The Strongest Substance
Curious Cases
BBC
4.8 • 4.1K Ratings
🗓️ 7 October 2016
⏱️ 16 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
"What is the strongest substance in the universe? Some people say it is spiderweb, because it is stronger than steel. Is it iron? Is it flint? Is it diamond because diamond can be only be cut by diamond?" asks Françoise Michel.
Adam and Hannah put a variety of materials, from biscuits to spider web, under the hammer to test their strength.
In their quest to find the strongest substance they quiz materials scientist Mark Miodownik, engineer Danielle George and spidergoat creator, Dr Randy Lewis from Utah.
Features archive from 'Horizon: Playing God', first broadcast in January 2012.
Please send your Curious Cases for the team to investigate to curiouscases@bbc.co.uk
Presenters: Adam Rutherford, Hannah Fry Producer: Michelle Martin.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the final episode in the current series of curious cases. |
| 0:03.4 | And today, we investigate the curious case of the strongest substance. |
| 0:08.8 | Which is a bit of an old question, because it's just... |
| 0:10.4 | Seems like it's easy. It seems easy. |
| 0:12.2 | Does it? It seems really simple to me. |
| 0:13.9 | What is the strongest substance to complete the question? |
| 0:17.0 | Because otherwise, the strongest substance is just a statement, really. |
| 0:19.6 | What was the end of the question then? |
| 0:21.8 | What is it? I think that was just it. |
| 0:23.4 | What is the strongest substance? |
| 0:26.0 | However, this is the episode where you didn't |
| 0:29.3 | subject me to any torturous things which you often do over the previous series. |
| 0:33.4 | I was kind to you. That's right. |
| 0:35.0 | And it's occasion. More than kind. |
| 0:36.5 | You handed me a hammer and asked me to smash some stuff up in the studio. |
| 0:40.8 | I thought I'd get the chance to smash some stuff up as well. |
| 0:43.6 | But weirdly, it didn't come around to my turn. |
| 0:46.0 | No, no. As soon as you had the hammer. |
| 0:47.6 | It was one of the more robust scientific investigations, I think. |
| 0:50.3 | I think we should be proud of ourselves as scientists and human beings. |
| 0:53.8 | And of course, hammers and radio and smashing stuff up, |
| 0:57.1 | that's classic radio. |
... |
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