 > 0:39:05"and it has 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08"I wonder if you could bother asking one of you students
0:39:08 > 0:39:12"to find out what this polyhedral object is and give us a call back."
0:39:12 > 0:39:14He did call back.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17Bob Curl answered the phone and the mathematics chairman said,
0:39:17 > 0:39:20"I could explain this to you in a number of ways,
0:39:20 > 0:39:23"but what you've got there is a soccer ball."
0:39:25 > 0:39:28You can imagine this excitement that you've discovered
0:39:28 > 0:39:30a way of putting 60 carbon atoms together
0:39:30 > 0:39:34and it turns out not only to be beautifully symmetric, but it's a soccer ball too!
0:39:42 > 0:39:45Their paper to 'Nature' was a front cover story.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50A really beautiful picture of C60.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53It almost looks like you are looking at stars in the sky.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56It was just such a fantastic moment.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59But as I took the plane back, I was on such a high that I don't think...
0:39:59 > 0:40:03I think the aeroplane would have flown without the engines running.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07They named their structure Buckminster Fullerene.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09Bucky Balls.
0:40:13 > 0:40:18But Bucky Balls was still only a theory.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22To prove C-60 existed as more than a blip on a graph,
0:40:22 > 0:40:24they needed to synthesise it in the lab.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36Rival research teams raced to be the first
0:40:36 > 0:40:38to create this new form of carbon.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45The most promising lead was a red solution of graphite soot.
0:40:46 > 0:40:50But although the machines reported that C-60 was present,
0:40:50 > 0:40:52nobody could see it.
0:40:54 > 0:40:59Then, two physicists came up with a disarmingly simple answer.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06The way it really happened was, Kratschmer called me from Germany
0:41:06 > 0:41:09and said, "If you just take a little vial of the red material
0:41:09 > 0:41:12"and you put a drop of it on a microscope slide,
0:41:12 > 0:41:15"then you'll see an incredibly beautiful sight."
0:41:15 > 0:41:17So I reproduced the experiment
0:41:17 > 0:41:21by putting a tiny drop of the red liquid on the microscope slide.
0:41:24 > 0:41:28And in just a very few seconds, as a matter of fact,
0:41:28 > 0:41:31I was able to see these beautiful little crystals,
0:41:31 > 0:41:36which were hexagonal platelets of brownish, orange colour.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40'No longer fleeting atoms in a laser,
0:41:40 > 0:41:45'not merely in red solution, now a new solid, pure carbon crystals.'
0:41:47 > 0:41:51We realised by this time that we were surely seeing a crystalline form
0:41:51 > 0:41:55of carbon 60, which was really a genuinely new form of carbon
0:41:55 > 0:42:00and that we were probably the first people on Earth ever to even see this.
0:42:00 > 0:42:07'This is the first ever film of a new carbon, Bucky Balls crystallising before your eyes.'
0:42:07 > 0:42:11As a solid states physicist, it was incredibly nice to be able to say "Ah-ha!
0:42:11 > 0:42:16"Now we've got something that we can really begin to experiment with.
0:42:16 > 0:42:20"We can see it and work with it." And that was the moment of high excitement for me.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30Don Huffman wasn't the only one who was excited.
0:42:30 > 0:42:33C-60 was a promising new material.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36It seemed everyone wanted to work with it.
0:42:39 > 0:42:44Hello. My name is Don Cox. I am currently the project leader...
0:42:44 > 0:42:51Hello. My name is Sergio Goran. I prepare and characterise southern containing fuellerene crystals...
0:42:51 > 0:42:54I'm Mons Toman and I'm exploring the uses of fuellerenes...
0:42:54 > 0:42:58I'm Ravio Parsni and I'm involved in synthesis and characterisation...
0:42:58 > 0:43:02I'm Bill Shriver. I study the selectivity of fuellerene reactions...
0:43:02 > 0:43:07I'm Lon Chen. We're working on the functionisation chemistry of C-60...
0:43:07 > 0:43:11I'm Glen Miller and I'm studying the reactivity and structure of...
0:43:11 > 0:43:16One of our interests is to see what it is you can do with C-60
0:43:16 > 0:43:22once you make it behave differently than it does as a pure material.
0:43:22 > 0:43:27We'd love to be the company that finds a way of putting a fuellerene
0:43:27 > 0:43:31into a can of oil that will improve the performance of engine oils.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43Scientists proposed a wide range of uses for C-60.
0:43:43 > 0:43:49From targeting medicines in the body to acting as electrical conductors in microcircuits.
0:43:52 > 0:43:58But 25 years later, they're still looking for the ultimate money-spinning application.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05In material science, what counts is not just coming up with
0:44:05 > 0:44:06the right use,
0:44:06 > 0:44:10but finding a cost-effective way of realising it too.
0:44:12 > 0:44:19Since the discovery of Bucky Balls, other even more intriguing forms of carbon have been found.
0:44:19 > 0:44:24The latest to excite both the scientific and business communities is graphine.
0:44:24 > 0:44:30It has incredible properties. It's the thinnest material ever known,
0:44:30 > 0:44:34it's more conductive than copper and stronger than diamond,
0:44:34 > 0:44:40meaning it could have huge potential in the electronics and computer industries.
0:44:43 > 0:44:48Graphine really could be the next big thing, but it's still too early to tell.
0:44:48 > 0:44:54It may even go on to join a small number of materials that have come to represent entire eras,
0:44:54 > 0:44:58like the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.
0:44:58 > 0:45:04When we look back, we could well regard the 20th century as the Silicon Age.
0:45:11 > 0:45:16Silicon was first isolated nearly two centuries ago.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20But its electronic properties were not exploited until the 1940s.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31That's when scientists discovered a feature of silicon
0:45:31 > 0:45:35that would ultimately lead to the electronics revolution.
0:45:37 > 0:45:41By adding small amounts of other minerals, they were able
0:45:41 > 0:45:44to transform silicon from an insulator into a semi-conductor.
0:45:46 > 0:45:52This new material could be made to behave like a switch that could turn on and off.
0:45:52 > 0:45:57Or even amplify an electric signal being passed through it.
0:45:57 > 0:45:59A transistor.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06Transistors were to become the building blocks of something
0:46:06 > 0:46:09that would change our lives forever - computers.
0:46:11 > 0:46:14PLAYS TUNE
0:46:14 > 0:46:17If you listen to the experts, they say that because of this chip,
0:46:17 > 0:46:23startling changes are going to be made in all our lives - the way we live, work and play.
0:46:23 > 0:46:25But how dramatic a revolution is it going to be?
0:46:30 > 0:46:38In the early 1970s, Horizon investigated the potential impact of computers on the workplace.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43'A strip mill is like a 2,000ft-long pastry board,
0:46:43 > 0:46:46'rolling the hot steel progressively thinner.
0:46:46 > 0:46:50'Two computers run this show and they're already recruiting a third.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58'The steel ends up as a coil one tenth of an inch thick.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03'The last human decision is taken here.
0:47:03 > 0:47:09'A bell rings every 80 seconds and the man has to decide whether to press a button or not.
0:47:09 > 0:47:13'If he does, the next slab comes out of the furnace and is sent off down the line.
0:47:13 > 0:47:18'From then on, unless something goes wrong, the men in the other
0:47:18 > 0:47:23'control pulpits perched high above the steel just sit back and watch.
0:47:23 > 0:47:28'How does a man feel about coming to work, only as a back-up to the computer?
0:47:28 > 0:47:30'One problem is isolation.
0:47:30 > 0:47:34'An intercom is a poor substitute for a chat with your mates.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37'And a fish tank is cold company for a sociable man.'
0:47:40 > 0:47:43But while it was initially viewed with suspicion,
0:47:43 > 0:47:46the silicon revolution gathered pace.
0:47:48 > 0:47:50To perform more complicated tasks,
0:47:50 > 0:47:55groups of transistors were placed together on a wafer of pure silicon.
0:47:55 > 0:47:57This became known as the silicon chip.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05A device that promised a brave new world.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11'You're going to see something absolutely amazing,
0:48:11 > 0:48:13'a machine reading to a blind man.
0:48:20 > 0:48:24'A computer will read an ordinary book.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27'It will speak it aloud in its own artificial voice.
0:48:35 > 0:48:40'The first words of the book are, "Why suddenly do so many feel
0:48:40 > 0:48:44'"so strongly about Jimmy Carter, pro and con?"'
0:48:45 > 0:48:48- COMPUTER-GENERATED VOICE: - Why suddenly do so many feel
0:48:48 > 0:48:52so strongly about Jimmy Carter, pro and con?
0:48:52 > 0:48:59This book attempts to unravel the mysteries of Carter's extraordinary success story,
0:48:59 > 0:49:02as remembered from Jimmy,
0:49:02 > 0:49:05the nominee of the one-nine-seven-six
0:49:05 > 0:49:10Democratic National Convention, as well as to provide "gui-de" lines...
0:49:12 > 0:49:18G-U-I-D-E-L-I-N-E-S, "gui-de" lines...
0:49:18 > 0:49:22for understanding and evaluating the event...
0:49:23 > 0:49:27'A man will talk and a computer obey.'
0:49:27 > 0:49:30Turn right, stop.
0:49:30 > 0:49:31Turn right, stop.
0:49:33 > 0:49:37'A man's voice being understood by a machine.'
0:49:37 > 0:49:39Stop. Forward.
0:49:39 > 0:49:40Run.
0:49:44 > 0:49:46Turn left.
0:49:48 > 0:49:52'At the heart of both these machines are tiny powerful computers
0:49:52 > 0:49:56'built around the new technology of silicon chips.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01'This is the size of a computer today.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04'As powerful as the biggest of only a few years ago,
0:50:04 > 0:50:06'but 1,000 times cheaper.
0:50:06 > 0:50:09'What makes it possible is this.
0:50:09 > 0:50:15'Inside here is a silicon chip, with all the important components
0:50:15 > 0:50:19'of the computer etched onto its tiny surface.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23'It's called a micro-processor.
0:50:25 > 0:50:30'Under an electron microscope, magnified and slowed down, it's possible to see it at work.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35'Electric pulses being directed by switches.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38'By sending the pulses along different channels,
0:50:38 > 0:50:41'a chip can be made to do anything from arithmetic to reading a book.
0:50:44 > 0:50:48'Such chips will totally revolutionise our way of life.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51'They're the reason why Japan is abandoning its ship building
0:50:51 > 0:50:55'and why our children will grow up without jobs to go to.'
0:50:57 > 0:51:00The extent of the revolution became apparent,
0:51:00 > 0:51:04as computers were increasingly integrated into our daily lives.
0:51:04 > 0:51:07'There's a new machine coming into use.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11'It's called a word processor and it's probably a more important step
0:51:11 > 0:51:14'than the invention of the typewriter.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21'It uses no paper, the text can be moved around,
0:51:21 > 0:51:24'edited and instantly corrected.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27'The machine works out line lengths, where to begin a new page,
0:51:27 > 0:51:30'and even corrects simple spelling mistakes.
0:51:33 > 0:51:37'The text is stored in memory chips, controlled by two micro-processors.
0:51:37 > 0:51:42'They rearrange the text by shunting it from one memory block to another.'
0:51:44 > 0:51:48But whilst we cautious Brits were still working out what we thought
0:51:48 > 0:51:52about the silicon revolution, other nations were quick to embrace it.
0:51:52 > 0:51:57'These children are programming their own Space Invaders.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03'This little boy can be no more than eight years old.
0:52:03 > 0:52:07'In the market place at Akihabara in Tokyo,
0:52:07 > 0:52:10'micro-electronics has gone do-it-yourself.
0:52:13 > 0:52:19'This shop goes further still. It's the cheapest place in town to buy integrated circuits, chips.
0:52:19 > 0:52:21'On a Saturday afternoon,
0:52:21 > 0:52:24'they queue up to buy the latest memory chips for a handful of yen.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27'The Silicon Age has gone DIY too.
0:52:27 > 0:52:30'Its very immediacy gives you an indication of just how far
0:52:30 > 0:52:34'micro-electronics has sunk into Japanese culture.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37'A whole generation is growing up in Japan as familiar
0:52:37 > 0:52:41'with building home computers as our children are at building Lego.'
0:52:44 > 0:52:48This willingness to adopt new technology meant Japan
0:52:48 > 0:52:51was at the forefront of the silicon goldrush.
0:52:53 > 0:53:00Japanese business raced neck and neck with the US to develop the world's fastest silicon chips.
0:53:00 > 0:53:05'Dominating big computers means toppling the world leader, America's IBM.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09'And in Kawasaki City, Fujitsu are preparing to do just that.
0:53:09 > 0:53:14'Sat in the corner, looking as exciting as a row of filing cabinets, is the machine
0:53:14 > 0:53:17'they hope to do it with, their latest number cruncher - the M380.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28'But for the M380, Fujitsu has moved ahead.
0:53:28 > 0:53:32'These are the latest chips, the much more powerful 64,000 bit,
0:53:32 > 0:53:35'known in the trade as the 64K.'
0:53:35 > 0:53:4164K sounds tiny today, when we have megabytes and terabytes.
0:53:41 > 0:53:45But in 1984, it was extraordinarily powerful.
0:53:47 > 0:53:51In 20 years, silicon had gone from a material in which scientists
0:53:51 > 0:53:57had observed interesting behaviour to one that had given us digital watches, personal computers
0:53:57 > 0:54:00and all manner of technological advances.
0:54:00 > 0:54:04It was our deep understanding of silicon's potential that kick-started
0:54:04 > 0:54:07a vast electronics revolution.
0:54:10 > 0:54:12Ah!
0:54:12 > 0:54:16As I move it around the table top,
0:54:16 > 0:54:21a little cursor, or arrow, on the screen moves in a relative position.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24An operator can change the photographic record,
0:54:24 > 0:54:28using a device similar to an electronic paintbrush.
0:54:28 > 0:54:30This is a highly intelligent car.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34'Go left onto the A3095.'
0:54:43 > 0:54:47Ever smaller transistors that worked faster
0:54:47 > 0:54:50and were cheaper to make cemented silicon's success.
0:54:53 > 0:54:54A few years ago,
0:54:54 > 0:54:57the computers operating this little model
0:54:57 > 0:54:59would have been so big,
0:54:59 > 0:55:02you could hardly have got them inside a double-decker bus.
0:55:06 > 0:55:11By 1989, a million transistors fitted on a single chip.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14In 2005, it was a billion.
0:55:16 > 0:55:22'When you're dealing with figures like this, it isn't an evolution any more, it's a revolution.'
0:55:28 > 0:55:33But there is a physical limit to how small silicon transistors can be made.
0:55:38 > 0:55:42And that means we must find a replacement material
0:55:42 > 0:55:47if we want even smaller, faster and cheaper computing at our fingertips.
0:56:09 > 0:56:12At the cutting edge of semi-conductor science
0:56:12 > 0:56:19is organic electronics, where transistors are made of carbon-based materials 100 times smaller
0:56:19 > 0:56:21than the tiniest silicon switches.
0:56:32 > 0:56:37Experts predict that silicon's dominance may finally be over within the next ten years.
0:56:53 > 0:56:58Scientists have gone to the ends of the Earth
0:56:58 > 0:57:05and even beyond in their bid to find and develop the materials that have dramatically changed our world,
0:57:05 > 0:57:07and the way we all live in it.
0:57:10 > 0:57:17They've explored ocean depths, invented groundbreaking new techniques, and come to understand
0:57:17 > 0:57:20materials at a subatomic level.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26And all the while,
0:57:26 > 0:57:30big business has been watching for the next major breakthrough.
0:57:33 > 0:57:40The potential a material has to change every aspect of our lives means that science and industry
0:57:40 > 0:57:43will never give up in their pursuit of the next big thing.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47With the right application, a material can truly propel us
0:57:47 > 0:57:49out of one age and into the next.
0:57:49 > 0:57:56And it's likely that understanding them at the most fundamental level possible will be crucial
0:57:56 > 0:57:58to finding new ways of exploiting them.
0:57:58 > 0:58:03But beyond that, who knows where the next big breakthrough is going to take us!
0:58:09 > 0:58:14# Cos we are living in a material world
0:58:14 > 0:58:17# And I am a material girl
0:58:17 > 0:58:21# You know that we are living in a material world
0:58:21 > 0:58:24# And I am a material girl
0:58:24 > 0:58:27# (Living in a material) Material! #
0:58:29 > 0:58:33Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd