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00:00Music
00:30In the third century BC, in Sicily, a Greek mathematician demonstrated a system of pulleys
00:38and moved a ship single-handed.
00:41His name? Archimedes.
00:52Ah!
00:55I could catch pneumonia doing this.
00:58Hello and welcome to Stick of a Number.
01:00You over there, think of a number between one and ten.
01:02Six.
01:03Six? You lose. Come and scrub me back.
01:05No, no, no, no. Why am I sitting in the bath?
01:08Well, Archimedes made a discovery when he was in the bath.
01:11Does anybody know what he discovered in the bath?
01:13The plug-o.
01:14The plug-o.
01:16No, no, he discovered that a body sinks until it displaces its own weight in water.
01:21And when he made the discovery, he jumped out of his bath, ran down the street crying,
01:25Eureka! Eureka!
01:26And everybody else shouted back, Eureka!
01:28This programme isn't about Archimedes' pulleys, it's not about Archimedes' in the bath,
01:33it's about what he showed when he ran down the street.
01:37His muscles!
01:41So dressers, please!
01:46What this programme is all about is muscles.
01:49We're going to flex muscles, we're going to bend muscles, stretch muscles, we're going to grow muscles,
01:56look at synthetic muscles and mechanical muscles.
01:59In fact, the programme's about not cockles, but muscles.
02:02So, with a little bit of help...
02:06I couldn't bring my own, they're at the cleaners.
02:10We're ready for some muscular feats.
02:15Roll up, roll up, roll up, ladies and gentlemen, see the incredible strong man!
02:29I have for you some incredibly strong feats, as you'd know if you ever had to wash me socks.
02:36Now, who's strong?
02:38No, you're too strong.
02:40Too strong. You'll do.
02:41Grab hold of my wrists and pull outwards, separating my fingers.
02:46Pull! Pull!
02:48You can't do it!
02:50It's impossible. Round of applause.
02:52No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's easy. You can do this. Put your fingers together, quite close to your body, right?
02:58Now, don't let me pull them apart.
03:00And I'm going to start pulling...
03:02Now.
03:04And I pull it as hard as I can.
03:06Are you stopping me?
03:08Ah! You see? It's easy, because you're locking your muscles in position.
03:12And once they're locked, it's very difficult to shift them.
03:14Everybody try. Have a go with each other and see if you can move your muscles.
03:22You've done it easily.
03:26It's horrible.
03:28Righto, here's another one.
03:30Put your hand on your head and hold it there, really tight.
03:34And don't let me move it, right?
03:36And I'm going to lift your hand off your head.
03:38And don't let me lift it.
03:40Really tense yourself.
03:42And I lifted him off the ground, but his hand was still on his head.
03:45Thank you very much.
03:46Ah! Oh, not too hard.
03:48All right, sit down.
03:50Somebody really tough now, really strong.
03:52Who do I ask?
03:53You, can you come out?
03:55And stand round by that chair there.
03:57And somebody come out and steady him.
03:59Can you, can you come out and steady him?
04:01Now.
04:03Now this is a trick that it's quite easy to do, but I shouldn't try it if I was you,
04:07because it's a little bit dangerous.
04:09Now, can you stand on the chair?
04:12And I want you, when I'm ready now, to put one foot on my chest and the other foot on the other piece of paper.
04:20And as you see, I'm holding it up just by tensing my muscles.
04:24But get off now, because I'm going to faint.
04:26Ah!
04:27There you are.
04:28I really.
04:29Thanks very much.
04:30Give him a round of applause.
04:35It really is a trick that's very easy to do, because you tense your muscles.
04:39But you must be careful, because it's very dangerous.
04:41You could fall.
04:42Now, I want four strong lads, just to show how strong they are.
04:46Can you come out?
04:47You two there, and you two up there.
04:49Can you come round here?
04:51Two here, and two round the back.
04:53Okay.
04:54Now, I want you to put your hands like that.
04:56With your fingers out.
04:57And you're going to lift me with your fingers.
04:59You two put your fingers in my armpits.
05:01And you put your fingers under there.
05:03And I'm going to say, three, two, one, lift.
05:05Three, two, one, lift.
05:06And you've almost lifted me off the chair.
05:09But this time you're going to do it.
05:11You see, muscles work in couples.
05:13One's pulling one way.
05:14Another muscle is pulling the other way.
05:16And the way to give your muscles more power is to push really hard in the opposite direction.
05:22So, you put both hands on my head.
05:24And you put one hand on my head.
05:26Let me get my spine straight.
05:28And you put your hands on there.
05:30And press.
05:31Can you step back?
05:32Press really hard.
05:34Really press me through the floor.
05:36Harder.
05:37I want to be as tall as Ronnie Corbett's.
05:39And ow, I'm shrinking.
05:41That's it.
05:42Press really hard.
05:43And I'm going to say, three, two, one, lift.
05:44And you're going to lift me again.
05:45Push harder.
05:46Harder.
05:47Harder.
05:48Three, two, one, lift.
05:49And amazingly, they can lift me.
05:50Give them a round of applause.
05:51They'd never have believed they could do it.
06:00But you can, you see.
06:02Your muscles are so powerful.
06:03So, you don't need false muscles.
06:05Because your muscles are quite adequate.
06:09In fact, human muscles are incredible things.
06:13So, let's take a look, a closer look, at human muscles.
06:32I know looks are only skin deep.
06:34This proves it, I think, doesn't it?
06:36The human body has got 639 muscles.
06:40And they take up 40% of the body's weight.
06:44The biggest muscle is the buttock muscle.
06:47And the smallest is in the inner ear.
06:49And it's 0.125 of a centimetre long.
06:52But the busiest muscle in your body is this one.
06:55You don't mind, do you?
06:56No.
06:57We've also taken one lung out so you can see his heart.
07:08And your heart starts beating even before you're born.
07:11And doesn't stop until you stop.
07:14Hopefully.
07:15And that tireless muscle carries on beating with immense strength and power.
07:21The only rest it gets is when you're asleep at night, when it beats a little slower.
07:26Now, the heart muscle is slightly different to the rest of the muscles.
07:29And when you look at the rest of the muscles, well, there are three types.
07:32There are the prime movers, like the biceps.
07:35And for each prime mover, there's an antagonist.
07:38That's a muscle doing the opposite thing.
07:40With the bicep pulling this way, you have the tricep as the antagonist pulling the other way.
07:46Then there are fixators and stabilizers all around the body.
07:49And they all work as a team, enmeshing the whole body.
07:53But what are they made of?
07:56Well, behind this man here, we've got an electron micrograph, which is a picture enlarged thousands of times.
08:04And you can see the muscle is made of fibres laid out lengthways.
08:09Now, it's quite light here, but it's dark here.
08:13And that's because some of the fibres have slipped over each other.
08:17You see, these fibres are only one millionth of a metre thick.
08:21And they're surrounded by even thinner fibres called fibrils.
08:24And as you flex your muscles, you shorten it.
08:28And to shorten it, the fibres slide over each other, which explains why muscles get fatter as they get shorter.
08:35But your muscles have got incredible power.
08:38And they're anchored to the bones by tendons.
08:41And those tendons can stand stresses which are enormous.
08:46This is a universal tensile testing machine.
08:54There's a steel rod here held between two pairs of jaws.
08:58I'm going to press one button.
09:01And immediately, as stress is built up on the two jaws, they start pulling on the rod.
09:06Four tonnes, five tonnes, six tonnes it's pulling at.
09:10And if you look at the rod, it starts to stretch.
09:19Seven point seven five tonnes.
09:22And now the molecules in the rod are starting to slip over each other.
09:27And it's broken.
09:29And the molecules slipped over each other just like the fibres.
09:32And eventually, it's broken. I've got to stop it.
09:35There.
09:36And that power just pulled that steel rod apart.
09:40We're just under a stress of eight tonnes.
09:43And yet, the tendons that anchor your muscles to the bone can stand a stress of eight tonnes per square inch.
09:50They're incredibly powerful.
09:52And yet, some days, we feel, oh, strong as we are.
09:57Oh, I can't move a muscle.
09:59You do, don't you?
10:00You feel really listless.
10:01Well, the truth is, you can't move a muscle.
10:03Try this.
10:04Put one hand in the air.
10:06And wave your hand.
10:07Easy.
10:08Stop.
10:09Now, leave your hand up there.
10:11And just move the muscles that move the hand.
10:14And you can't do it.
10:19It doesn't matter how you try, you can't.
10:21Even when you manipulate them with your thumb and fingers.
10:24You can't really move those muscles and move the hand.
10:27That's because muscles only do one thing.
10:30They contract.
10:31And they only do that on a command.
10:33And a command is a message sent down the nerves from the brain.
10:37Who's got me hammer?
10:39There you are.
10:40Cross your legs.
10:41Relax your legs.
10:42Here we go.
10:43Oh, that was a good one.
10:45A little bit.
10:48Oh, I missed.
10:49Just a little bit.
10:50It might fall off in a minute.
10:51Oh, that's a good one.
10:52Oh, you cheated then.
10:53It happened five minutes too late.
10:54What happens when that tendon is hit?
11:09Well, it shortens and it sends a message to your spine.
11:13And the message is redistributed.
11:15And it comes back, shooting along the nerve.
11:17And says, I've been hit.
11:18And the muscle does the only thing it can do.
11:20It contracts and throws your leg up.
11:23And that's all muscles do, you see.
11:27They contract.
11:28They pull.
11:29Now, if all muscles do is pull, how can we push anything?
11:34Well, that's all to do with the principle of levers.
11:38Can you two come and help?
11:40Grab hold the end of that plank.
11:42I'll grab this end.
11:43It's quite heavy.
11:44Right.
11:45And put it down about there.
11:50Lovely.
11:51And you can come stand here, if you would.
11:54And you can come stand around here.
11:55Thanks very much.
11:56Now, this is a lever.
12:00That's the plank.
12:01Looks more like a seesaw.
12:02But it's a lever.
12:03And a lever has three basic components.
12:06It needs a fulcrum.
12:08That's something to bend and swivel on.
12:10It also needs a load.
12:11You can be the load.
12:13All right.
12:14So sit there.
12:15I shouldn't sit down.
12:16You'll be in a big heap.
12:17There's nobody holding this end.
12:18And you're the force.
12:19So you can hold that end.
12:21And then you can lift her up and down.
12:23Sit down.
12:24Carefully.
12:25And lift her up and down.
12:26And you need all your weight to do it.
12:27Don't you?
12:28It's a bit difficult to lift.
12:30However, if you stop for a minute.
12:32If we adjust the lever.
12:34Can you get up?
12:35Great.
12:38Like that.
12:39Now, come round this side.
12:41In fact, you could do this.
12:42Stand on that end.
12:45Okay.
12:46Are you balanced?
12:47All right.
12:48Try that.
12:50Or perhaps a bit more on the finger in the sand.
12:52Don't drop her.
12:53She collops.
12:54You see, the lever is very easy now.
12:57Because you've got mechanical advantage.
12:58Archimedes said, give me a lever long enough.
13:00And I'll move the earth.
13:02And he could have done.
13:03But nobody gave him one.
13:04Right.
13:05Can you get off?
13:06Now that's the first class of lever.
13:08Which is like a seesaw.
13:10Second class of lever.
13:13Is like a wheelbarrow.
13:14With the load in the middle.
13:16Instead of the fulcrum.
13:17So, come on load.
13:18You get in the middle there.
13:20Right.
13:21You can face.
13:22Sit sideways.
13:23Okay.
13:24See now.
13:25Lovely.
13:26And you lift this end.
13:27Rather like a wheelbarrow.
13:28Oh!
13:29But you're quite heavy.
13:30However, this works better if the load is closer to the fulcrum.
13:33Once again.
13:34So, can you go up that end?
13:37And you can try and lift now.
13:41And it's easy isn't it?
13:42Yes.
13:43Yes.
13:44Easy as anything.
13:45Except that you've got to move that end quite a lot.
13:47To move her.
13:48Just a little bit.
13:49Right.
13:50That's the second class of lever.
13:51Can you get off?
13:52The third class of lever.
13:54Is very similar.
13:56But instead of adding the fulcrum.
13:58Or the load in the middle.
13:59It has the force in the middle.
14:00So you can move the load.
14:01You get on that end.
14:02And I'll move the force.
14:03And I've got to lift him up.
14:04From here.
14:05Well of course I can't do it.
14:07Can you get off?
14:08Now I could lift it from here now.
14:13But if I apply the force here.
14:14It will become.
14:15Very much.
14:16Harder.
14:17Do myself an injury.
14:18Now the body.
14:19Uses.
14:20Several of the classes of lever.
14:21But it always does it the hard way.
14:22It always has.
14:23The effort applied.
14:24Close to the fulcrum.
14:25And you can see that.
14:26With the elbow joint.
14:27The elbow's are fulcrum.
14:29You apply force.
14:30Here.
14:31And that's like.
14:32A third class lever.
14:34Or.
14:35You apply force.
14:36From the tricep.
14:37And pull it down.
14:38And that's rather like.
14:39The first class lever.
14:40Give him a round of applause for him.
14:57Why does the body do it that way?
15:00Well, because of the way we're built, it's the only way it can.
15:03But because the muscles are super efficient and are up to the job.
15:07So we work perfectly well.
15:09And our muscles enable us to jump, run and do any amount of things.
15:14And give us incredible confidence.
15:17Confidence to venture forth.
15:22To go where no man has gone before.
15:27Well, the hand of man has never set foot.
15:31Can't find the door.
15:33Oh, here it is.
15:40Ah, there you are.
15:43In the wild, creatures use muscle to incredible effect.
15:46Take the cheetah or the kangaroo or creatures like this.
15:55There's a frog.
15:57There are several of them in there.
15:59And frogs have got incredible back legs.
16:03Come on, Chum.
16:04Help them to swim.
16:06But also help them, with a bit of luck, to hop.
16:09Come on, hop.
16:10That's it.
16:11And what about these creatures over here?
16:18Locusts.
16:20Locusts use their muscles to incredible effect.
16:24For a start, their jaws eat enormous amounts.
16:27But also, their back legs enable them to hop or jump for long distances.
16:41Oh, what about fleas?
16:42Oh, what about fleas?
16:48I've got one here.
16:52Fleas can jump at least a hundred times their own body height, which is rather like a man
16:56stand-jumping over St Paul's Cathedral.
16:58But you can't look at it like that.
17:01You see, all creatures, from elephants to fleas, all can jump between nothing and about seven
17:07or eight feet in the air.
17:08All creatures have got a skeleton and organs and only so much room for muscle.
17:15And they all, all of them, use their muscle to the maximum effect.
17:24They're dropping like flies in there.
17:27Well, there you are.
17:28Compared to other creatures, man fares just as well, but no better, when you take into consideration
17:34the use of muscles.
17:36The advantage man has got is he's got the intelligence to develop his muscles, and he's
17:40also able to produce synthetic muscles.
17:49This is one of the cars that was in the Great Egg Race.
17:55It's got sprung front suspension, and the muscle is the elastic band in here.
18:00And it's stretched, and then attached to a cord, which is wrapped round this spiral here.
18:07And it's called a fusee.
18:09And what it does is it releases the muscle, the pent-up energy, a bit at a time, so that
18:14the car goes further, faster.
18:18Rather like this.
18:21Now it's skidded.
18:33So there we are.
18:33That's synthetic muscle.
18:35But man has also produced mechanical muscle.
18:38Oh, look at this.
18:38This is a handheld television camera.
18:48And you can see on the monitor, I'm pointing it at the audience.
18:51Get you in focus.
18:52I think that's as good as I'm going to do.
18:59And there you are.
19:01Smile, please.
19:02Now watch what happens when I jump up and down.
19:07The picture is bouncing everywhere.
19:12So you can't use a handheld camera and bounce up and down.
19:14But that doesn't happen when you and I bounce up and down.
19:20When you jog up and down on the spot, your muscles keep your head in a state of equilibrium,
19:26so it doesn't bounce very much.
19:28You're sprung loaded.
19:30And your eyes and the eye muscles help.
19:32And the brain cuts out a lot of the fuzz so that nothing shakes about.
19:36Well, not very much.
19:37Try it.
19:37Everybody stand up.
19:38Jump up and down.
19:41Hustle down!
19:42Well, engineers have built a camera mounting that, to a certain extent,
19:49does exactly what the human body can do.
19:51Hang on.
19:58And here it is.
20:01And you can see this incredible camera mounting.
20:05It's got a sort of a bent arm.
20:07But now, if I can get the picture focused.
20:10Right.
20:11There you are.
20:11And when I jump up and down, if I can get it steady, you don't jump about quite so much.
20:19Even when I run along or even up and down stairs, the camera stays fairly steady.
20:28If you can handle it, that is.
20:29I've had half an hour practice, and I believe cameramen need about two weeks to perfect this.
20:33But it works rather like the body.
20:35Have a look.
20:37These are the muscles.
20:38They work in conjunction with each other.
20:40And watch what happens.
20:41When I jump up and down, when I jump up and down, the camera stays almost completely still.
20:46It's all counterbalanced.
20:48And that's why it weighs so much, because you need weight at each end to counterbalance it.
20:54The whole thing weighs about 50, 54, 55 pounds.
20:57And I'm tired, and I've only been in it two minutes.
21:00But it does the job.
21:01But really, nowhere near as well as human muscles.
21:05In a moment, we'll have a muscle trick.
21:12So, what we'll do now is a muscular trick.
21:15I've got a telephone directory here, which I'm going to tear in half the hard way, one page at a time.
21:21No, no, no, no.
21:22You see, I've only learnt half of this telephone directory.
21:26I must admit, I've learnt the top half, and I know all those numbers.
21:29So, I'm going to do a trick just with the top half of the telephone directory.
21:32Who's good at sums?
21:33Are you good at sums?
21:35Good, because we gave you the pad.
21:37Think of a three-digit number, and write it down on the pad.
21:40And all the digits must be different.
21:44Have you done that?
21:46Right.
21:46Now, in your head, reverse that number.
21:51Now, which is the bigger?
21:53The one in your head or the one on the paper?
21:55The one on the paper.
21:56Right.
21:57Write the new number underneath.
21:58So, what you do is reverse that number, and write it underneath.
22:03Right?
22:04Draw a line, and take the bottom number from the top number.
22:14Have you done that?
22:15Right.
22:16Now, I want you to reverse that number, and write it down underneath.
22:19Right, now, add the two numbers up.
22:34Okay?
22:34Have you got a three-digit number or a four-digit number?
22:37Four digits.
22:37Right, don't let me see it.
22:39There's your telephone directory.
22:40The first three digits in that number is your page.
22:43So, look up the page that corresponds to the first three digits.
22:50Will it work?
22:51Let your fingers do the walking.
22:55Have you got it?
22:55Yes.
22:56Now, what's the last digit of your number?
22:58The last digit of your number on the...
22:59Nine.
23:00Nine.
23:01Count the ninth number down on that page.
23:04Ninth number.
23:14Right?
23:14Now, you haven't told me the page.
23:16Tell me the page.
23:18108.
23:19Page 108.
23:20And the ninth number down.
23:23Oh, of course!
23:24I remember.
23:26Six, seven, one, six, two.
23:29Yes.
23:30It's right!
23:31Success!
23:31Thanks very much.
23:41It's a trick, isn't it?
23:42Of course it's a trick.
23:43And if you'd like to know how to do that trick, drop me a line.
23:45Johnny Ball, think of a number.
23:47London W1A 1AA.
23:49That's about the trick or anything else in the programme.
23:52But remember, your muscles are incredible things.
23:55And when you compare them to mechanical muscles,
23:57well, mechanical muscles always wear out.
23:59But your muscles, especially if you're young,
24:02develop and improve and get stronger with use.
24:06So use your muscles.
24:07Because you never really can be sure of your own strength.
24:11Goodbye.
24:11Goodbye.
24:11Goodbye.
24:14Goodbye.
24:14Grr! Grr!
24:17Grr!
24:44Thank you, everyone!
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