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Royal Institution Christmas Lectures

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Royal Institution Christmas Lectures: 2012: The Modern Alchemist

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures: 2012: The Modern Alchemist: Episode 2: Water: The Fountain of Youth

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Water: The Fountain of Youth

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Episode 2: Water: The Fountain of Youth

2012: The Modern Alchemist

BBC Four - Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, 2012: The Modern Alchemist, Water: The Fountain of Youth

Peter Wothers finds out whether the elements lurking in the water can restore his youth.

Peter Wothers finds out if the elements lurking in the water can restore his youth and discovers how exploding balloons could solve the energy crisis.

Medieval alchemists wrote of a mysterious fountain of youth, whose waters could rejuvenate anyone who drank them. But can water really be magical? 

In the second of this year's Christmas Lectures, Dr Peter Wothers drinks from the fountain and finds out whether the elements lurking in the water can restore his youth. Along the way he discovers how exploding balloons could solve the energy crisis, how water contains the remains of the most violent reactions on Earth and that the real secret to eternal youth might be drinking no water at all. 

Peter is joined in his quest by Paralympic champion cyclist Mark Colbourne and finds out what happens when the two most reactive elements on the periodic table, caesium and fluorine, meet each other.

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Alchemist Dr Peter Wothers gives three lectures on air, water and earth.

Dr Peter Wothers unpicks the chemistry of the world around us, looking at air, water and earth - three of the original ancient Greek 'elements' that tantalised alchemists for centuries.

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2012: The Modern Alchemist

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