How does materials science affect our lives? – with Anna Ploszajski

What's the science behind everyday materials like glass, plastic, steel, and sugar? And how can you make a chocolate trumpet? Find out with Anna's demo-packed talk.

Buy Anna's book 'Handmade: A Scientist’s Search for Meaning through Making' here: https://geni.us/zBfFqX
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Join Anna Ploszajski to learn about materials science - the interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials - in ways you'd never imagine through the world of craft.

As a materials scientist, Anna has turned to storytelling to communicate her work in new and engaging ways. Through her stories and demos, you'll see materials in a whole new way.

This lecture was recorded at the Ri on 9 May 2023.

An honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Anna Ploszajski is an award-winning materials scientist, presenter, comedian and storyteller based in London. She’s a materials generalist, equally fascinated by metals, plastics, ceramics, glasses and substances from the natural world. Her work centres around engaging traditionally underserved audiences with materials science and engineering through writing, podcasting, presenting and social media. Having developed her own unique blend of autobiographical scientific storytelling in her first book, Handmade: A Scientist’s Search for Meaning Through Making, she now trains professional technical people to communicate what they do better, through the study of story. In her spare time, Anna plays the trumpet in a funk and soul covers band and is an ultra-endurance open water swimmer. Oh, and it’s pronounced “Por-shy-ski”.

With thanks to the Royal Academy of Engineering for their generous support in making tickets to this event free to London schools.

00:00 Intro
4:59 What is materials science and how does it relate to making?
11:25 Intro to glass
15:00 What’s the science behind glass blowing? (demo)
19:27 The optical properties of glass
24:34 Intro to plastic - and Grandad George
37:38 The issues with recycling plastic
40:57 Steel – and breaking the landspeed record
47:29 What happens when you freeze a Snickers? (demo)
49:07 Why do brittle materials break?
53:03 Blacksmithing (demo)
57:56 Intro to brass
59:20 How harmonics work
1:03:21 Demonstrating the Rubens tube
1:06:59 How the trumpet has evolved
1:13:59 What can you make a trumpet out of?
1:17:10 Intro to sugar molecules
1:20:20 Why sugar burns
1:24:09 What sugar crystals look like
1:26:53 Conclusion

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Видео How does materials science affect our lives? – with Anna Ploszajski канала The Royal Institution