The Genius of Invention, BBC2&HD 9pm, 24 - 31 Jan, 7-14 Feb

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  • Rodney McKayRodney McKay Posts: 8,143
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    Margaret Thatcher was a scientist and look what she did with coal! (And the over 3 million unemployed!)

    I think that had more to do with a battle with the trade unions than anything else. But you're right she did move us towards a service economy than a manufacturing one, but many of our industries were run down, badly managed and inefficient.

    Actually I'm glad most of our coal industry has gone, dropping dead at 60 from some disease in not nice. I've worked in a mine (not coal) and trust me you wouldn't want your own kids to do it as a job. I wonder how many of the middle class lefties who miss the mines would send their sons (note we stopped women working in them) down a mine? None I suspect.
  • pinkyponk34pinkyponk34 Posts: 1,244
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    They didn't go into detail of the difference between AC and DC current.

    DC current won't travel hundreds of miles from the generating point as may have been inferred.
  • Kolin KlingonKolin Klingon Posts: 4,296
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    And here is the Global Warming piece that someone asked for! :D
  • Rodney McKayRodney McKay Posts: 8,143
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    Yay the usual BBC climate change lecture!
  • sandydunesandydune Posts: 10,986
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    Now that use of a stator to make a turbine was interesting and simply presented.

    *Off to the kitchen to make a Jet Engine!
    what are you going to use to make the Jet Engine?:D
  • Rodney McKayRodney McKay Posts: 8,143
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    sandydune wrote: »
    what are you going to use to make the Jet Engine?:D

    Blue Peter would use some sticky back plastic an egg box and a pair of Val's old knickers (showing my age):D
  • PrinceOfDenmarkPrinceOfDenmark Posts: 2,761
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    Yay the usual BBC climate change lecture!

    Do you not think it relevant to a programme about the workings of a coal-fired power station? :confused:

    Would have been very odd to have not mentioned it.
  • googlekinggoogleking Posts: 15,006
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    Started off good but soon went dull.
  • The WizardThe Wizard Posts: 11,071
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    seejay63 wrote: »
    It's only dumbed down if you already know all of this already. I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't understand how it all works -and the history of it - and will find this programme interesting.

    Exactly. I love stuff like this. Sometimes you can learn some cool stuff just by watching kids science programmes so it gets my vote too.

    Dumbed down? Have you watched itv2 or BBC3 recently? By their standards Nina and the Neurons is intellectual. Anything that makes learning interesting is a big fat plus in my opinion.
  • Kolin KlingonKolin Klingon Posts: 4,296
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    They didn't go into detail of the difference between AC and DC current.

    DC current won't travel hundreds of miles from the generating point as may have been inferred.

    Or the fact that a magnet moving towards a coil and then away from it is what produces AC in the first place. It's just all 'electricity' and all the same to them.

    Had they covered that bit then they could have explained that converting it to DC would be inefficient and also doesn't travel well so that is why we have AC delivered to our homes.

    Where we then turn it into DC to charge our mobile phones!
  • PrinceOfDenmarkPrinceOfDenmark Posts: 2,761
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    They didn't go into detail of the difference between AC and DC current.

    DC current won't travel hundreds of miles from the generating point as may have been inferred.

    Interestingly, there is actually a lot of work going on at the moment into long-distance DC power transmission, and it is already in use in several places. It has the potential for lower losses than AC, but the switching and conversion gear tends to be more complicated, expensive, and less reliable.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 77
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    Or the fact that a magnet moving towards a coil and then away from it is what produces AC in the first place. It's just all 'electricity' and all the same to them.

    Had they covered that bit then they could have explained that converting it to DC would be inefficient and also doesn't travel well so that is why we have AC delivered to our homes.

    Where we then turn it into DC to charge our mobile phones!

    Thanks to Nikola Tesla for discovering A.C current, surprised that this Genius was not mentioned !
  • LostFoolLostFool Posts: 90,623
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    Actually I'm glad most of our coal industry has gone, dropping dead at 60 from some disease in not nice. I've worked in a mine (not coal) and trust me you wouldn't want your own kids to do it as a job. I wonder how many of the middle class lefties who miss the mines would send their sons (note we stopped women working in them) down a mine? None I suspect.

    Totally agree. I grew up in a family of miners. Had I been born 20 years earlier I would have gone down the pits. All of the men did, there were no other jobs. It was an extremely dangerous job with regular accidents and disasters. My grandad lost a brother and his right leg in one mine collapse.

    Those call centres and retail parks which replaced the mines have saved a lot of lives.
  • Rodney McKayRodney McKay Posts: 8,143
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    Do you not think it relevant to a programme about the workings of a coal-fired power station? :confused:

    Would have been very odd to have not mentioned it.

    Why? Do we have to have it rammed down our throats on every BBC programme?
  • Rodney McKayRodney McKay Posts: 8,143
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    LostFool wrote: »
    Totally agree. I grew up in a family of miners. Had I been born 20 years earlier I would have gone down the pits. All of the men did, there were no other jobs. It was an extremely dangerous job with regular accidents and disasters. My grandad lost a brother and his right leg in one mine collapse.

    Those call centres and retail parks which replaced the mines have saved a lot of lives.

    It's a shame we didn't invest in better things than call centres, but look at our car industry today, we make some of the finest cars in the world. There's nothing wrong with the British worker when given the chance.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 87,224
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    I've got a science degree and didn't feel patronised at all, although the presenters are a bit too hyperactive.
  • lundavralundavra Posts: 31,790
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    I've got a science degree and didn't feel patronised at all, although the presenters are a bit too hyperactive.

    I was amused when they said that Drax could supply the whole of Northern Ireland and Wales, interesting to compare with wind power stations which usually quote widely optimistic figures like being able to supply a small town (never mentioning the percentage of the time that they will be able to do that).
  • icestation2icestation2 Posts: 404
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    Why? Do we have to have it rammed down our throats on every BBC programme?

    Liberals are so disingenuous. If they had been in charge for the last 500 years (health and safety etc etc) we would still be using candles. Actually no because liberals as we know are also a bunch of pacifistic idiots, so the West - where the vast majority of the inventive develop took place - would have been long ago overrun by crazy Muslims and/or communists and/or fascists.
  • Andy2Andy2 Posts: 11,931
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    We thought it was very good and quite informative, but too often it veered into 'schools programme trying to be cool & exciting' territory. Why three presenters? And please - why is it now considered de rigeur to have presenters carrying mugs around with them?

    It looked as if it had been made with youngsters in mind (nothing wrong with that) but it was shown at 9 pm. Odd.
  • seejay63seejay63 Posts: 8,800
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    Put steam into a tube.
    Spray cold water onto it and it 'condenses' (turns back into water) leaving a vacuum in the space it took up.

    Steam takes up more space that the water used to produce it. So a small amount of water when turned into steam takes up a lot of space. Cool it down with a spray of cold water and it returns to water and it's smaller size.

    That leaves a vacuum behind which pulls the piston in (down) - Or the outside air pressure is greater than the inside vacuum and so pushes the piston in - the same thing said in a different way.

    :)

    Thanks for that explanation! I didn't do science at school after third form (year 9 they call it now - showing my age :D)
    DICKENS99 wrote: »
    I could easily imagine this being an early draft format of Dara O'Briain's Science Club, perhaps deciding that if the presenters have to be continually chuckling at each other it might as well be presented by a comedian, if that show hadn't come first.

    To be fair to Dara O'Briain he's not stupid - he does have a degree in maths and theoretical physics.
    The Wizard wrote: »
    Exactly. I love stuff like this. Sometimes you can learn some cool stuff just by watching kids science programmes so it gets my vote too.

    Dumbed down? Have you watched itv2 or BBC3 recently? By their standards Nina and the Neurons is intellectual. Anything that makes learning interesting is a big fat plus in my opinion.

    I wish they'd had decent children's programmes when I was younger - I agree about the children's science programmes, and Horrible Histories too. The decent stuff is interspersed with a lot of junk though.
    Liberals are so disingenuous. If they had been in charge for the last 500 years (health and safety etc etc) we would still be using candles. Actually no because liberals as we know are also a bunch of pacifistic idiots, so the West - where the vast majority of the inventive develop took place - would have been long ago overrun by crazy Muslims and/or communists and/or fascists.

    BIB - give it time, give it time :(

    Funny how the word 'liberal' is used to describe people who are anything but, but I suppose describing them as intolerant wouldn't make them happy.
  • PrinceOfDenmarkPrinceOfDenmark Posts: 2,761
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    Liberals are so disingenuous. If they had been in charge for the last 500 years (health and safety etc etc) we would still be using candles. Actually no because liberals as we know are also a bunch of pacifistic idiots, so the West - where the vast majority of the inventive develop took place - would have been long ago overrun by crazy Muslims and/or communists and/or fascists.

    :rolleyes:
  • kempshottkempshott Posts: 1,881
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    wibbleyuk wrote: »
    Thanks to Nikola Tesla for discovering A.C current, surprised that this Genius was not mentioned !

    Also Westinghouse who made AC generation commercially viable (Edison was pushing for DC).

    But I guess it's about British genius
  • kwynne42kwynne42 Posts: 75,337
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    What I find interesting that despite how far we have come we are still mostly relying on the heating up of water to make steam to turn turbines to make most of our power,

    Not exactly come along way have we.
  • lundavralundavra Posts: 31,790
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    kempshott wrote: »
    Also Westinghouse who made AC generation commercially viable (Edison was pushing for DC).

    But I guess it's about British genius

    I think the AC vs. DC battle was mainly in the USA because of intense competition between companies there.

    I have an excellent booklet Electricity in Manchester which has plenty of information on the development of the electricity supply there.
  • LostFoolLostFool Posts: 90,623
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    Andy2 wrote: »
    We thought it was very good and quite informative, but too often it veered into 'schools programme trying to be cool & exciting' territory. Why three presenters? And please - why is it now considered de rigeur to have presenters carrying mugs around with them?

    I don'd mind the mugs but what I find annoying is the recent trend for presenters to control what's being displayed on a screen by swiping an iPad. There's no need for it, it just says "hey, look, I have an iPad". Sky News are the worst for it but it has started to creep into other programmes.
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