Resources by Twig

Esters and Perfumes *suitable for home teaching*

This film, from Twig World, looks at esters which occur in nature and have been harnessed by the perfume industry. It explores what esters are and how they are made and used.

The key points in the film are:

•Esters give many fruits their scents, including bananas, lavender and pineapples.

•...

FactPack: Extreme Eruptions

This film, from Twig World, reveals some of the most active, and the most potentially devastating, volcanoes on Earth.

The key points made in the film are:

•Nevado Del Ruiz in Colombia erupted in 1985, causing mudslides that killed 25,000 people. •Stromboli, Italy, is one of the world's most active...

FactPack: Hydrocarbons

This film, from Twig World, provides an introduction to hydrocarbons and looks at how unreactive alkanes can be made into reactive alkenes.

The key points made in the film are facts about Hydrocarbons, for example:

•Hydrocarbons are the simplest organic compounds. •Alkanes are poor fuels, thick and...

FactPack: Non-Edible Crops

This film, from Twig World, looks at some surprising uses of common crops.

The film illustrates facts about non-edible crops, for example:

•Cotton, flax and hemp are used to produce textiles. •Borage, poppies, lavender and chamomile produce drugs and cosmetics. •Wheat, corn and potato are used for...

Fractional Distillation *suitable for home teaching*

This film, from Twig World, looks at how the industrial process of fractional distillation transforms crude oil into a variety of products, from plane fuel to road surfacing. The key points made in the film are:

How Are Mirrors Made?

This film, from Twg World, looks at the process of manufacturing glass into sophisticated mirror systems in the world's largest telescopes.

The key points made in the film are:

•Mirrors are made from glass, which is melted and spread over a base.

•Telescopes use mirrors to focus light onto a...

How long is a Metre?

This three minute video, from Twig World, explains that the metre is the base unit for measurement for most of the world, but how was it agreed how long a metre should be? The need for standardised units of measurement is discussed and the value of the metre being one ten millionth of the distance from the North...

Hubble Space Telescope

This film, from Twig World, shows how scientists working on the Hubble Telescope, orbiting 400 miles above the Earth, fixed a fault by giving the telescope a pair of spectacles. The key points made in the film are: •The Hubble Telescope took eight years to build, from over 400,000 parts. •Initially, a fault in...

Invention of Nylon *suitable for home teaching*

This film, from Twig World, looks at what makes the polymer Nylon so durable. The key points made in the film are: •In the past, clothes were all made from natural sources, such as silk, wool and cotton. •Then Wallace Carothers discovered nylon in 1939. •It was discovered through experimentation with polymers,...