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[ Man Narrating ]
The Earth from space is a blue marble...
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cloaked in a shape-shifting skin...
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that holds the planet in its grip-
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an invisible structure
with the power to move mankind.
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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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History as we know it
is about to get big.
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[ Rumbling 1
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[ Narrator]
A 9.0-magnitude earthquake...
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unleashes a 33-foot wall of water...
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crashing into buildings
with the force of 100 Abrams tanks.
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Water is the most common substance
on Earths surface.
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It is also the most destructive...
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with an unrivaled power to crush...
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[Crackling ]
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- Freeze...
- [ Wind Whistling]
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And carve.
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[ Man ]
Water uses its erosive ability...
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to shape mountain ranges,
to cut deep river valleys and so on.
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Water, it seems so soft,
it seems so yielding...
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and yet it can create something
like the Grand Canyon.
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[ Bird Screeching ]
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[ Narrator] Water makes up 70%
of the planet's surface...
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and 60% of our bodies.
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So while humans may cling to land,
we live in a world of water.
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To survive and thrive here on Earth,
we must learn to control its power.
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Traditional history tells us...
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that mankind spends centuries
trying to conquer the sea.
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But big history reveals
how our command over water...
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depends on its unique chemistry-
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properties that make
this familiar substance so alien.
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[ Narrator]
We know that heavy objects sink in water.
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Yet we still haul
our heaviest freight by sea...
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thanks to a property of liquids
known as “buoyancy.”
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Objects displace an amount of water
equal to their own weight.
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So if a 2, 000-pound boat
displaces 2,000 pounds of water...
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before the entire boat is submerged,
it will float.
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Other liquids are buoyant too,
like oil...
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but' their stickiness would make it'
impossible to move mankind.
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Water has a special property
that makes it just right.
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Big history zooms in
to the microscopic world of water.
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[ Man ] You have an oxygen atom.
It's a bit like rabbit's ears.
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You get sort of a hydrogen atom up here
and then another hydrogen atom up here.
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You get a positive charge
at one end of this...
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and a negative charge at the other.
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[ Narrator]
The opposite charges attract...
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and the molecules of water
lock together in a tight bond...
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known as “surface tension.”
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Instead of sticking to a boat,
water molecules stick to each other.
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It's like an invisible alien skin...
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that allows ships to glide
while they float.
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It's not just weight and water.
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It's surface tension...
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to have something as large
as a sailing vessel float in water.
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[ Narrator] The chemistry of water
solves an ancient problem.
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Roads are difficult to build
and expensive to maintain.
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But water is a natural liquid highway.
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For the last 10,000 years, the cheapest way
of transporting goods and people...
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was by rivers and by sea,
if you could do it.
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[ Narrator]
So man's first cities...
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rise alongside the Earth's
greatest rivers and shorelines.
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The Romans can move grain
from Egypt to Rome-
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a thousand miles by sea-
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cheaper than from the Italian hill country
to Rome, just 100 miles.
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It's absolutely no surprise whatsoever
that waterways...
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are fundamental to the emergence
of human civilization.
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[ Narrator]
But while water connects people...
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it divides continents.
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[ Narrator] Ancient vessels
aren't built for the open ocean.
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The Atlantic looms 4,000 miles across.
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The Pacific is twice as vast.
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So civilizations around the world
develop in isolation...
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until centuries of human innovation
unite the world.
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From the ancient Middle East...
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the astrolabe is a tool
the Greeks and Arabs develop...
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to draw accurate maps.
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From China comes a way to track
the Earth's electromagnetic field:
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the compass.
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And from the Indian Ocean...
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where the invention of a triangular sail
allows ships to travel against the wind...
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to Europe in the age of exploration...
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when all these technologies converge
and let us take on the seas.
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What the technology
of good sailing ships does...
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is change the oceans
from a barrier into a highway...
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and takes these formerly poor places
and makes them the richest places on Earth.
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[ Narrator]
The ability to conquer oceans...
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causes a geographical power shift.
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For centuries, the Middle East
was the hub of world trade...
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because everything moving from east to west
had to pass through it.
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Now, influence moves to the edges.
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Spain, Portugal...
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Holland, England.
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Small nations with the power
to navigate the open ocean...
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build far-flung empires...
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using the power
of a microscopic bond...
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that links together
simple molecules of water.
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[ Benjamin ] So the Europeans
quickly master the sea...
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apply sophisticated military technology
to their ocean-going craft...
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and are able to use this to subjugate
large regions of the Earth.
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[ Narrator]
Advanced sailing technology...
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combines with
the unique chemistry of water...
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to create a massive
global circulatory system...
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that moves mankind.
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And it's still vital today.
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Ships are our mega movers.
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The largest aircraft carrier
can transport almost 6,000 people.
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The largest cruise ship
more than 8,000.
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Ninety percent of all world commerce
still moves by sea.
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But moving on water isn't enough.
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To build the modern world...
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we need to conquer
water's ultimate power...
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as a shapeshifter.
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[ Narrator]
Big history reveals...
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how water's invisible skin...
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turns our waterways
into a global highway.
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And while traditional history
tells us that our mastery of water...
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fuels the rise of civilization...
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big history looks to geology...
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to reveal
how the ultimate power of water...
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connects back...
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to the birth of the continents.
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[ Narrator]
We are now deep within the Earth's core...
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2.5 billion years ago.
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Molten rock smolders at temperatures
more than 2,000 degrees Celsius...
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[Steam Hissing ]
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And rises to the surface...
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[ Rumbling 1
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with enough force
to divide and move the land...
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lifting mountains into the sky.
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Mountains that control the air
by driving it upwards.
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As the air rises, its temperature drops.
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And the water inside it
becomes a shapeshifter.
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[ Narrator] At high altitudes,
mountain air condenses...
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releasing water as vapor
that hangs in the sky as fog and clouds...
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and returns to earth
in the form of rain.
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[ Narrator]
Water has the power to transform.
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It's the only substance
on Earth's surface...
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that exists naturally in all three states.
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Cold turns it into a solid.
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Heat creates vapor.
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And in between, it's a liquid...
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a state of matter
with potential energy...
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that's unlocked by gravity.
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If you take something like water
out into space...
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beyond Earth's gravitational pull...
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as astronauts know, it's gonna
just float freely in the atmosphere.
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But it won't flow downhill.
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[ Narrator] Here on Earth...
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the constant pull of gravity
means that water always flows downhill...
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gaining power as it falls.
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Power that mankind will harness.
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Big history connects back
to man's first hydro-engineering.
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[ Narrator]
The Middle East, 300 B.C.
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An early farmer
discovers that a raging river...
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holds ready-made kinetic energy.
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The water turns a wheel...
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that spins an axle...
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that turns a gear...
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that gets a job done.
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Big history reveals that the water wheel
is a critical innovation...
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that connects us
to the energy of the cosmos.
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It's very tempting to think that the power
somehow resides in the water...
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but that's really an illusion.
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Remarkably, the power
comes from the center of the sun.
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Because what's happened is that sunlight
peering on the surface of the Earth...
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has done the heavy lifting, literally.
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It's lifted water molecules
up into the sky.
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Once it's up into the sky...
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then gravity will do
the rest of the work.
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And gravity will bring it down
in the form of rain...
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and then gravity
will drive it downhill.
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[ Narrator] Centuries later,
this same power will light the world.
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Speeding water can drive turbines,
it can drive propellers...
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and it can generate electrical energy.
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[ Narrator]
But in order to create that power...
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we have to control
the raw power of nature...
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and fight gravity to move water
where we want it to go.
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We build dams, aqueducts, canals.
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A massive man-made water infrastructure...
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that reveals a mysterious pattern-
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a secret that connects
the way the Earth works...
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to the salvation of mankind...
189
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and the invisible engine
that rules us all.
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[ Narrator]
Big history has shown us...
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how the most common substance
on Earth's surface...
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has an uncommon chemistry...
193
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that drives the history of mankind.
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Water is a shapeshifter
with an in visible skin...
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and the power of continuous motion.
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Every living organism,
from an amoeba to an elephant...
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relies on the perpetual motion of water.
198
00:16:35,746 --> 00:16:40,626
Humans use about a quart every day
to circulate waste out of our bodies.
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00:16:43,921 --> 00:16:46,090
We see the same pattern on Earth...
200
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when water evaporates
and gets recycled as fresh rain...
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to keep the planet running.
202
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But what happens
when the water flows in but not out?
203
00:17:10,406 --> 00:17:12,491
[ Narrator]
Like any organism...
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a city needs to circulate water
to survive.
205
00:17:17,955 --> 00:17:23,961
Man's earliest cities rely on rivers
or primitive aqueducts to bring water in.
206
00:17:25,295 --> 00:17:28,632
But there's no system
for flushing dirty water out.
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00:17:31,427 --> 00:17:33,721
[Valle ] Bacteria loves water.
208
00:17:33,804 --> 00:17:38,267
Small microorganisms love water.
They can go anywhere in it.
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00:17:41,145 --> 00:17:42,521
[Chattering ]
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[ Narrator]
Because of organisms like these...
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00:17:44,982 --> 00:17:48,944
more people die throughout history
from drinking contaminated water...
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00:17:49,027 --> 00:17:52,239
than any other single cause...
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00:17:52,322 --> 00:17:54,867
until a breakthrough in microbiology.
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00:17:55,868 --> 00:17:57,911
Big history connects forward...
215
00:18:02,166 --> 00:18:04,251
to 19th-century London...
216
00:18:06,879 --> 00:18:11,133
where an outbreak of cholera claims
hundreds of lives in one neighborhood.
217
00:18:12,342 --> 00:18:15,846
Doctors trace the contamination
to a single water pump.
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It's the first time we recognize
that water can carry a silent killer.
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00:18:26,356 --> 00:18:28,233
[Valle ]
At that point, you begin to realize...
220
00:18:28,317 --> 00:18:31,612
that water can breed disease,
it can be spread anywhere.
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00:18:31,695 --> 00:18:36,116
So you start noticing that, you know,
digging a simple irrigation ditch...
222
00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:37,951
or a sewer tunnel...
223
00:18:38,035 --> 00:18:42,664
can bring a whole host of different
beneficial aspects to the world.
224
00:18:45,584 --> 00:18:49,254
[ Narrator] London builds
the world's first modern sewer system.
225
00:18:50,923 --> 00:18:55,969
And by reengineering our cities
to work the same way the Earth does-
226
00:18:57,554 --> 00:19:00,724
circulating clean water in
and dirty water out-
227
00:19:02,392 --> 00:19:07,105
we increase the average human life span
by up to 30 years.
228
00:19:16,281 --> 00:19:18,951
[ Narrator]
Water is the lifeblood of our bodies...
229
00:19:19,034 --> 00:19:22,079
our civilization and our planet.
230
00:19:23,247 --> 00:19:26,875
And while water is unique
among all the substances on Earth...
231
00:19:28,085 --> 00:19:30,587
it's also unique in our solar system.
232
00:19:34,132 --> 00:19:39,388
Earth is the only known planet
where water can cycle from solid...
233
00:19:39,471 --> 00:19:41,598
to liquid to gas.
234
00:19:42,599 --> 00:19:45,727
[ Laughing ]
Earth lies nicely in this habitable zone.
235
00:19:45,811 --> 00:19:51,441
Mars is out to the cold end.
Venus is certainly to the warm end.
236
00:19:51,525 --> 00:19:53,026
It's no coincidence then...
237
00:19:53,110 --> 00:19:55,612
that the Earth is the only planet
in the solar system...
238
00:19:55,696 --> 00:19:59,616
that has liquid water in stable form
for long periods of time.
239
00:20:00,450 --> 00:20:03,078
And it's no coincidence
that Earth is the one planet...
240
00:20:03,161 --> 00:20:06,957
that is completely encrusted-
covered with surface life.
241
00:20:11,628 --> 00:20:14,715
[ Narrator] It's our precise position
in the solar system...
242
00:20:14,798 --> 00:20:17,342
just the right distance from the sun...
243
00:20:17,426 --> 00:20:20,137
not too hot or too cold...
244
00:20:21,430 --> 00:20:25,309
that allows water to exist
as the ultimate shapeshifter-
245
00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:29,313
endlessly morphing across forms...
246
00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:35,068
in a cycle of transformation
that keeps the planet alive.
247
00:20:35,152 --> 00:20:36,820
[ Birds Calling ]
248
00:20:36,904 --> 00:20:40,157
Water provides
the great Goldilocks environment...
249
00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:41,575
for rich chemistry...
250
00:20:41,658 --> 00:20:45,954
and we are the product
of very rich chemistry indeed.
251
00:20:46,038 --> 00:20:47,831
It dominates human history...
252
00:20:47,915 --> 00:20:50,959
as something that humans
have traveled across.
253
00:20:51,043 --> 00:20:54,504
It dominates human history
because you cannot live...
254
00:20:54,588 --> 00:20:56,673
unless you have access to water.
255
00:21:00,677 --> 00:21:04,097
[ Narrator] But the story of water
is just the beginning.
256
00:21:04,181 --> 00:21:07,351
There's a much bigger puzzle
hidden in big history.
257
00:21:07,434 --> 00:21:09,603
Each episode unlocks a clue.
258
00:21:10,687 --> 00:21:13,148
Everyday things like caffeine...
259
00:21:13,649 --> 00:21:14,816
mountains...
260
00:21:16,026 --> 00:21:18,946
and weapons hold the key.
261
00:21:19,029 --> 00:21:23,659
Watch them all and you'll see
this grand mystery revealed.
262
00:21:23,742 --> 00:21:26,870
The big history of time, of space...
263
00:21:26,954 --> 00:21:29,414
the big history of us.
22178
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