Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Big Trouble

Episode 1 of 2

Hannah Fry takes a spectacular look at the science of size. Hannah starts by asking whether things could be bigger, including Earth and living things.

This two-part special presented by Hannah Fry shows that when it comes to the universe, size really does matter. Hannah takes the audience into a thought experiment where the size of everything can be changed to reveal why things are the size they are.

Hannah starts her journey by asking whether everything could be bigger, finding out what life would be like on a bigger planet. As the Earth grows to outlandish proportions, gravity is the biggest challenge, and lying down becomes the new standing up. Flying in a Typhoon fighter jet with RAF flight lieutenant Mark Long, the programme discovers how higher G-force affects the human body, and how people could adapt to a high G-force world. But by the time Earth gets to the size of Jupiter, it's all over, as the moon would impact the planet and end life as we know it.

Next, Hannah tries to make living things bigger. The programme examines the gigantopithecus, the biggest ape to ever exist, creates a dog the size of a dinosaur and meets Sultan Kosen, the world's tallest man. Humans are then super-sized with the help of Professor Dean Falk to see what a human body would look like if we were 15m tall.

The sun gets expanded, and Professor Volker Bromm looks back in time to find the largest stars that ever existed, before the sun explodes in perhaps the biggest explosion since the big bang.

58 minutes

Last on

Sun 25 Jul 2021 22:55

More episodes

Previous

You are at the first episode

See all episodes from Size Matters

Music Played

  • James S. Levine

    Nu Dimension

  • Mansell Clinton Darrell

    Shadows of Earth

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Hannah Fry
Executive Producer Jasper James
Director Matthew Thompson
Writer Matthew Thompson
Director Cremer van Dango
Joe Tyrel Meyer
Production Company Screen Glue Ltd

Broadcasts