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[ Narrator]
Drawings no one can see.
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Plans written in code.
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Clues to Leonardo da Vinci's
hidden obsession-
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the quest to fly.
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[ Engine Rumbling ]
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It will take hundreds of years
to decode the secrets of flight-
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secrets revealed by big history.
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We think of history as a timeline...
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a series of events stretching
a few thousand years into the past.
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It's time to think bigger.
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Instead of a line,
imagine a web of infinite connections...
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interacting over billions of years...
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linked together to create
everything we've ever known-
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our universe, our planet...
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and us.
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When we consider our most epic moments
though the lens of science...
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we unleash
a revolutionary new idea-
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the movement of atoms
steered the movements of men...
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civilizations, galaxies.
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History as we know it
is about to get big.
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One of the greatest minds in history...
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tries to crack an impossible code.
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Leonardo da Vinci fills
100 pages of notebooks...
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with drawings of birds and bats...
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and designs for strange machines.
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His thoughts are consumed
with one goal:
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How can a man fly?
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Traditional history tells us
that the Wright brothers...
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are the first to achieve the dream
of powered flight...
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centuries after da Vinci.
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But big history reveals
how man's quest to fly...
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is a riddle that' is written
at the beginning of time itself.
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Big history connects back...
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more than 13.7 billion years.
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We are traveling
through the early universe...
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just' a fraction of a second
after the big bang.
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Matter comes into existence...
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along with gravity.
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From the beginning of the universe,
gravity will rule matter...
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and act as an invisible barrier to flight.
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On some planets, like Jupiter...
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gravity is so strong,
it would crush us.
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On other worlds, like the moon...
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it's so weak that it takes almost no effort
to leap several feet up.
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[ Astronaut Chattering ]
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[ Narrator]
Earths gravity is in the middle.
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Strong enough
to keep us bound to land...
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yet weak enough
to let some creatures fly.
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[ Buzzing ]
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So how do insects and birds
defy gravity?
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It turned out that birds
were better evolved for flight.
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- [ Narrator] It's not' just the wings.
- [ Screeches ]
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It's the power behind them.
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Flapping their wings gives birds
the thrust they need to get airborne.
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Ana' a birds
chest and shoulder muscles...
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which work the wings...
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make up as much as 50%
of the bird's weight.
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In humans, these same muscles
account for less than five percent...
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of our body weight.
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So birds have 10 times
the flight power we do.
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So no matter what da Vinci designs...
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people can't fly like birds.
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Humans need a different strategy.
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This is the age of engines.
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Machines with 50 times
the power of a man.
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Two bicycle mechanics,
Orville and Wilbur Wright...
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believe that an engine
running on gasoline...
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can generate enough thrust
to lift an aircraft into the sky.
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But the engines of their day
are made of iron and steel...
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metals that are strong but heavy.
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Everything about the Wrights' plane
has to be strong and light.
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If the engine's too heavy,
the plane won't get off the ground.
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To defy gravity,
the Wright brothers need a game-changer.
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Big history connects the first flight...
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to the chemistry of a miracle metal.
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It's strong and flexible...
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and three times lighter than steel.
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It's a very light metal,
but it's also very, very strong.
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That's a great combination.
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[ Narrator]
It's the most common metal on the planet-
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aluminum.
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This unique metal is never found
in its pure form.
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Aluminum atoms grab on to oxygen
and minerals in the Earth's crust...
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and won't let go.
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It's so hard to extract...
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that in the late 1800s...
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aluminum is more valuable than gold.
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So valuable that France displays
a few precious bars...
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alongside the country's crown jewels.
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The metal becomes
an international symbol...
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of wealth and power.
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When the Washington Monument
was going up in the 1880s...
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the U.S. put aluminum
on the very top of it-
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a little six-inch pyramid that would
kind of announce to the world...
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just how mighty the United States was.
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[ Narrator] But aluminum is 26
million times more common than gold.
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And it's about to become
a household word.
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A young chemist in Ohio,
Charles Hall...
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shoots an electric current
through a chemical solution.
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The electricity separates the atoms
that bind aluminum.
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That finally unlocks
the potential of a metal...
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with a unique combination
of lightness and strength.
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Hall creates the Aluminum Company
of America, or Alcoa...
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to bring the miracle meta! to the masses.
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That's good news
for Hall's fellow Ohioans...
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the Wright brothers.
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They make the crankcase of their airplane
engine out of Alcoa aluminum...
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and it cuts the engine's weight
almost in half.
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But gravity hasn't been defeated yet.
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The rest of their airplane also has to
combine strength with lightness.
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Big history has a solution...
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that's been waiting
for Orville and Wilbur...
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since before the time
of the dinosaurs.
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Big history uses science
to see the world in a new way.
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It reveals how birds use muscle power
to defy gravity...
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and that man's quest to conquer the sky
is impossible...
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without the power of engines...
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and strong materials...
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that are also light...
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like aluminum.
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But gravity
is the eternal enemy of flight.
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And the Wright brothers
still face the problem of weight.
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The Wrights have their plane.
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The wings provide lift...
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and the engine gives it power.
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But the structure must be light enough
to get airborne...
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yet strong enough to support
the weight of the engine...
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and the pilot.
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What material can do all this?
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Once again, the planet supplies
what they need.
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Big history connects back...
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to a prehistoric supercontinent.
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300 million years ago...
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most of the land on Earth...
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clusters into
the supercontinent Pangaea.
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The vast interior of Pangaea...
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is hundreds of miles from
the cool breezes of the shore.
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The land dries out.
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Without enough moisture,
many trees die...
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but some adapt.
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They develop cones
to protect their seeds.
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These trees survive-
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trees like spruce.
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After Pangaea breaks apart...
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spruce trees are carried
all over the world.
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Their wood has a unique quality.
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Heavier, heartier woods
like your oaks and all of that-
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They're just too heavy.
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Lighter woods are too weak.
They're too brittle.
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Spruce kind of falls in the middle.
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They have just the right amount
of high tensile strength.
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Makes it ideal
for making aircraft out of.
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[ Narrator] Big history brings together
the strength and lightness of spruce...
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and aluminum...
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with the power of the gasoline engine...
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at the ideal moment...
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to defy gravity-
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[ Engine Rumbling ]
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And lift a man into the air.
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Earth gives humanity
the Keys to the sky.
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One airplane...
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transforms...
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into a world of flight.
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Now, in a single day...
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more than 90,000 planes
take flight around the world.
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[Valle ] If it wasn't for
that big history moment...
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of the Earth drying out,
effectively...
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we wouldn't have that powered flight.
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It was the planet drying out
and this one tree going...
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“Hey, I can live here now.”
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Big history allows us
to piece that all together.
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[ Narrator]
Today, we take flying for granted.
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But there was a time on Earth
when flight didn't exist at all.
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So who were the world's first fliers?
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And when did they first
take to the sky?
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Big history links back
to a prehistoric forest...
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more than 325 million years ago...
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when the first creature on Earth
ever to take wing...
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isn't a bird.
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It's a primitive insect.
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Possibly, as it falls from a tree...
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it vibrates nubs on its back...
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and glides to safety.
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Over generations...
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the nubs evolve into wings.
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[Valle ] Flight is the best way
to get around this planet.
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You can use it to travel.
You can use it to mate.
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You can use it to hunt for food,
escape predators.
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[ Narrator]
Flight is a strategy for survival...
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a strategy that paves the way for humans.
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[Screeching ]
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Big history connects forward
260 million years...
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to a moment of impact.
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00:13:52,583 --> 00:13:55,002
An asteroid the size of Mount Everest...
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is on a collision course with Earth.
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The dinosaurs are doomed.
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[ Groans ]
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[ Narrator] Except for one group
that manages to escape-
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the dinosaurs that evolved
into today's birds.
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One of the reasons
that birds survived...
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the extinction
at the end of the Cretaceous...
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is probably flight.
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If you can fly away,
get up above the burning forest...
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try to find small little areas
that weren't burning...
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00:14:38,212 --> 00:14:40,965
maybe an island in a great lake
type situation...
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00:14:41,048 --> 00:14:43,050
you can survive.
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00:14:43,133 --> 00:14:44,718
Flight got 'em out of there.
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[ Shrieks ]
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[ Narrator]
Their survival is linked to ours.
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[ Buzzing ]
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00:14:58,023 --> 00:15:01,819
We need birds and flying insects
to spread and pollinate...
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00:15:01,902 --> 00:15:04,321
the plants we rely on for food.
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00:15:07,491 --> 00:15:09,910
One could certainly argue
that if there had been no flight...
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00:15:09,994 --> 00:15:11,662
there would be no humans.
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00:15:21,171 --> 00:15:24,008
[ Narrator]
So we depend on flight.
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00:15:24,091 --> 00:15:28,804
But flight depends on
something special about the Earth.
217
00:15:29,305 --> 00:15:32,433
There's a clue in a famous catastrophe-
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00:15:32,975 --> 00:15:35,144
a fiery crash...
219
00:15:35,227 --> 00:15:40,024
that reveals how the planet
makes flight possible.
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00:15:47,364 --> 00:15:50,200
Big history connects
the story of flight...
221
00:15:51,201 --> 00:15:53,704
to the birth of the universe...
222
00:15:55,456 --> 00:15:59,627
revealing how gravity emerges
within an instant of the big bang...
223
00:15:59,710 --> 00:16:02,212
and becomes the enemy of flight.
224
00:16:05,883 --> 00:16:07,968
How nature fights back...
225
00:16:08,052 --> 00:16:10,846
combining lightness and strength.
226
00:16:14,808 --> 00:16:18,145
And how humanity cracks the code
by harnessing elements...
227
00:16:18,228 --> 00:16:20,981
millions of years in the making.
228
00:16:23,734 --> 00:16:28,947
But big history reveals
there's another player at work in flight.
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00:16:35,788 --> 00:16:37,790
[ Man ]
Big history is not satisfied...
230
00:16:37,873 --> 00:16:41,543
by simply looking at
the human history of flight.
231
00:16:41,627 --> 00:16:44,713
Does the planet play any role
in enabling flight?
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00:16:46,256 --> 00:16:48,425
[ Narrator]
Big history looks for answers...
233
00:16:48,509 --> 00:16:51,720
in history's most famous flight disaster-
234
00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:01,855
the German zeppelin Hindenburg.
235
00:17:01,939 --> 00:17:08,195
Four diesel engines power an airship filled
with seven million cubic feet of gas.
236
00:17:08,278 --> 00:17:13,033
In the final fee!
Of its 4,600-mile journey from Berlin-..
237
00:17:13,117 --> 00:17:16,078
The Hindenburg bursts into flames.
238
00:17:29,717 --> 00:17:33,178
But understanding why
the Hindenburg falls...
239
00:17:33,262 --> 00:17:35,973
is to reveal
what first made it take flight.
240
00:17:40,811 --> 00:17:43,647
Big history links
the death of the Hindenburg...
241
00:17:43,731 --> 00:17:46,608
to the birth of our atmosphere.
242
00:17:56,702 --> 00:18:01,331
A! first', ifs a poisonous mix
of carbon dioxide and methane.
243
00:18:02,708 --> 00:18:05,419
Then other gases take over...
244
00:18:05,502 --> 00:18:07,671
mostly nitrogen...
245
00:18:08,839 --> 00:18:12,134
and eventually the gas
we will one day breathe.
246
00:18:13,844 --> 00:18:17,264
Oxygen, originally,
was put into the atmosphere...
247
00:18:17,347 --> 00:18:20,768
by bacteria, as a waste product.
248
00:18:23,395 --> 00:18:25,647
[ Narrator]
Even though we can't see gases...
249
00:18:25,731 --> 00:18:29,067
they're a form of matter
made up of atoms...
250
00:18:29,151 --> 00:18:31,153
that have weight.
251
00:18:32,196 --> 00:18:35,199
Some gases are lighter than others.
252
00:18:35,282 --> 00:18:38,285
So any gas lighter
than Earth's atmosphere...
253
00:18:38,368 --> 00:18:40,287
will float.
254
00:18:40,370 --> 00:18:43,791
Six gases are lighter
than our atmosphere...
255
00:18:43,874 --> 00:18:46,835
including the one
that fills the Hindenburg-
256
00:18:46,919 --> 00:18:51,131
hydrogen, the most common
element in the universe.
257
00:18:51,215 --> 00:18:54,551
But it's also highly flammable.
258
00:18:55,719 --> 00:18:59,932
And because gases in the atmosphere
can carry electric charges...
259
00:19:00,015 --> 00:19:02,976
its a simple spark
of static electricity...
260
00:19:03,060 --> 00:19:05,354
that' dooms the Hindenburg.
261
00:19:08,524 --> 00:19:10,859
[ Siren Wailing ]
262
00:19:10,943 --> 00:19:14,154
But the atmosphere that carries
the Hindenburg's destruction...
263
00:19:15,113 --> 00:19:16,907
is also what supports it...
264
00:19:17,741 --> 00:19:20,494
and everything else that flies.
265
00:19:24,456 --> 00:19:28,001
Just as water provides
an environment for swimming...
266
00:19:28,085 --> 00:19:31,171
Earth is atmosphere,
thinner than water. -.
267
00:19:31,255 --> 00:19:34,383
But with many of the same qualities...
268
00:19:34,466 --> 00:19:36,844
gives us something to push against...
269
00:19:36,927 --> 00:19:38,971
so we can fly.
270
00:19:39,972 --> 00:19:43,684
Let's get a bird and give him
a space suit just over his face...
271
00:19:43,767 --> 00:19:45,686
and put him in space.
272
00:19:45,769 --> 00:19:50,315
And he's gonna flap like crazy
and go nowhere.
273
00:19:50,399 --> 00:19:54,027
Things can't fly in space
by flying as we know it.
274
00:19:54,111 --> 00:19:55,487
Why is this?
275
00:19:55,571 --> 00:19:59,908
Because flying requires you to have wings
that are pushing against something.
276
00:19:59,992 --> 00:20:03,620
When you do a pushup, you're using
the ground to lift yourself up.
277
00:20:03,704 --> 00:20:05,464
When you're flying,
you're using your wings...
278
00:20:05,539 --> 00:20:08,876
to push against molecules
to lift yourself up.
279
00:20:11,044 --> 00:20:14,214
[ Narrator] And the force holding
this invisible ocean in place?
280
00:20:14,715 --> 00:20:16,300
Gravity...
281
00:20:17,009 --> 00:20:21,263
pulling on the atoms of gas
to keep them around the planet.
282
00:20:22,848 --> 00:20:24,975
[ Benjamin ] You're trying to
strike this delicate balance...
283
00:20:25,058 --> 00:20:27,561
between using the atmosphere
to support you...
284
00:20:27,644 --> 00:20:29,980
and to overcome
the, sort of, pull of gravity.
285
00:20:31,773 --> 00:20:33,901
Earth has just the right amount
of gravity...
286
00:20:33,984 --> 00:20:37,154
just the right density of atmosphere
to make flight possible.
287
00:20:39,448 --> 00:20:41,491
[ Narrator]
The eternal enemy of flight...
288
00:20:41,575 --> 00:20:45,495
is also what makes
flight on earth possible.
289
00:20:45,579 --> 00:20:49,833
So we must rely on gravity
while we defy it.
290
00:20:51,001 --> 00:20:53,587
Big history reveals that the planet...
291
00:20:53,670 --> 00:20:57,925
is the Key to cracking the code
of flight.
292
00:21:00,844 --> 00:21:03,972
But the story of flight
is just the beginning.
293
00:21:04,056 --> 00:21:07,017
There's a much bigger puzzle
hidden in big history.
294
00:21:07,100 --> 00:21:09,728
Each episode unlocks a clue.
295
00:21:09,811 --> 00:21:12,272
Everyday things like mountains...
296
00:21:13,357 --> 00:21:14,775
silver...
297
00:21:15,859 --> 00:21:17,611
and cell phones...
298
00:21:17,694 --> 00:21:19,029
hold the key.
299
00:21:19,112 --> 00:21:23,784
Watch them all, and you'll see
this grand mystery revealed-
300
00:21:23,867 --> 00:21:27,079
the big history of time, of space...
301
00:21:27,162 --> 00:21:30,165
the big history of us.
24083
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