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Rough Science Season 6 · Episode 5

Mine

30th November 2005 30 mins Season 6 Episode 5

Fresh and spiffing after last week's cleaning challenges, our Rough Scientists are about to get all messy again. This week's challenge is to find a way to detect radioactive rocks and flammable gases. But that's not all. On day three they must explore a wet dark mine using the gas detector and a reliable light source. Hermione decides to make a cloud chamber using a jam jar. She hopes to see the trail of destruction caused by radioactive particles. First, though, she'll need to make some frozen carbon dioxide which involves a bit of help from Mike. But not all goes to plan... Mike and Ellen work on a safety lamp to detect flammable gases, which surprisingly needs a flame. Ellen sets off to make a beeswax candle using a local hive. Meanwhile Mike finds an ingenious way to use the candle flame as a gas detector using kitchen implements. Will two artfully put together sieves and some homemade beeswax candles really detect flammable gas? Meanwhile Jonathan sets to work on making a generator to power his rugged torch. With hundreds of coils of wire and some strong magnets, Jonathan can light a dim bulb by turning the magnets constantly. But when Jonathan tries to store energy in his torch, he runs into problems. What seemed simple becomes more and more tricky as the deadline approaches. Will Jonathan be able to get his lamp to illuminate the mine? And when they get there, what will the team find?

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Season 6 · Episode 6

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The Rough Science team face their final challenge. They must take a memento of the mill and send it, by air, along a valley to Kate. Mike and Hermione decide to take a silver-nitrate photograph while Ellen and Jonathan hope to make hydrogen balloons to get the image to Kate. As silver compounds were used in early photography, Hermione hopes that some of the rock taken from the mine they explored last time will contain enough silver for their photograph. But when she casts an expert eye over the rock, Hermione can’t find any silver ore. So she decides to search for more promising rocks in an old silver mine. Mike’s job is to make nitric acid to react with Hermione’s silver ore and he chooses an unlikely source, horse manure. But can a combination of manure and stones produce a recognisable photograph? If the photo does get taken, there's still the problem of delivery. Jonathan and Ellen decide to make a hydrogen balloon with a timed release mechanism. Jonathan sets about making hydrogen using bits of zinc and acid while Ellen figures out how to use the wind to their advantage. Having made a wind speed detector from an old fan and voltmeter, Ellen has to figure out how to make the photograph drop into Kate’s eagerly waiting hands. It's touch and go as to whether the delivery system will work - and if there's something to deliver. Join the team to discover if they end their time in Colorado with a victory - or if they're heading home defeated.

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