02x01 - Eyes Glass Lenses/Granite/Potato Chips/Microprocessors

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: Today
on "how it's made"...

...eyeglass lenses...

Granite...

Potato chips...

And computer microprocessors.

Remember when wearing
coke-bottle eyeglasses

was your one-way ticket
to being the class nerd?

Well, today, even if you
need a heavy-duty prescription,

you can wear
fashionable eyeglasses

with thin and
lightweight plastic lenses.

Eyeglass lenses start
out as large plastic disks.

The first step

is to place a protective
film over the convex side

so it won't get damaged

while the lab works
on the concave side.

With a scanner, they retrieve
the customer's prescription

from the central computer.

Then they program
those measurements

into the tray holding the disks.

Next, they heat up a mixture
of seven metals to 122 degrees.

Any hotter would melt
the disk on contact.

Out of that molten metal,
they mold an attachment.

This allows the disk

to be mounted on a
machine for tooling.

At this point, robots take over.

When the tray with
the disks arrives,

the milling machine reads
the prescription information,

then reshapes the
plastic accordingly.

First, it thins the disk

and shaves it down
to a smaller diameter.

Then it creates the
required curvature.

The disk is now a lens.

But you can still see
the concentric circles

left by the tooling,

and the surface
of the lens is rough,

so they polish it
using abrasive paper

under water heated
precisely to 66 degrees.

The water temperature
must be constant,

or else the lens will
become deformed.

Now that the lens
is perfectly shaped,

they remove the
metal attachment...

...then peel off
the protective film

on the other side.

Using a machine
called a lensometer,

they make sure the
prescription is accurate.

Next, the lenses go through

an automated 15-stage
chemical cleaning

then are coated with varnish
to make them scratch-resistant.

They go into an
oven for three hours

until the varnish cures.

Next comes the
antireflection treatment.

This will increase the
lenses' transparency,

allowing in more light.

The lenses go into a chamber.

They add different
powdered chemicals,

such as Silicium
Oxide, Titanium Oxide,

and Zirconium Oxide.

They close the door, then pump
all the air out of the chamber.

Using a high-powered
electron beam,

they heat the chemicals
to the boiling point.

The powders transform
from solid to gas,

coating the lenses
in the process.

It's finally time to fit
the lenses to the frame.

They position a suction
cup on the lenses

to hold them in place
during the fitting.

An automated machine
traces the shape of the frame...

...then cuts the
lenses to that shape.

With regular frames,
the lenses simply pop in.

To attach ultralight
metal frames,

they drill holes right
through the lenses.

From plastic disk to
the latest in eyewear

in just three days.

Narrator: What do you get when
you cross a spider with a goat?

A silk fiber
stronger than steel,

yet more elastic than nylon.

Researchers implanted a
spider's web-spinning genes

into a goat's mammary glands.

The result -- goat's
milk with silk proteins,

the raw material for a fabric
strong enough to be bulletproof.

Granite is one of the
strongest stones on earth,

and it's the darling
of decor these days.

As an indoor/outdoor
building material,

it's timeless, elegant,
and resistant to acid rain.

Nature's granite factory

lies many miles beneath
the earth's surface.

Boiling molten
rock called "magma"

builds up pressure
from the intense heat

and rises through cracks and
crevices in the earth's crust.

As it rises, it slowly cools
and solidifies into granite.

Most granite is buried
under sedimentary rock,

which makes up most
of the earth's surface.

The challenge is to
extract as much granite

from the quarry as possible

while losing as little
as possible to damage

from the extraction process.

They start by outlining
a section of rock wall

up to 99 feet long
by 23 feet wide.

They use a gas flame to
burn long, narrow channels

to free up the sides.

Then they drill
holes 23 feet deep

along the back and bottom.

They feed expl*sive
cables into the holes.

Then they set it off.

The expl*si*n
detaches the section.

Then they use a combination
of drills, steel pegs,

plates, and wedges
to cut it down

and cut it down further
until they have rough blocks

measuring 10 feet long by


a size the granite
factory can handle.

The blocks may be small,

but each one weighs
more than 45,000 pounds.

At the factory, the first
cut is called "slabbing."

They use this type of saw

to cut slabs more
than 2 inches thick.

The blade's metal segments

contain synthetic
diamond particles,

which create the friction
needed to make the cut.

Water keeps the
saw from overheating.

It's a slow process.

The saw cuts less than 22
square feet of granite per hour.

They use a g*ng saw to cut
slabs thinner than 5 centimeters

to make kitchen
countertops, for example.

This saw has steel blades --

tense enough not to bend
under the pressure of cutting

and calibrated to cut
as straight as possible.

The g*ng saw cuts at a rate of
about 86 square feet per hour.

It takes three entire days to
cut through the rough block.

Once a slab is cut,
it goes for polishing.

This is what will bring
out the beauty of the stone.

The polishing line has 19 heads,

each of which has six
bricks that polish by abrasion,

like sandpaper.

The brick grains get
progressively finer

as you go down the line.

The polishing line processes

about a 10 square feet
of granite per minute.

For a high-gloss finish, a
slab goes through all 19 heads.

For a semigloss finish, it goes
through just the first 10 heads.

For a rough finish, slabs skip
the polishing line altogether

and instead go through a
process called "flaming."

With a stream of
water to keep the slab

from cracking under the heat,

they run a propane flame
at 2,000 degrees fahrenheit

across the surface.

This intense heat

makes the quartz inside
the granite explode,

creating a rough surface.

They often use this
technique for nonslip flooring.

After the finish,

the last step is to cut
the slabs to specifications.

Granite is composed
of various minerals.

They're interlocked like
pieces in a jigsaw puzzle,

giving the stone its
trademark speckles

and its remarkable strength.

Narrator: They say
chips were invented

when someone sent
back his fried potatoes,

complaining the
slices were too thick.

The insulted chef
cut them paper-thin

and fried them to a crisp.

So pride, not necessity,

was the mother
of this invention.

Potato chips have since become
the consummate snack food.

They have to be made
with fresh potatoes,

no more than 24 hours old,

otherwise the chips
will have black spots.

After a brushing
machine removes the dirt,

the potatoes travel along
a water canal to the peeler.

They tumble around and around

against the peeler's
abrasive rollers

until the skins come off.

This machine can peel 12,000
pounds of potatoes per hour.

Next stop -- a machine that
separates the potatoes by size.

The small ones fall
below to be rinsed.

The larger ones
stay on top to be cut.

Then they fall down
to the rinser, too.

Next, the potatoes
go through slicers.

The slicers' blades
are adjustable.

They can be set to
different thicknesses

or to different shapes, to
slice ripple chips, for example.

The centrifugal force
created by the spinning

throws the potatoes
against the sharp blades.

To make regular chips, they
cut slices 6/100 of an inch thick.

An average potato
will yield about 36 chips.

Finally, it's time to
wash the potato slices.

They spin inside a giant barrel

of cold, fresh water
for about a minute.

Then, like at the car wash,

the slices pass
under an air blower

to dry up the excess water.

The fryer contains canola oil

boiling at 375
degrees fahrenheit.

It takes just 3 minutes

to fry the potato
slices into potato chips.

As the chips exit the
fryer on the conveyor belt,

the excess oil drips off.

Next, a shower of salt.

The chips then
move on to the sorter.

An electronic camera
identifies any chips

that have brown
spots or other defects.

The camera then
triggers the thin pipe

directly above that bum chip

to blow it off the conveyor
belt with air pressure.

Elsewhere in the factory,

they're making another
popular snack food, cheese puffs.

They take corn flour
and mix it with water.

An extrusion machine forces
the mixture through round holes.

When the snakelike streams
come out the other end,

a knife cuts them into pieces.

The heat in the machine

then causes the flour in
those pieces to explode,

creating slightly curled puffs.

They spray those puffs
with a mixture of canola oil,

powdered cheese,
and natural colorings.

A revolving drum
mixes it all together.

Back in the chips department,

they spray the potato chips
with powdered seasonings,

which simulate flavors such
as barbecue or salt and vinegar.

The next machine separates
and weighs the portions

to be packaged.

The chips drop into bags
that are then heat-sealed.

It's taken about 15 minutes

to go from raw potato
to potato chips --

a lot longer than it
takes to eat them.

Narrator: A microprocessor
is the brain inside a computer.

Its made up of a microchip
on an electronic card.

Preparing the chip to
be installed on the card

is a delicate and
precise operation.

Scientists built the
first computer in 1937,

but it could only do algebra.

The first general-purpose
computer, in 1946,

was the size of


During the 1950s, transistors
replaced bulky vacuum tubes,

then integrated circuits
replaced transistors.

But the biggest
breakthrough came in 1971

with the microprocessor --

all the components
on one miniscule chip.

That's what made the
personal computer possible.

They start with a ceramic
square called a substrate.

This will carry the microchip.

A machine coats the
substrate surface with flux,

a chemical that makes it sticky.

This will hold the microchip
in place until it's soldered.

The factory receives the
microchips ready-made,

with all the circuits in place.

They place a microchip
on each substrate.

An infrared light
guides the machine

to place the chip in
precisely the right spot.

They pull a sample
from the production line

to further verify
the positioning

with a microscope.

Next stop -- a soldering
oven at 689 degrees.

The heat melts tiny beads
of tin positioned on the chip,

binding it to the substrate.

Next, they prepare to
solder an Aluminum cap

over each microchip.

The cap will have
two functions --

to protect the chip

and to dissipate the heat
that the chip generates.

A robotic arm picks
up four caps at a time

and positions them
over the microchips.

They go into a soldering oven
at 302 degrees for about an hour.

The next step is to create
the electrical connections

that will later link
the microprocessor

to the computer's
electronic card.

They start with tiny cylindrical
pieces of tin, called "columns."

Tin conducts electricity.

A giant suctioning sieve
vibrates the columns

until they fall
through the holes.

This lines them up vertically

so that they can be
attached to the substrate.

A machine spreads a
thick adhesive paste,

then attaches the vertical
columns in it from underneath.

A robotic arm positions
the chip-carrying substrate

onto the pasted columns.

The result is a microchip
with 1,000 connections.

For even more connections,

they use tin ba*ls
instead of columns

because ba*ls are
sturdier and more reliable.

They, too, go through
a suctioning sieve,

only instead of paste,
they're stuck on with flux,

that sticky chemical
used earlier

to position the microchip
onto the substrate.

The finished microchip unit

goes into a bath of
water and solvents

to remove any excess
flux or other residues.

Last stop -- quality
control testing,

up to 12 hours in an oven
heated to 284 degrees.

From here, the microprocessor
unit goes to another factory

where it's soldered
onto an electronic card,

which then goes into a computer.