Episode
Modern Marvels: Carbon
Overview
Carbon is the chemical basis of all known life and yet this simple element is also the foundation of modern technology. Carbon burns hotter, cuts deeper, insulates more thoroughly and absorbs more fully than any other material. See why carbon is the key both in heavy-duty industries, as well as in tools like the graphite pencil, the charcoal water filter, and the diamond saw blade.
Details
- Series
- Modern Marvels
- Season
- Season 15
- Episode
- Episode 2
- Air date
- 2008-01-14
- Runtime
- 44 min
Episode context
Carbon is Episode 2 in Season 15 of Modern Marvels. It aired on 2008-01-14. The runtime is 44 min.
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Episode 1: Milk
Got milk? Billions of pounds of milk are consumed worldwide on a daily basis. Milk is the basis for its own food group, and has been around since the dawn of mammals. Visit a farm with a milking parlor that looks more like a cow merry-go-round. Learn what pasteurization is really all about, and even milk a yak. Find out what those active cultures in yogurt are and discover if milk truly makes the body good. Wait until you discover just how many types of cows there truly are.
Episode 3: 90s Tech
The dot.com decade opened up the information superhighway and for the first time, people could shop, search, and surf online with the click of a mouse. Take a trip to the end of the 20th century and the beginning of today technologies.
More episodes from this season
Episode 4: Superhighways
Millions of drivers travel the world's superhighways each year. See a multi-billion dollar expansion project in Houston where a stretch of superhighway is being widened to 20 lanes & Take a ride atop the High-Five, a 12-story, five-level interchange that's become the latest Dallas tourist attraction. Then it's off to China's 28,000-mile National Trunk Highway System.
Episode 5: World's Strongest III
Witness some mind-blowing feats of strength starting with the world's most powerful elevators. Discover the world's strongest tire, the strongest mountain bike, the world's strongest land transport vehicle that carries the Space Shuttle & strongest home blender.
Episode 6: Strange Weapons
Discover microwave-like rays that make the enemy flee; laser weapons mounted on trucks & planes that can blow missiles out of the sky; non-lethal weapons include a B.B. machine gun; and a flashing device that may make you lose your lunch.
Episode 7: Whiskey
Visit some of the world's finest distilleries to see how each country brews this thousand-year old spirit. Go behind the scenes at Jim Beam, Jack Daniels and Canadian Club Whiskey.
Episode 8: Alaskan Fishing
Takes a look inside the amazing ultra-modern world of high stakes commercial fishing where a wrong decision on the captain's part can cost not just the season's catch, but also the lives of his crew.
Episode 9: Bread
It's the basic source of nourishment for half the world. Bake it, roast it, slice it, or toast it, it's a wonder with three simple ingredients.
Episode 10: Gadgets 3
We're living in a gadget revolution. New and unimagined gizmos solve problems that we didn't even know we had. They emerge from cutting edge think tanks and tinkerers basement workshops. Will they usher in a techno utopia, or enslave us to pocket size technology?
Episode 11: Locomotives
Race through the French countryside at nearly 300 MPH on the fastest locomotive in the world. Ride on the little engines that could as they guide giant ships through the Panama Canal. Watch two locomotives crash head-on as the federal government monitors safety. Descend 700 feet below the earth's surface where mining locomotives move miners through a maze of tunnels. Then, it's a "jiffy lube" for locomotives inside America's largest maintenance shop. Finally, glide into the future with a locomotive that levitates on a cushion of air.
Episode 12: Rats
Feared by millions worldwide, rats are some of the most dangerous, destructive and useful animals on Earth.
Episode 13: Mad Electricity
Nikola Tesla's bizarre vision of the future brought him failure, but his genius electrified the world.