Why Eskimos don't build skyscrapers.

The central theme of the lecture is that, if we understand how atoms behave, we can understand the way in which materials behave when we apply forces to them.

The lecture contains many demonstrations both from science and everyday life, and uses them to show how simple models of atoms behave, how they interract and how this can give rise to the behaviour of everyday materials.

It is designed to reinforce and generalise the idea that all materials are made up from atoms either separately or as collections in molecules.

Above all the lecture aims to entertain as much as educate and to stimulate children to ask more questions for themselves.