Aluminium drinks can tab
Bill uses slow motion video to show the ingenious engineering design of the apparently simple tab of a pop can.
More details | Watch nowBlack Box – A flight data recorder
In designing an object an engineer must choose the proper material. Never is this more important than in the 'black box' flight data recorder.
More details | Watch nowCoffee Maker: Pumping water with no moving parts
To engineer an object means to make choices. Bill illustrates how the choice of having a single heating element made an engineer find a creative way to pump water with no moving parts.
More details | Watch nowConcrete
Bill moves a piece of sewer pipe into his office to show how important the ancient material concrete is to our modern world. It, of course, wreaks havoc on his office.
More details | Watch nowCopper – The Miracle Metal
Bill cuts a copper pipe from his ceilng to show the five properties of copper that make it the most important metal for our world: From clean water to electronics.
More details | Watch nowGarbage – Rubbish?
Bill covers his office floor with trash to see what takes up space in a landfill. He digs through fast food containers and diapers to learn that what we really need is green design of our manufactured objects.
More details | Watch nowGolf Balls
To learn what's inside a golf ball - and to show how clever engineers are - Bill uses a special cutter to chop one open - well more than one.
More details | Watch nowIBM Selectric Typewriter
Using slow motion video Bill Hammack shows how the mechanical digital-to-analogue converter of IBM's revolutionary 'golf ball' typewriter works.
More details | Watch nowMatches
Bill reveals the importance of matches in the 19th century; he shares how adding phosphorous to them revolutionized life - in both good and bad ways
More details | Watch nowPhotocopier
Bill uses power tools to take apart a photocopier. He shows how it works, and shares the story of its invention by Chester Carlson.
More details | Watch nowPlasma
Bill cuts a fluorescent light out of his ceiling to show that plasmas and their products are all around us - they're essential in making circuit boards, lights, and even potato chip bags.
More details | Watch nowQuartz Watch
Bill takes apart a cheap watch to show how it works. He describes how a tiny quartz tuning fork keeps the time.
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