Macromolecules

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 December 2011

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the giant molecules that form the basis of all life. Macromolecules, also known as polymers, are long chains of atoms. They form the proteins that make up our bodies, as well as many of the materials of modern life. Man's ability to mimic the structure of macromolecules has led to the invention of plastics such as nylon, paints and adhesives. Most of our clothes are made of macromolecules, and our food is macromolecular. The medical sciences are making increasingly sophisticated use of macromolecules, from growing replacement skin and bone to their increasing use in drug delivery. One of the most famous macromolecules is DNA, an infinitely more complex polymer than man has ever managed to produce. We've only known about macromolecules for just over a century, so what is the story behind them and how might they change our lives in the future?With:Tony RyanPro-Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Science at the University of SheffieldAthene DonaldProfessor of Experimental Physics at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Robinson CollegeCharlotte WilliamsReader in Polymer Chemistry and Catalysis at Imperial College, London Producer: Natalia Fernandez.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks for downloading the In Our Time podcast. For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use
0:05.4	Please go to bbc.co.uk forward slash radio for. I hope you enjoy the program
0:12.0	Hello there in our houses in our clothes and our desks at work in the car in our food and in the fabric of our bodies
0:18.7	We couldn't live without them and yet we didn't know they existed until less than a century ago
0:23.8	The indispensable life giving entities I'm talking about are macro molecules otherwise known as giant molecules or polymers
0:31.4	We've learned to copy the structures of these naturally occurring phenomena to make all kinds of plastics, fabrics and materials
0:38.0	From washing powder to aeroplane construction. They're an increasingly vital part of the modern world
0:43.5	And today scientists are finding revolutionary new uses for them from drug delivery inside the body to ultra-thin
0:50.4	Computer screens with me to discuss macro molecules are Tony Ryan
0:55.4	Provised Chancellor for the Faculty of Science at the University of Sheffield
0:59.2	Athenian Donald professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Cambridge and the fellow Robinson College and Charlotte Williams
1:05.8	Read it in polymer chemistry and catalysis at Imperial College London
1:09.8	Tony Ryan can you just tell us what macro molecules are so macro molecules are giant molecules
1:16.8	So often they're made from joining lots of little molecules together
1:20.5	So so polythene of the polythene bag is a polymer the word comes from the Greek polymene
1:27.0	Miros little things and the little things are ethylene molecules two carbons and four hydrogens and you join them together
1:34.4	Because there's there's a double bond between the two carbons and you can open the double bond and
1:39.2	Join one molecule to another and make a long chain and there might be a million
1:45.0	Ethylene molecules join together to make one polyethylene molecule
1:48.7	But we have sold and that is that is two items isn't it?
1:53.3	Salt yes, I'm just trying to get to to listen as the idea of the size of these macro the macro molecule
1:58.4	So salt is two items now what would a
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