Episodes

Epsiode 1 - Why Elephants Can’t Dance

What is the right size for an animal? This lecture investigates the effects of size on the animal kingdom. Mark’s experiments uncover the physical rules that govern the strength, life span and even movement of animals.

Episode 2 – Why Chocolate Melts and Jet Engines Don’t

What physics dominates in the microscopic world and how can we manipulate the rules to achieve incredible things?

Epsiode 3 - Why Moutains Are So Small

What forces shape the big things in our world and can we overcome them to build big enough to reach space?

The Series

Dr Mark Miodownik takes us on a journey from the microscopic to the massive as he investigates the fascinating properties of the materials all around us, and addresses a very fundamental question: Does size matter?

The 2010 Christmas Lectures explore the properties of different materials, and how they are governed by rules that change as size changes. Lecture one demonstrates the importance of size by investigating the materials science of animals from fleas to elephants. Lecture two takes us into the microscopic world where we discover that a different set of rules make weird and wonderful things possible. In the third and final lecture, we think big, and explore the forces that shape big things. 

Credits
Executive Producer
Series Producer
Director
Producer
Production Manager
Production Coordinator
3 x 60'