
Plasma
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.
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The Transistor
Bill examines the first transistor ever built. He explains how it works, and its impact on our world today. And, also, he even tests it out!
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The Thermostat – Why does it look like it does?
Armed with a pair of wire cutters Bill shows how a common thermostat reveals how good industrial designers keep track of the dimensions of a human being.
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The Transistor 2
Bill shows how a transistor works by examing a replica of the first one ever build: The Bardeen-Brattain point contact transistor.
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IBM Selectric Typewriter
Using slow motion video Bill Hammack shows how the mechanical digital-to-analogue converter of IBM's revolutionary 'golf ball' typewriter works.
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Aluminium drinks can tab
Bill uses slow motion video to show the ingenious engineering design of the apparently simple tab of a pop can.
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Black 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.
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Quartz 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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The Whiffletree
Bill describes how a whiffletree was used in early calculating devices to do mechanical digital to analog conversion. He shows briefly the device used in an IBM Selectric Typewriter.
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Coffee 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.
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