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Last broadcast on Thu, 17 Nov 2011, 23:30 on BBC Four (see all broadcasts).
Synopsis
Engineer Jem Stansfield is used to creating explosions, but in this programme he uncovers the story of how we have learnt to control them and harness their power for our own means.
From recreating a rather dramatic ancient Chinese alchemy accident to splitting an atom in his own home-built replica of a 1930s piece of equipment, Jem reveals how explosives work and how we have used their power throughout history. He goes underground to show how gunpowder was used in the mines of Cornwall, recreates the first test of guncotton in a quarry with dramatic results and visits a modern high explosives factory with a noble history.
Ground-breaking high speed photography makes for some startling revelations at every step of the way.
Clips (4)
Accidents that shook the world
Jem Stansfield writes for BBC News about how it was often accidental discoveries that advanced the science of explosions.
Jem builds a gunpowder engine
A web-exclusive video in which Jem builds a gunpowder engine based on a design by Leonardo da Vinci. We don't know if Leonardo ever got it to work - can Jem?
Alfred Nobel: the inventor of dynamite
Jem tells the story of Nobel's great invention, with historian Professor Seymour Mauskopf.
An ancient Chinese alchemist's recipe...
Jem Stansfield and Professor Christopher Cullen rediscover the startling result of an ancient Chinese recipe - appropriately labelled 'don't try this at home'!
It contains the crucial ingredients of gunpowder, but in a particularly explosive combination.
The alchemists were trying to make an elixir of life, so it was quite ironic that that they actually created a potentially lethal mixture.
Gunpowder reaches Europe!
The first description of gunpowder in Europe, written by the scholar Roger Bacon in his 'Opus Majus' of 1267.
The passage starting 'Et experimentum...' in the middle column describes how he has come across some childrens toys from abroad, made of twists of parchment filled with a black powder containing willow charcoal, sulphur and saltpetre - the combination we now know as gunpowder.
The toys produced a flash 'brighter than the most brilliant lightning' and a sound louder than thunder.
This copy of the book belongs to the Bodleian library in Oxford, where Roger Bacon spent much of his time.
Shaping a shockwave
A web-exclusive video in which explosives expert Dr Sidney Alford shows Jem one of the ways he can focus the power of a shockwave to snap steel accurately.
The detonation of nitroglycerine
Nitroglycerine can detonate when given just a short, sharp shock - such as being hit with a hammer. The programme shows it filmed in slow motion for the first time.
Jem with his homemade see-through cannon
Jem builds a see-through cannon to see exactly what makes gunpowder such a good propellent.
Learn more about explosions
Music played
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Nick Ingman/Terry Devine-King — Mars
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Igor Dvorkin & Duncan Pittock — Terracotta Empire
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Terry H. Devine-King — Dangerous Games
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Paul Mottram — Deserted Land
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Orlando Jopling — Serene
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Paul Mottram — Starshift
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Ian Hughes — Cloth of Gold
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Paul Mottram — Rising Star
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Adam Skinner & Dan Skinner — Siberian Sunrise
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Barrie Gledden & Kes Loy — Yangtze
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Igor Dvorkin & Duncan Pittock — Chaser
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Terry H. Devine-King — Battle Lines
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Paul Mottram — Livewire
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Helen Jane Long — Hypnosis
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Paul Mottram — Fireflies
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Adam Skinner & Dan Skinner — Fearless
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Darren Leigh Purkiss — Mission to Mars
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Tom Smail — Long Shadow
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Mat Andasun — Stress
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Tom Quick — Alchemy
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Igor Dvorkin & Duncan Pittock — Awareness
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Paul Mottram — Dreaming Spirit
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Paul Mottram — Equilibrium
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Luke Richards — Something in the Shadows
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Paul Mottram — Intrigue
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Bob Bradley — Merging Cells
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Helen Jane Long — Frontier
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Paul Mottram — Honest Endeavour
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Terry H. Devine-King — City to City
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Paul Mottram — Sea of Tranquility
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Duncan Pittock — Anxious
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Paul Mottram/Gareth Johnson — In Memoriam
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Adam Skinner & Dan Skinner — Black Sand
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Helen Jane Long — Waiting Game
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Terry H. Devine-King — Quest
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David O'Brien & Johnny Lithium — Hidden Threat
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Duncan Pittock — Tremolo Strings
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Terry H. Devine-King — Doom
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Declan Flynn — Futureproof
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Igor Dvorkin & Duncan Pittock — Tense String Rise
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Oliver Ledbury — Pendulum
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Christopher Ashmore/Benjamin Marks — Sinister Angel
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Chris Blackwell
— Acceptance -
David O'Brien — Fear Factor
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Adam Skinner & Dan Skinner — Asylum
Credits
- Presenter
- Jem Stansfield
- Director
- Alex Freeman
- Producer
- Alex Freeman
- Producer
- Steve Crabtree
- Producer
- Ed Booth
- Executive Producer
- Tina Fletcher
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