Original title
Richard Hammond's Blast Lab
Released
1/3/2009
Origin country
GB
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
4
Number of episodes
41
Richard Hammond's Blast Lab is a children's television programme made by DCD Media-owned September Films and Hamster's Wheel Productions for the BBC and shown on the CBBC Channel and CBBC outputs on both BBC One and BBC Two. The programme involves two teams of three children – referred to as the Red Team and the Yellow Team – taking part in science-related challenges to win prizes at the end of the show. The team that loses get the honour of blowing up their prizes. Hammond has taken an approach that has come from years of working on Top Gear with elements of Brainiac: Science Abuse.
In the opening episode of this spectacular new series, Richard and his two teams of budding young scientists study rocket propulsion. But they don't do this with dusty old text books. Instead, in true Blast Lab tradition, Richard and the teams race some balloons over a giant gunge tank and watch a jet pack man propel himself 30 metres in the air as he attempts the world's highest ever basketball slam dunk.
This time, Richard Hammond looks at the weight of liquids. Richard joins one of his lab rats at his top secret test facility to discover what happens when a tonne of water is dropped on to a car from a height of 30 metres. Meanwhile, in his underground laboratory, Richard asks the two teams of young scientists to attempt to guess how much his security guard Ninja Nan and one of his lab rats weigh. But because this is Blast Lab, there's a twist... Ninja Nan and the lab rat have to sit on giant scales, while the contestants must use bottles of water to guess their weight.
This time, Richard explores lift and friction. Richard and the gang build hovercrafts. In the studio they are made out of a bottle top, a CD and a balloon. But at Richard's top-secret test facility, his team of loyal lab rats make a hovercraft out of wood, plastic sheeting and leaf blowers.
Richard explores the conservation of energy as the team play a game of magnetic pinball. One of the Lab Rats has a close encounter with a toy pig on a pendulum.
Richard explores the themes of pressure and weight distribution. In the studio the two teams go balloon surfing, while at Richard's top secret laboratory his Lab Rats make a huge balloon sandwich and see if it can take the weight of a saloon car without bursting.
In Mini Miss' science lesson, the two teams try to encase a team member in a giant bubble dressed as a hedgehog. Meanwhile at Richard's top secret test laboratory, his Lab Rats investigate the science behind bubbles. Richard asks if it is possible to a make a bubble large enough to cover a Lab Rat sitting in a bath surrounded by a selection of sharp objects.
Richard and his two teams of budding young scientists look at catapults and levers. In the studio the contestants get the rare opportunity to fling eggs at Ninja Nan, all in the name of science. Richard's Lab Rats find out what happens when you use the world's largest trebuchet to fire flaming cannonballs at a caravan!
The teams use convection created by hairdryers to keep bags in the air and than negotiate an obstacle course. The Lab Rats use the same principle to make a giant solar balloon. Will the sun's heat be enough to help their balloon lift up, up and away?
The theme is air pressure: the teams must place a postcard across a cup of water and turn it upside down, allowing air pressure alone to prevent spillage, and then navigate an obstacle course. The Lab Rats then try to crush steel barrels with air pressure!
The crew looks at centrifugal force. The teams have to navigate an obstacle course while keeping a ball spinning round a funnel. Meanwhile, a specially trained Lab Rat tries to create a fire tornado.
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