Lightning Brain Freeze

Oh, I love thunderstorms. They're so exciting.

Oh, I just hope it doesn't knock the power out again, Doctor.

Not to worry, Colin. There's no chance of...

THUNDER RUMBLES

..that happening.

Oh, crumpets! How are we going to do the show?

Hey!

How's it going, everyone?

Look what happened to me.

Ooh! Whoa!

And one for you.

Oh, this is deadly.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

-BELL RINGS

-Positions!

This is Brain Freeze

with Dr Knowles,

Professor McCork,

Colin the floor manager

and Ms Hucklebuck.

Stand by!

Come on, everybody!

BOTH: It's time for...

Today we're asking...

Lightning is a giant spark of electricity

usually created inside a cloud during a thunderstorm.

Cold air containing ice crystals

and hot air containing water droplets

come into contact, creating a build-up of electrical charge.

When the negative charge

at the bottom of the cloud builds up,

it will do everything in its power

to connect with a positive charge elsewhere.

It can find this positive charge above...

or below,

resulting in spectacular lightning strikes.

I love it.

Kazaam! Take that! Boom!

It's becoming a little charged in here, too.

I think we need a break.

And we're clear.

Oh, battery's dead.

Professor, would you mind

-charging this?

-Not a problem.

Yes, and my phone, too.

There you go.

-And be a dear, McCork, and blend my smoothie.

-Oh, yeah.

And this radio is a bit dead.

I've got so much other things.

I've got a Hoover that I need you to have a look at.

This is fantastic. Free power!

It might be free, but it won't last.

Oh.

Huh?

Uh-oh. No more power.

Lucky I built this backup generator.

It's time to start pedalling!

-BELL RINGS

-Positions!

MUSIC PLAYS SLOWLY

Today's Big Answer.

So, what about this one, Dr Knowles?

Is it true that lightning never strikes twice?

With an estimated eight million lightning strikes

around the world every day,

it certainly is possible

that lightning can strike the same place more than once.

These bolts heat the air, causing it to expand explosively

before rapidly contracting as it cools.

This causes the familiar crack and rumble we know as thunder.

But why does the thunder come after the lightning?

That's because light travels faster than sound.

We see the lightning strike almost instantly,

but it takes approximately three seconds

for the sound to travel 1km.

This way we can calculate how far away the storm is

by counting the time between lightning and thunder.

One, two...

-THUNDERCLAP

-Yikes!

This one's pretty near, so.

-Cool!

-See you next time, everyone.

-Well, I hope you lot learned something today.

-Oh, we have, Colin.

I'll never take electricity for granted again.

And, you know, it's actually kind of fun without it.

WHIRRING

Oh, look. The power's back on.

Video games, anyone?

OTHERS: Yay!

What's a video game?

Oh, crumpets.

Will we ever learn?

Oh!