National Geographic Channel Takes You on a Fact-Filled Adventure to Discover How Things Work on 'Who Knew? With Marshall Brain'

National Geographic Channel Takes You on a Fact-Filled Adventure to Discover How Things Work on 'Who Knew? With Marshall Brain'

New Series Explores How People and Machines Manufacture Some of the Most Fascinating Things in Life

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A sheet of material as thin as a dollar bill becomes one of the lightest and fastest bikes in the world. An airbag deploys in milliseconds and knows exactly how full to inflate, depending on the size and weight of the passenger. Fireworks burst into spectacular colors and patterns in perfect unison. But how are they made? And how do they work? National Geographic Channel (NGC) and Marshall Brain take you on a fast-paced adventure to learn how people -- and machines -- manufacture some of the most fascinating things in life.

On Thursday, March 13, beginning at 8 p.m. ET/PT, journey into the world of product design, manufacturing and testing as NGC premieres the first of three fact-filled one-hour episodes of "Who Knew? With Marshall Brain." Our guide on this weekly adventure is Marshall Brain himself, an expert explainer, teacher, columnist and author of the best-selling book "How Stuff Works," who has earned degrees in both electrical engineering and computer science. We travel across the country with him as he finds out what happens when traditional assembly lines collide with cutting-edge technology to build familiar yet extraordinary objects in our everyday lives.

Marshall takes us inside some of our country's most impressive, state-of-the-art factories to reveal the science behind their everyday operations, detailing the intricate engineering and manufacturing processes - including the use of advanced robotics - and meeting the expertly trained supervisors and workers charged with ensuring the absolute perfection of these products. And once these innovative triumphs are completed, you'll get to experience them firsthand -- fire the largest and most powerful revolver in the world, take a ride in a luxury recreation boat that can speed up to 55 mph and battle a 1,200-degree blaze using an industrial-grade fire extinguisher -- without leaving the comfort of your home!

"Who Knew? With Marshall Brain:" Golf Ball, Speedboat, Fireworks
Thursday, March 13, at 8 p.m. ET/PT (World Premiere)

How do you build a boat that's fast enough to cut through the waves at 55 miles per hour and large enough to hold 12 of your closest friends? What is inside a golf ball that makes it fly so far through the air? And just how does a firework burst into multiple hand-picked colors and specific patterns at exactly the right time?

In this episode, Marshall takes us to the Sea Ray boat factory in Vonore, Tenn., where engineers are using advanced robotics to manufacture one of their most popular recreational sports boats, the just-over-26-foot "Sundeck." We'll see how they build these boats from the outside in, starting with a mold that robots cover with a coat of gel paint. Then we'll follow these boats as they are laminated, assembled and tricked out with features you might not expect to see on the water.

Next, we'll check out the Titleist facility in Acushnet, Mass., where golf experts crank out 300 million golf balls every year. We'll see how each ball starts out as a batch of rubber ingredients and ends up with the unique dimples that give these mini engineering marvels their aerodynamic bodies. And we'll learn how these key features can make a ball fly farther, spin faster or maximize lift to fly off the tee.

Finally, we'll travel to Zambelli Fireworks just outside New Castle, Penn., to learn how the century-old pyrotechnics company handcrafts thousands of fireworks in a dazzling array of colors, shapes and sizes. It's a dangerous job done in concrete buildings that are meant to withstand an explosion. We'll get up close as they mix the volatile ingredients and pack them into a shell. Then, we head to a baseball stadium where the Zambellis will launch more than ten thousand fireworks from five different locations.

"Who Knew? With Marshall Brain:" Gun, Bike, Fire Extinguisher
Thursday, March 20, at 8 p.m. ET/PT (World Premiere)

How do you build a revolver that can shoot the largest caliber bullet legally allowed in a handgun ... one of the fastest road bikes in the world ... and an extinguisher that can put out a roaring fire in just 13 seconds?

First, we follow Marshall to the Smith and Wesson factory in Springfield, Mass., where engineers took the largest bullet allowed in a handgun -- the 50-caliber cartridge -- and built an entire gun around it. We'll see how a 4-pound, stainless steel rod is forged, machined and combined with 106 other parts to become the "Magnum 500" -- the world's largest and most powerful revolver.

Next, we'll explore the Trek Bikes facility in Waterloo, Wis., to learn how engineers there have reinvented the modern road bike. Their latest model of the "Madone" is one of the fastest and lightest road bikes in the world and is made from the same material used to build stealth bombers. We'll follow the entire process -- from cutting a sheet of carbon fiber to tightening the last spoke -- as they build one of the world's most talked-about high-performance bikes. And then Marshall puts the finished product to the test in his own race around the track.

And then we're off to Ansul Incorporated in Marinette, Wis., to see how workers cut, shape and assemble their premier, industrial-strength fire extinguisher, the 20-pound Ansul "Red Line." We'll learn just what it takes to build these life-saving devices and what makes them capable of battling extreme blazes. Then Marshall takes the extinguisher that he built and uses it to put out a 150 square foot gasoline fire.

"Who Knew? With Marshall Brain:" Car, Airbag, Money
Thursday, March 27 at 8 p.m. ET/PT (World Premiere)

How does a 44,000-pound coil of steel become the frame and parts for dozens of new sedans and SUVs? And who, exactly, is manning the automobile assembly line these days? How do you make an airbag that not only deploys within milliseconds of an accident but also knows how full to inflate, depending on the size and weight of the passenger? And if it doesn't grow on trees, where does money actually come from?

Marshall first brings us into one of the most technologically advanced automobile manufacturing plants in North America -- the Hyundai factory in Montgomery, Ala. -- where they crank out more than 1,000 cars a day. Here, we'll see how hundreds of state-of-the-art robots -- as large as 7 feet tall -- cut and stamp exterior body parts such as doorframes and hoods, weld them together in less than a minute and skillfully paint each car without any human intervention! We'll also see how advances in assembly line design have brought humans and machines together and are making the job for human workers a lot safer, more efficient and more comfortable.

Once we've seen how to manufacture a car, it's time to find out how to make it safer. For that, we're off to Autoliv in Ogden, Utah, to learn how airbags are made and why the airbag inflator is the critical component in any airbag system. We'll see what's inside these small but powerful devices, and find out what it takes to inflate an airbag in less than the blink of an eye. We'll also learn how these life-saving "smart" inflators are designed to know precisely how large to inflate, depending on the size and weight of the passenger.

And then it's on to Washington, D.C., to see how American paper money is made. It all starts at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where designers have given the $20 bill a new look. First, we see how engravers create plates that will allow the government to print 32 bills at once. But American money isn't printed on just any kind of paper. It's a special paper that is almost impossible for counterfeiters to duplicate. To learn about that, we head to Crane and Company in Dalton, Mass... It's here that they make the paper from a special blend of cotton and linen. It's also where they add three important security features that make the bills even more difficult to counterfeit. Finally, we head back to Washington, D.C., where we'll see workers at the Bureau print six million dollars in twenties in an hour!

"Who Knew? With Marshall Brain" is produced by Atlas Media Corp for the National Geographic Channel. Series producers are Bruce David Klein, Cheryl Miller Houser and Oliver Miede. For National Geographic Channel, executive producer is Michael Welsh; senior vice president of special programming is Michael Cascio; and executive vice president of content is Steve Burns.

Based at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C., the National Geographic Channel (NGC) is a joint venture between National Geographic Ventures (NGV) and Fox Cable Networks (FCN). Since launching in January 2001, NGC initially earned some of the fastest distribution growth in the history of cable and more recently the fastest ratings growth in television. The network celebrated its fifth anniversary in January 2006 with the launch of NGC HD, which provides the spectacular imagery that National Geographic is known for in stunning high-definition. NGC has carriage with all of the nation's major cable and satellite television providers, making it currently available to more than 67 million homes. For more information, please visit www.nationalgeographic.com/channel.

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