This fascinating series explores the machines,
processes and structures that form the backbone

of 21st-century living. In this instalment, Robert
learns how diamonds are mined in one of the most
inhospitable places on earth, how the UK’s largest
power station provides the nation with electricity,
and how tenpin bowling machines work.
How Do They Do It? puts the modern world under
the microscope to explain the technology,
designs and processes behind our daily lives.
Robert Llewellyn gets his hands dirty in a bid to
better understand the technology that keeps the
modern world moving.
Robert’s first voyage of discovery this week takes
him to Lac de Gras – a lake approximately 300 km
north of Yellowknife, in Canada’s Northwest
Territories. For half the year, the lake is frozen over,
but beneath the water lies an extinct volcano; and
beneath this volcano is one of the richest deposits
of gem-quality diamonds in the world.
At the Diavik Diamond Mine, a 3.9 kilometrelong
dyke holds back the water, allowing access
to the earth. Some half a million tonnes of rock are
blasted away every week to get at the valuable
diamond-bearing kimberlite pipes. The mine
works all year round, even when the surrounding
temperatures drop to -45ºC.
Elsewhere, Robert heads to the village of Drax in
North Yorkshire, home to the largest power station
in the UK. The station produces over 24 billion
kilowatt hours of electricity a year – the equivalent of
three quarters of London’s electricity needs. In
order to produce such a vast quantity of energy, the
plant burns 36,000 tonnes of coal a day, but it is
one of the most efficient stations in the country.
Before the coal enters the furnaces, it is ground into
a powder so fine that it becomes explosive.
Finally this week, Robert learns the secrets of one
of the most popular sports in the world – tenpin
bowling. Millions of people across the world bowl
every year, but most would not think twice about
the technology involved. The sport’s success relies
on the speed and efficiency of the pin-spotting
machines, which reset the pins in just 8.5 seconds.
The Qubica/AMF factory in Virginia, USA, makes
hundreds of machines every month, and before
each one leaves the factory it is tested by the
workforce – making it the only factory in the world at
which workers are encouraged to strike!