Episode
Modern Marvels: The F-14
Overview
October 7, 2001: Missiles from lethal U.S. jets rain down onto Afghanistan. One powerful and deadly plane led the majority of the assaults–the F-14 Tomcat, the world’s most complete military fighter. No other fighter jet carries the F-14′s unique combination of weapons. Its state-of-the-art system can spot an oncoming enemy plane at almost 200 miles. Its radar can detect targets as low as 50 feet and as high as 80,000 feet and does so three times faster than the radar of any other fighter jet.
Details
- Series
- Modern Marvels
- Season
- Season 9
- Episode
- Episode 15
- Air date
- 2002-04-16
- Runtime
- 44 min
Episode context
The F-14 is Episode 15 in Season 9 of Modern Marvels. It aired on 2002-04-16. The runtime is 44 min.
Previous / Next
Episode 14: The Junkyard
It’s the place where one man’s trash is truly another man’s treasure. Enter the strange and mysterious world of the junkyard, where many pieces actually do add up to a whole. Uncover how junkyard operators create order out of seemingly random piles of junk.
Episode 16: Engines
Story of the development of engines and motors, with particular emphasis on the ones that have profoundly changed society. Beginning with the steam engine, we see how it was created, how it works, and how it led to the Industrial Revolution. We review the electric motor, internal combustion engine, jet engine, and rocket engine, and conclude with a look at futuristic engine technologies, including hydrogen-powered cars and microtechnology engines so small that they fit on the tip of a finger.
More episodes from this season
Episode 13: Siege Machines.
A look at siege machines that convert energy into mechanical force to go over, under, or through fortified or fixed defenses too strong for conventional force. These engines range from man's first long-range missile weapon, the slingshot, to the laser cannons and satellite-destroying robots of the 21st century. All of these machines are designed to breach barriers–castle walls, entrenched troops, even outer space. When the going gets tough, the tough get siege machines.
Episode 17: The Magnum
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Episode 12: Bulletproof.
How do you stop a speeding bullet? From body armor to armored cars and trucks, we review the history of the race between the bullet and a successful way to stop it. It's not exactly easy to design material that can catch gunfire traveling up to 3,000 feet per second. We'll look at little-known advances like bulletproof layering hidden in walls, futuristic smart materials that "remember" how to stop a bullet, and a system that deploys a shield within milliseconds when it detects an oncoming round.
Episode 18: The Wheel
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Episode 11: Pleasure Boats
As we power-up and unfurl the sails on a magical cruise through time, viewers meet the people who’ve devoted their lives to pleasure boating. Traveling throughout the U.S. and Europe, we delve into a world of luxury, adventure, and sport on spectacular vessels ranging from classic yachts to sports boats to the ultimate floating palaces. In this timeless pastime, technological wonders continue to evolve and enthrall.
Episode 19: Star City
Star City, the Gagarin Center for Training Cosmonauts, was established by the former Soviet Union in the 1960s as a school for the future conquerors of space. Today, it’s where Russian cosmonauts and international guests train on Soyuz rocket simulators and the MIR complex simulator. We join cosmonauts as they undergo grueling ground training in survival courses and parachuting, and face some of Star City’s toughest challenges–G-Force simulators, space orientation, and rescue training.
Episode 10: Million Dollar Tech
For millennia, luxury toys have functioned as flashy instruments of affluence, authority, and identity and driven many kingly consumers to covet, create, and purchase these status symbols. From the Roman Emperor Caligula’s special barges to Carl Faberge’s impossibly intricate eggs, from plasma screen TVs to $600,000 Bentleys and Rolex watches, we examine spectacular personal possessions–paeans to the lords of a consumer culture that grows richer and technologically more sophisticated daily.
Episode 20: Ice Breakers
They are the toughest ships in the water, plowing headlong into one of nature’s hardest obstacles. Modern icebreakers can smash through 10-foot thick ice sheets without stopping, allowing scientists and commercial shipping access to some of earth’s most inhospitable spots. Join our bone-chilling journey as we patrol the Great Lakes on the USCG Cutter Makinaw and traverse the infamous Northwest Passage on the maiden voyage of the USCG Healy, the newest Polar Class Icebreaker in the U.S. Fleet.
Episode 9: Remote Control
Press a button and you can soar in the sky, command a virtual pet, adjust the thermostat in your house while driving in your car, and, of course, change the channel on your TV. The remote control revolution began in 1898, when inventor Nikola Tesla successfully controlled a 6-foot-long iron-hulled model boat using radio waves. Today, Microbots are the latest remote control marvel. We'll see how, in our technologically-evolved world, pressing a button to get what we want has become commonplace.
Episode 21: Fire and Ice.
Who could imagine life without our "man-made weather"? On cold winter nights and hot summer days, we are forever grateful to the visionaries who took two basic elements–fire and ice–and turned them into true modern marvels. Fire warmed the caves and primitive dwellings of mankind for centuries, yet the technology of keeping cool lagged far behind as we learn in this chronicle of heating and air conditioning that covers advancements from the home and industry to outer space and beyond!