Size matters: the Royal Institution Christmas lectures 2010 - teachers' pack
From the very large to the very small, the Kings College London scientist investigates why size is an important factor for both living and non-living matter.
Beginning his journey into the world of scale with a furry friend, Mark reveals why hamsters fare better than humans when jumping from the top of a skyscraper. We find out why mountains don't grow any taller, why the size of an elephant means it has trouble dancing, and why ants can lift many times their own body weight compared to humans.
Plus, Mark scales down to the molecular level to reveal why chocolate tastes so good and returns again to explain how sperm whales – one of the world’s biggest animals – have developed nifty ways of diving deep into the ocean.
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