0:00:02 > 0:00:06This series gets inside stuff we just can't live without - the cleaners, the cosmetics,
0:00:06 > 0:00:10the convenience items that we use every single day.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14How do these things actually work?
0:00:15 > 0:00:17I'm Jane Moore and I'm on the hunt
0:00:17 > 0:00:19for the hidden science in my daily essentials.
0:00:19 > 0:00:20Oh, my God!
0:00:20 > 0:00:25I'm determined to get to the bottom of what's doing the clever work
0:00:25 > 0:00:27inside the stuff we buy and rely on
0:00:27 > 0:00:31and find the secret wonder stuffs that we take for granted.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35It will lead me to the brink of utter humiliation...
0:00:35 > 0:00:36Ugh!
0:00:36 > 0:00:39..test my senses to the extreme...
0:00:39 > 0:00:40I'm going to retch.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43..and push my nerves to breaking point.
0:00:43 > 0:00:44Argh!
0:00:44 > 0:00:48If I survive all that, I'm expecting to go down the supermarket aisle
0:00:48 > 0:00:51with a new-found confidence in what I'm looking for,
0:00:51 > 0:00:54having discovered what really does the job.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16So far, I've learned about some of the astonishing stuff
0:01:16 > 0:01:20that works its magic in keeping our homes spic and span,
0:01:20 > 0:01:24our clothes washed and scrubbed, and our bodies cleaned and preened.
0:01:27 > 0:01:33This time, I want to pull apart three of our most-trusted domestic life-savers,
0:01:33 > 0:01:37which I for one certainly wouldn't want to live without.
0:01:37 > 0:01:38Wow, look at that.
0:01:38 > 0:01:43I'm talking about drain unblocker, antifreeze and batteries.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50To help me in my quest, I'll be calling on the services of the professionals,
0:01:50 > 0:01:55including our resident Wonderstuff guru, Dr Mark Miodownik,
0:01:55 > 0:01:58head of the Materials Research Group at King's College, London.
0:01:58 > 0:02:03'Later, Mark will try to blind me with science once again...'
0:02:03 > 0:02:04Plastic!
0:02:04 > 0:02:08'..by attempting to recreate the world's oldest battery
0:02:08 > 0:02:10'from a jumble of bits from his toolbox.'
0:02:10 > 0:02:13This isn't going to explode, is it?
0:02:13 > 0:02:16But first, to tackling an item on our supermarket shopping list
0:02:16 > 0:02:19that we all hope we don't have to buy very often,
0:02:19 > 0:02:22but when we do, it's an absolute life safer.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28My Wonderstuff hunt starts
0:02:28 > 0:02:31with one of the most infuriating household problems of all,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34a blocked sink, loo or drain.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37When a bit of plunger action has no effect,
0:02:37 > 0:02:41I reach for one of the many chemical unblockers on the market.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44But what does your typical drain declogger actually do?
0:02:44 > 0:02:48Is there a particular wonder stuff that they have in common?
0:02:48 > 0:02:51To get to the bottom of what causes this nasty problem,
0:02:51 > 0:02:57I'm heading out on the rounds with professional drain unblocker, Terry Kaufman.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02So what's the most common problem that you get called out for, then?
0:03:02 > 0:03:05The most common problem, I would say, is Wet Wipes.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07A lot of people are using them.
0:03:07 > 0:03:13On telly they say that they dissolve and break down, but they don't.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16What's one of the funniest things that you've found down somebody's sink,
0:03:16 > 0:03:20when they've said, "Oh, I don't know what's down there"?
0:03:20 > 0:03:24With the sink, it normally is grease and hair,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27but drainage-wise you can find pretty much all sorts.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29One guy came home drunk one night
0:03:29 > 0:03:32and he flushed his underpants down the toilet.
0:03:32 > 0:03:33We had to fish them out.
0:03:33 > 0:03:38Oh, we've all done that, Terry! We've all done that. Oh, blimey.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42'Without working drains, any building quickly grinds to a halt.'
0:03:42 > 0:03:43Let's go.
0:03:43 > 0:03:48Right now, it's Orpington College that has a major blockage.
0:03:48 > 0:03:49OK!
0:03:49 > 0:03:52'I've changed some nappies in my time,
0:03:52 > 0:03:54'but nothing's prepared me for this.'
0:03:54 > 0:03:57This is normally the manhole that they have trouble with.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59If you're eating, look away now.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03Right, as you can see, that's...
0:04:03 > 0:04:07Ugh, that's... How do you do this job?
0:04:07 > 0:04:08You get used to it.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12'Fortunately my own blocked drain's never quite this bad.'
0:04:12 > 0:04:18So this is like a grand version of what you get in a domestic house?
0:04:18 > 0:04:19It is. It's the same thing.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21'This is just the overflow.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25'The - ahem - log jam must be somewhere downstream.'
0:04:25 > 0:04:27- If you come round here.- Yeah? Ah!
0:04:27 > 0:04:31Look at the pipe. You can see that is the cause of the problem.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36- Oh, yeah! A good plug of goodness knows what.- That's it.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40'It's just like what happens when grease, hair and other yucky stuff
0:04:40 > 0:04:43'builds up in our pipes at home.'
0:04:43 > 0:04:46- Right, OK, Terry, off you go. - OK, then.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50It takes a lot of hard work with specialist equipment to shift it.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52Yay!
0:04:54 > 0:04:55SHE CHUCKLES
0:04:55 > 0:04:57We have lift-off!
0:04:57 > 0:05:02Thankfully, for your typical smaller-scale household blockage,
0:05:02 > 0:05:06there's somewhere to turn before calling in a big gun like Terry.
0:05:06 > 0:05:12Yes, I'm talking about the staggering choice of chemical drain cleaners.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15And judging by the labels, there must be something in here
0:05:15 > 0:05:18that's strong enough to do the dirty work.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21So what exactly is it?
0:05:23 > 0:05:27I've asked the University of Warwick's chemistry department
0:05:27 > 0:05:31to demonstrate what's in drain unblocker that makes it effective.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35So they've built the ultimate household blockage,
0:05:35 > 0:05:38a stomach-churning cocktail of melted lard, bits of old veg,
0:05:38 > 0:05:44and hair kindly donated by chemist Julie Ann Lough.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46You can't go in and have a good scrub at it.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50This is a case where we have to get chemicals to do all the hard work for us.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54Julie Ann is going to make some drain cleaner from scratch.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56Whatever you do, don't try this at home.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59I'm going to get you to put on a pair of gloves.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01What would it do if it went on my hands?
0:06:01 > 0:06:04It would eat through your skin, because your skin is fat.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07OK, I'll put gloves on!
0:06:07 > 0:06:11It eats through the fat in this drain, so how easily will it eat through the fat on your skin?
0:06:11 > 0:06:13That figures.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15We're going to make some caustic soda.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18- OK.- I want you to hold onto this and I'm going to pour in some water.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21'Julie Ann's starting with sodium hydroxide
0:06:21 > 0:06:25'which apparently is the linchpin of many off-the-shelf drain cleaners.'
0:06:26 > 0:06:29'When it mixes with water, the result is hot stuff.'
0:06:30 > 0:06:32Wow!
0:06:32 > 0:06:34That is seriously hot. What's happening here?
0:06:34 > 0:06:38Isn't it? We'll have a look at how hot it is.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40It's flying up the thermometer here, coming up on 60.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45Julie Ann tells me that the particles in the mixture
0:06:45 > 0:06:47are violently attracted to one another
0:06:47 > 0:06:52and this chemistry is releasing a lot of heat that makes the thermometer shoot up.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55It feels like boiling water.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59It gets up to that stage. This heat will have an important role in how it cleans your grease.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02'To be on the safe side,
0:07:02 > 0:07:06'our self-styled blocked drain goes into a fume cupboard.'
0:07:08 > 0:07:11Starting to eat through it now.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13- Wow, look at that.- Yep.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15You can visibly see it going down.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19On our thermal camera you can really see the sodium hydroxide at work.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22Already the mixture's as hot as a cup of tea
0:07:22 > 0:07:25and it's starting to melt the fat, but that's not all.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29You've got two really exciting things going on.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32The heat of it is helping with the cleaning,
0:07:32 > 0:07:35Also the sodium hydroxide is turning your fat into soap.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40Ah, yes. I remember that from my travels.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42Alkali plus fat equals soap
0:07:42 > 0:07:47and this will help clean your pipe. Amazing.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52Also, the sodium hydroxide is breaking down hairs.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56Hairs are long chairs of proteins which are made up of amino acids.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00The connection between each amino acid is very sensitive
0:08:00 > 0:08:03to big, strong alkalis, so that helps break down your hair as well.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06'But it's still not quite enough to shift our mega blockage.'
0:08:06 > 0:08:10You feel that you want to get in there and give it a good old oomph,
0:08:10 > 0:08:13which of course we couldn't do in a real pipe.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18What we need is a bit of agitation.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20Drain cleaner has another trick up its sleeve.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26It can also contain aluminium which reacts with the sodium hydroxide
0:08:26 > 0:08:28to give off lots of bubbles.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31Gosh, look at that.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34This is releasing a bit of hydrogen gas here.
0:08:34 > 0:08:35- Wow!- Yep. You see?
0:08:36 > 0:08:40- Cor!- So this is reacting with your sodium hydroxide.- Amazing.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43Not only is it doing the bubbling, that's what you're getting.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46All these bubbles of hydrogen gas are released.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48- Wow!- That's hydrogen gas there.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52All this gas is helping to agitate things and move stuff around.
0:08:52 > 0:08:57And finally it's time to say goodbye to our revolting blockage.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00Here we go, we have lift-off.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04- Urgh!- Urgh! Perfect!
0:09:04 > 0:09:08We have a beautifully clean pipe. There we are.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12In the past, I've just got the old drain unblocker out
0:09:12 > 0:09:15and poured it down. I haven't given a second thought to how it works.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18I just know that it does what it does.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22But having done this, I'll never look at it in the same way again.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24It's absolutely incredible.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30To me this sodium hydroxide, or caustic soda, is a real wonder stuff.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33We've relied on its cleaning properties for thousands of years.
0:09:33 > 0:09:38It's indispensable in drain cleaner, but we also need it to make essentials like soap,
0:09:38 > 0:09:42paper, food, soft drinks and even CDs.
0:09:42 > 0:09:47And it's caustic enough to strip paint and decompose dead bodies.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49Urgh!
0:09:49 > 0:09:54When it comes to fixing or thwarting some of life's most infuriating binds,
0:09:54 > 0:09:59then we just had to throw the spotlight on this stuff - antifreeze.
0:09:59 > 0:10:04Time and again it rescues our cars from the worst excesses of the British winter,
0:10:04 > 0:10:06but how does it do it?
0:10:09 > 0:10:12# You're as cold as ice... #
0:10:12 > 0:10:15A good starting point for any chemist
0:10:15 > 0:10:19to solve a natural problem like freezing is to look at how nature tackles it.
0:10:19 > 0:10:24There are plenty of animals that manage to keep moving in sub-zero temperatures.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28Professor Lloyd Peck at the British Antarctic Survey
0:10:28 > 0:10:31has a veritable cold water menagerie,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34which includes these little bundles of delight.
0:10:34 > 0:10:35Oh, my!
0:10:37 > 0:10:40Argh!
0:10:40 > 0:10:43They're one of the big groups of crustaceans
0:10:43 > 0:10:46- and that's isopods.- It's moving!
0:10:46 > 0:10:48- Woodlice are isopods.- Take it!
0:10:48 > 0:10:50God, I can't bear it!
0:10:50 > 0:10:54'The sea louse can survive to just under freezing point,
0:10:54 > 0:10:57'but if I'm to find the science that keeps things moving
0:10:57 > 0:10:59'at much lower temperatures, this isn't it.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03'Down the corridor, Dr Roger Worland reckons he's got something
0:11:03 > 0:11:07'that can survive at record-breaking low temperatures.'
0:11:07 > 0:11:10- These are tiny. What are they? - They're springtails.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14They're a type of primitive insect that live in the Antarctic.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18These little insects have to live there for summer and winter.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21'To put this to the test, some Antarctic springtails
0:11:21 > 0:11:24'will be put into a super deep freeze
0:11:24 > 0:11:27'kept at a constant minus 25 degrees.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29'I get cold just opening my fridge door,
0:11:29 > 0:11:31so it's back in the suit for me.'
0:11:32 > 0:11:33Look at that.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37Kitted up to walk round the supermarket freezer department.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46'The springtails, however, have their body chemistry to help them.'
0:11:47 > 0:11:49Blimey, the cold hits you straightaway.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55'At this temperature, most creatures would die in minutes.'
0:11:57 > 0:12:01So we have all this gear on obviously to help us retain heat,
0:12:01 > 0:12:04but if we weren't wearing this, how long would we survive?
0:12:04 > 0:12:08Without the clothing, at minus 25 you're not going to last long at all.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11- A few minutes.- A few minutes? Gosh.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14'The tiny insects soon stop moving.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16'Despite their nickname, "snow fleas",
0:12:16 > 0:12:18'I have my doubts about this.'
0:12:19 > 0:12:23I'm really beginning to see the effects of being in here now.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25It's getting quite chilly.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28What's my beard like? Is it all right?
0:12:28 > 0:12:32Well, these little chaps have definitely stopped moving now.
0:12:34 > 0:12:39But back outside, Roger slowly warms up the springtails
0:12:39 > 0:12:41and we check for signs of life.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45This one's starting to move now.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48- He's twitching his antenna.- Yeah.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51- His legs are starting to move very slowly.- Yeah.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55So on this one here, is that ice I'm seeing, those droplets on it?
0:12:55 > 0:12:58I think so. It's beginning to melt.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02They stay in this dormant stage until conditions improve
0:13:02 > 0:13:04and they can become active and feed again.
0:13:04 > 0:13:09Their natural antifreeze kept them alive even at minus 25.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12What's happening in all that, chemically?
0:13:12 > 0:13:16They've been converting their food reserves, glycogen,
0:13:16 > 0:13:22into cryoprotective compounds such as glycerol and various sugars and sugar alcohols,
0:13:22 > 0:13:25which all act as cryoprotectants or antifreezes.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29They prevent the water from actually being able to crystallise and form ice.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33It's amazing that something that small can produce all of that.
0:13:33 > 0:13:34It is, yeah.
0:13:38 > 0:13:43But is this glycerol in springtails the same stuff we use to stop things freezing up?
0:13:46 > 0:13:51Just up the road at Cambridge University I'm hoping Dr Peter Wothers can enlighten me.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53He's promised to get his fancy gizmos out.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57- Look.- Wow! Look at that.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59The ice man cometh.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03Let's have a look, shall we? Let's pour a bit out.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05This is the de-icer.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08'It turns out our de-icers and antifreezes commonly contain
0:14:08 > 0:14:11'something called glycols, which are a chemical relative
0:14:11 > 0:14:15'of the natural glycerol made by the springtails.'
0:14:15 > 0:14:18The key ingredient is called ethylene glycol.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21This is what we have in here, a bit of ethylene glycol.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25It's slightly thicker than water, slightly gloopy.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27But before we can see glycols in action,
0:14:27 > 0:14:33Peter wants to show me why putting antifreeze in your car radiator is so essential.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37So using this cast-iron flask, this is pretty solid.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41That's incredible. Look at the thickness of that.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45I have one here that we cut in two. You can see it's pretty thick.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48- But ice isn't going to damage that, surely?- Let's see.
0:14:48 > 0:14:54The flask is filled with pure water, sealed, then dropped into a chemical bath
0:14:54 > 0:14:58at a staggeringly cold minus 80 degrees Centigrade.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04- Oh, my God!- This is just cooling down now.- Right.- OK?
0:15:06 > 0:15:08That's like in Young Frankenstein.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12- Stand back a bit.- It really does look like a bomb, doesn't it?
0:15:12 > 0:15:14'It doesn't take long
0:15:14 > 0:15:17'before the water in the flask starts to freeze.'
0:15:17 > 0:15:19BANG
0:15:19 > 0:15:20Oh, my God!
0:15:20 > 0:15:22SHE LAUGHS
0:15:22 > 0:15:24Well, that worked!
0:15:24 > 0:15:27Let's see what's left.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30Oh, my God! I think I've just had a heart attack.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34Cor, that was a spectacular explosion.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37- Look at that. - That was quite a frisky one.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41It is absolutely astonishing that ice has got the power...
0:15:43 > 0:15:47I'm absolutely blown away by that, literally. Oh, I'm shaking.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52- So that could be a car engine. - The pipes there can easily burst.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55Wow! Science is really exciting!
0:15:57 > 0:16:03OK, so we definitely need something to combat the wanton destruction that ice can cause,
0:16:03 > 0:16:09but can the man-made glycols beat springtails' natural antifreeze?
0:16:09 > 0:16:11Just how cold can ethylene glycol get?
0:16:11 > 0:16:16Let's give it a go. I'm going to ask you if you can record the temperature, please.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20- Ooh, right. - OK? So you've got the reading there.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24I'm going to cool this in the bath. The temperature should be dropping.
0:16:24 > 0:16:25It's dropping like a stone.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30Two, one, zero. We're below zero now.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34It's getting gloopier. It's certainly more viscous.
0:16:34 > 0:16:39- How are we doing for temperature? - 11, 12.- Minus 12.- 13.
0:16:39 > 0:16:44Ooh, we're getting crystals. So about minus 13-ish.
0:16:44 > 0:16:48We're definitely getting the liquid here. It's freezing, OK?
0:16:48 > 0:16:51If we kept it this temperature, this would all freeze.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54So, pure glycols are good down to minus 13.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59Not as impressive as springtail antifreeze, mind you, with their minus 25.
0:16:59 > 0:17:04But Peter promises me that glycols have an amazing trick up their sleeve.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07When mixed with water, the glycol molecules
0:17:07 > 0:17:11work to make the whole mixture resist freezing more effectively.
0:17:13 > 0:17:14- Let's cool it down.- Minus 14.
0:17:14 > 0:17:19So we're already at temperatures lower than the pure ethylene glycol.
0:17:19 > 0:17:24Minus 20 now and it's still liquid. No sign of any crystals in here.
0:17:24 > 0:17:29Minus 30, still no sign of any crystals.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32That's past the springtails, but how much lower will it go?
0:17:32 > 0:17:37It's certainly getting thicker, but no crystals yet.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40- We're at 35 now!- Minus 35.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44So this is really quite bizarre. The pure water freezes at zero,
0:17:44 > 0:17:46the pure ethylene glycol at minus 12,
0:17:46 > 0:17:49and the mixture at nearly minus 40.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53So it's still liquid there at minus 40.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56Minus 43. Ah, there we are.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00It's starting to now, just about. Yep, clever stuff.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04So a mixture of glycols and water gives us an antifreeze
0:18:04 > 0:18:07that can beat anything nature can come up with.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12What's brilliant is that glycols are doubly helpful in your car,
0:18:12 > 0:18:15because they also increase the boiling point of water,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18so they'll stop your radiator overheating in summer too.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23These wonder stuffs turn up all over the place,
0:18:23 > 0:18:26from shoe polish to dyes and preservatives.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35So far, I've tackled two of the major irritations that threaten to wreak domestic havoc on us,
0:18:35 > 0:18:39but what about something that has to be the ultimate life-safer,
0:18:39 > 0:18:42enabling me to live my busy life to the max?
0:18:43 > 0:18:48It's hard to think of something that we haven't invented a battery-powered gadget for.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52I know that batteries come in a dazzling array of shapes and sizes,
0:18:52 > 0:18:56but I've never stopped to think about how they actually work.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05So, armed with a - ahem - battery of questions,
0:19:05 > 0:19:08I'm off to meet my material scientist Mark Miodownik,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11who always has the energy for some answers.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13Let's get some drinks.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16Well, a battery is essentially a container of electricity.
0:19:16 > 0:19:21The difference between a battery and the electricity you get from home
0:19:21 > 0:19:25is that difference between a bottle of water and turning on the tap at home.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27They're essentially the same thing.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31The clever thing is how do you bottle electricity up into this tiny container?
0:19:31 > 0:19:34So what is electricity?
0:19:34 > 0:19:36Electricity is a flow of electrons.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40Electrons are going from one terminal, round this piece of wire,
0:19:40 > 0:19:44up here, through this tiny filament. This filament is resisting the flow,
0:19:44 > 0:19:50just the way that the flow of a river, when you narrow its course, it goes faster.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53It's so resistant that it gets red hot and glows,
0:19:53 > 0:19:55and that's a bulb. That's how they work.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59The electrons come from a chemical reaction inside the battery.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02Every time you turn on a gadget and you're using a battery,
0:20:02 > 0:20:04you're turning on a chemical reaction.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07If you can get it to happen in a certain way, you're in business.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11So if a battery is a carefully controlled chemical reaction,
0:20:11 > 0:20:16what kind of ingredients are in there that are reacting with each other?
0:20:16 > 0:20:21You can make a battery out of any chemical reaction and with a vast range of materials.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23Let me show you. I've got some bits and bobs here
0:20:23 > 0:20:25that I can make into a chemical reaction.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30Well, I didn't... You know. Hold those for a minute.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33- Plastic?- No, no! HE GIGGLES NERVOUSLY
0:20:35 > 0:20:36'Gee, thank, Mark(!)
0:20:36 > 0:20:40'To prove you can make a battery from the simplest of materials,
0:20:40 > 0:20:45'Mark's about to reconstruct something called the Baghdad battery.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48'All you need is a jar, some acid - vinegar will do - and a piece of copper.'
0:20:48 > 0:20:53I don't want it to touch the other bit of the battery.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56Is this going to explode? Shall I stand back?
0:20:56 > 0:20:58It usually doesn't but sometimes...
0:20:58 > 0:21:00That's reassuring(!)
0:21:00 > 0:21:03The last thing you need is some iron or steel,
0:21:03 > 0:21:06like Mark's rather butch drill bit.
0:21:06 > 0:21:11Jars like this one have been dug up in Iraq that are 2,000 years old,
0:21:11 > 0:21:14suggesting our ancestors could have been dabbling with
0:21:14 > 0:21:17the magic of electricity long before they knew what it was.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21So, if I connect one side of the battery, which is the copper,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24to the other side of the battery which is the steel...
0:21:24 > 0:21:26- Yes.- Yes! 0.3 of a volt.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30So a normal battery is what, 1.5 volts?
0:21:30 > 0:21:35- An AA battery is 1.5 volts, yes. - So it is a bit piddley?- Well...
0:21:35 > 0:21:38# Danger, danger... #.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41So hardly surprising that a pickle jar, some copper
0:21:41 > 0:21:45and a drill bit generate a comparatively tame chemical reaction,
0:21:45 > 0:21:48but all the same, we just made electricity!
0:21:48 > 0:21:53So what I thought was incredibly complex, what's going on in here,
0:21:53 > 0:21:57when I see it like that, it's very simple.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00I'm beginning to understand that creating electricity
0:22:00 > 0:22:02is all about the combination of different metals.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06And from the wide range of batteries I see in the shops,
0:22:06 > 0:22:09some metals seem more useful in batteries than others.
0:22:09 > 0:22:14For a disposable battery, a popular choice is a zinc core, surrounded by manganese.
0:22:14 > 0:22:19It's a reaction that can create a lot of power relatively cheaply, but there is a limitation.
0:22:19 > 0:22:24'There's only a finite amount of power in these batteries before they run out.'
0:22:24 > 0:22:28The problem with these types of batteries is that they sort of,
0:22:28 > 0:22:30in a sense, gunge themselves up in the end.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34That battery will last as long as there's zinc that hasn't reacted.
0:22:34 > 0:22:39OK, so although disposable batteries are handy for things like
0:22:39 > 0:22:42remote controls, torches and alarm clocks, they definitely
0:22:42 > 0:22:45wouldn't be convenient for the one electronic gadget
0:22:45 > 0:22:49that goes with me everywhere - my mobile phone.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53What we want in those kind of gadgets is them to be rechargeable.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56We want the chemical reaction to go one way to give us electricity
0:22:56 > 0:22:59and then be reversed if you charge it on the mains.
0:22:59 > 0:23:01You want the reaction to un-react.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04Getting that to happen is the next revolution in batteries,
0:23:04 > 0:23:06which happened not so long ago, actually.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08So the state-of-the-art technology,
0:23:08 > 0:23:12where the excitement is in batteries, is a metal called lithium.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16Well, if Mark's excited about lithium, it must be worth a look.
0:23:16 > 0:23:21So it's back to the chemistry department of Cambridge University.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24At the very least, I'd better get an honorary degree out of this.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26I'm going to meet Professor Claire Grey,
0:23:26 > 0:23:31whose lab is at the cutting edge of lithium battery research.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35So what makes lithium best for my mobile phone battery?
0:23:35 > 0:23:38Basically, it's because the lithium irons are small and very light.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42That means that they can move very fast and they are very reactive.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44And that's a must-have, because technology,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47we want it to get smaller and smaller.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51Absolutely. Particularly in smart phones and applications like that.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55So the amount of power that these little devices consume
0:23:55 > 0:23:58demands something very reactive in their batteries.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00Something like lithium, in fact.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04To prove how desperate lithium is to react with other things,
0:24:04 > 0:24:07anything at all, Professor Grey is about to drop some
0:24:07 > 0:24:09into common or garden tap water.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13- You might want to step back. - Oh, yes! Wow!
0:24:13 > 0:24:16You can see it moving around and it's giving off hydrogen
0:24:16 > 0:24:17as it's reacting with the water.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20Good grief. That's incredible.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23It shows you how powerful this is.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27Yes. It's actually fragmenting.
0:24:27 > 0:24:32The one thing I notice is that it's metal and it's floating.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34Yep. That's because it's such a light element.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36So you can see, here is lithium,
0:24:36 > 0:24:39you start off with the lightest element, hydrogen, helium.
0:24:39 > 0:24:44And lithium is the third one, it's even lighter than oxygen.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48A metal that's lighter than oxygen and even reacts with water,
0:24:48 > 0:24:53how on earth do we turn something like that into a battery?
0:24:53 > 0:24:55- So this is the inside of one of the...?- Yes.- Wow.
0:24:55 > 0:25:00You can see, it's made up of this roll and the roll contains
0:25:00 > 0:25:02different layers of components.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06These three paper-thin layers work in much the same way
0:25:06 > 0:25:09as the metals and liquids in ordinary disposable batteries,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12the key difference here is that the metal itself
0:25:12 > 0:25:14moves between the layers as it reacts.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17And the really neat trick is that recharging the battery
0:25:17 > 0:25:20pushes the lithium back where it started.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23So when I charge, the lithiums will come out of this material,
0:25:23 > 0:25:27go through the separator material and be trapped inside the carbon.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31And when I discharge, they'll go back in the opposite direction.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35So, as the lithium particles flow backwards and forwards
0:25:35 > 0:25:38between the layers in the battery, the electrons channel
0:25:38 > 0:25:42backwards and forwards too, but through our laptops and phones.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46Professor Grey has a microscopic video to prove it.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50So, these colours that I'm seeing here, is that the lithium
0:25:50 > 0:25:53moving across the battery?
0:25:53 > 0:25:57Yes, you're watching the lithiums being inserted into the carbons.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01And because lithium is so small, it doesn't distort the materials.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03# You can't kill the metal... #
0:26:03 > 0:26:06So, lithium's minute size means it's not only light,
0:26:06 > 0:26:10but it can flow quickly through a battery without damaging anything.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Meaning lithium batteries can be recharged again and again,
0:26:13 > 0:26:16regardless of how full or empty they are.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19OK, so I've really got the benefits of lithium now.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22It's small, it's light. It's reactive, which gives it a great
0:26:22 > 0:26:25power punch and also, you can constantly recharge it.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29Yes, so lithium batteries are really a technology enabler,
0:26:29 > 0:26:34without them, you wouldn't have your mobile phones, your laptops.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38It's really revolutionised the whole area of portable electronics.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40It really is the wonder material.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42So, it is official.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46Even a professor is calling lithium a wonderstuff.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49As well as revolutionising our portable electronics,
0:26:49 > 0:26:53lithium is finding all sorts of other futuristic applications
0:26:53 > 0:26:56and is also the gold standard in mood stabilising medication.
0:26:56 > 0:27:02It seems lithium is a tiny molecule that punches well above its weight.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06When I set out to discover the wonder stuff behind the things
0:27:06 > 0:27:10we use on a daily basis, I truly had no idea what I might find.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13The bottles and packets were familiar to me, but I really
0:27:13 > 0:27:18knew very little about what was going on inside, working its magic.
0:27:18 > 0:27:23I love the simplicity behind some of these discoveries,
0:27:23 > 0:27:27that the simplest solutions can often be the most powerful,
0:27:27 > 0:27:31that just adding something as basic as water to sodium hydroxide
0:27:31 > 0:27:35can create enough force to clear the worst of domestic crises.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39And that the clue to solving the problem of a frozen car engine...
0:27:39 > 0:27:43Oh, my God!
0:27:43 > 0:27:46..lies in a tiny primitive insect that lives in the Antarctic.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50Simply amazing!
0:27:54 > 0:27:59Next time, I up the ante on my hunt for life-saving wonderstuff
0:27:59 > 0:28:03as I uncover what protects us from the killer germs around our homes...
0:28:03 > 0:28:06- That's pretty badly contaminated. - That's off the scale.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10..and in our toilets.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13And Mark's technique goes from bad to worse as he attempts
0:28:13 > 0:28:17to explain smells, using his trainer.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19I don't have to smell it!
0:28:19 > 0:28:24Oh, look at that, it's all damp and scuzzy!
0:28:39 > 0:28:41Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:41 > 0:28:44E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk