Science Special How to Be Epic @ Everything

Get ready to become Epic @ Science!

Welcome to your scientific fix of epicness.

In just 15 minutes, you will know how to think like an epic scientist.

By the end of this show,

you will ask questions about the world around you,

perform simple tests,

collect and analyse data,

be accurate,

look for patterns and this kid will show you why you shouldn't be

afraid to make mistakes.

So let's do this, it's time to start thinking scientifically.

The first thing you need to do is start asking questions.

We've got epic mathematician

and science fan Rachel Riley to show you how it's done.

What have you got for us, Rachel?

I'm about to show you an experiment that will hopefully answer

-this question - what is sound?

-Don't know, Rachel. Science us up.

For this experiment you are going to need...

But how is all that stuff going to tell us what sound is?

First, take a good length of clingfilm.

That ought to do it. Now stretch it over the bowl...

really tightly, like the skin of a drum.

Next, make an indent in the centre of the clingfilm

and put a pinch of hundreds and thousands.

Let's see what happens if I play the sprinkles a little bit of music.

Probably nothing!

MUSIC PLAYS

Ahhhhh! They are dancing. But why?

We can clearly see that the hundreds

and thousands were moving around and that's because the sound was

causing lots of tiny vibrations in the air called sound waves.

It's these sound waves that travel to the hundreds

and thousands, making them dance.

So we asked the question and used an experiment to answer it.

So let's Epic-icise things.

I want to see if a really loud operatic voice can smash this glass.

Now we're talking, Rachel.

Every glass has something called a resonance frequency.

That's the frequency that will make

-that glass vibrate the most.

-I am with you.

You can find the glass's resonant frequency by flicking it like this.

PING! Careful.

The note that rings back to you is

-that glass's resonant frequency.

-Got you.

So for this experiment Rachel has got some scientific equipment,

an opera singer and a ping-pong ball.

Obvs!

As soon as Andrea hits the glass's resonant frequency,

the glass will vibrate and make

the ping-pong ball bounce, just like the hundreds and thousands.

But will the glass vibrate enough to smash?

SHE SINGS NOTE

So, we asked the question and found out that sound is made up of lots

of vibrations called sound waves and they can be pretty powerful.

And that is why to be scientific you need to ask questions.

Thanks, Rachie. That's the first lap of scientific epicness over.

Next it's all about performing simple tests.

We've got an epic scientist to show you how.

Hi, I'm Jon and I'm going to show you a really simple test

that you can do at home.

How to make a pH indicator with a red cabbage.

All right, John, what is a pH indicator?

A pH indicator tells us whether something is acidic or alkaline.

A red cabbage contains a purple pigment called anthocyanin.

This changes colour when it is in the presence of an acid

or an alkali.

I'm in, how do you make it?

Cut half of your cabbage into small chunks.

This will make it easier to blend.

Put your cabbage into the blender and add enough water to cover it.

Let's get blending.

Mmmmm, lovely cabbage!

The coffee filter paper will help to remove some of the sediment.

Now you've got your juice, it's time to let loose.

The pH scale goes from 0 to 14.

Solutions at a pH seven are neutral.

Anything above seven is an alkaline and anything below seven is acidic.

First up, I am going to try a bit of lemon juice. There we go.

A reaction has occurred.

-It's turned red!

-Next up, vinegar. Here we go.

Vinegar is red too.

Let's see what happens with the water. Not much.

Average, as might be expected.

-Bicarbonate of soda.

-It's turning blue.

-All-purpose cleaner.

-Even more blue.

-Some of this cream cleaner.

-It's like a bluey green.

-That's a beautiful colour.

Let's try our bleach.

Yeah, don't mess with bleach without a grown-up.

It's kind of gone an orangey yellow.

What does all this mean?

Over here we have our acid and as we move over here,

we get more alkaline, from blues, turquoise,

greens and over to yellow for the bleach.

And that's how to make a pH indicator using a red cabbage.

Thanks, JC.

Two films down and we now know

to ask questions and perform simple tasks.

The next tip for scientific epicness is to make mistakes. Confused?

Watch and learn.

Science has given us some of the best inventions ever.

But did you know that not every brilliant invention came about

on purpose?

A lot of them came about completely by accident.

And that is the next aspect of being an epic scientist. Don't believe me?

Here are three epic scientific inventions discovered

completely by mistake.

At three, it is matches.

In 1826, British scientist John Walker was mixing a healthy

combo of antimony sulphide, potassium chlorate,

starch and gum with a big stick.

Annoyingly for him, his stick developed a lump on the end.

When he tried to scrape the lump off, it created a spark

and then a flame.

Without realising, he had accidentally

and pretty dangerously invented the match.

At two, it's artificial sweeteners.

In 1879, Russian scientist Constantin Fahlberg had been

busy in an American lab handling a variety of different chemicals.

At the end of the day

he was so eager to eat his meal, he forgot to wash his hands. Tut-tut.

He noticed that the bread of his sandwich was sweet tasting,

even though no sugar had been used to make it.

It turns out that the mix of chemicals on his hands had sweetened

the food and he had accidentally invented food sweeteners.

On a serious note, don't go licking chemicals, guys.

And at one, it's ping, the microwave.

In 1945, American scientist Percy Spencer was tinkering with

the parts from a radar machine

when he noticed a brown stain in the pocket of his trousers.

Thankfully for him

the stain turned out to be from a chocolate bar that had melted.

Percy realised that microwaves could be used to cook food.

His trousers' loss was our snacky gain.

So, to be an epic scientist, don't be afraid to make mistakes.

Thanks, chaps.

We're halfway there.

Three more films to go and the next is about being accurate.

To show you how important it is we've got the epic baker,

Nikki Lilly.

I'm Nikki and I am going to show you how being accurate can make

-the perfect cake.

-I love cake.

What has that got to do with science?

Baking is pretty much one really yummy science experiment.

Too little or too much of one ingredient and your entire

bake can be ruined.

So how does a Junior Bake Off champion make the perfect

sponge cake?

Measure out your sugar and butter accurately, that's 125g each.

Perfect. And the butter.

Nearly there. Perfect.

Now for a perfect whisk.

Chuck in two eggs, another whisk, a teaspoon of baking powder.

-In that goes.

-Flour in and fold.

Perfect.

Pop the mixture in your tin

and bake 180 degrees Celsius for 20 to 25 minutes.

That's how you make the perfect sponge,

but Nikki also made three other cakes

to show what happens when you are not accurate.

Double the eggs.

In this cake, it has too much protein in it

and also sets rubbery like this.

That's not all.

It also smells pretty bad.

Double the flour.

The gluten set too quickly and it's gone super, super hard,

as you can tell.

Gluten is formed when flour mixes with liquid.

Too much flour = too much gluten = hard cake.

Eurgh. I do not like that.

That is very, very dry and has lost all its flavour.

Double the baking powder.

It rises and then sinks in the middle, like a crater.

Too much baking powder creates too much carbon dioxide which

will make your cake rise too quickly and then collapse.

It tastes very, very acidic because of the baking powder.

PING! Oh! Perfect cake is ready.

Time to see how it should be done.

It's brown on the outside, fluffy on the inside and...

Hm, it tastes amazing and that's why being accurate is so important.

Thanks, Nikki.

Lesson learned, be accurate if you want an epic cake.

On to the next epic-ilicious science fact

and this is all about collecting and analysing data.

Hi, I'm Catie.

I'm going to show you how to collect

and analyse data to become an epic rally driver.

Yes! Who doesn't want to be a rally driver?!

And Catie is one of the best.

Epic!

What has the scientific principle of analysing

and collecting data got to do with rallying?

Rally roads can be pretty much anywhere in the world

so it's really important before a rally that we

can collect data and analyse every aspect of the course.

Ah!

Without analysing the data, you could crash.

So how do we stop that from happening?

In a rally, every driver needs a co-driver. Today mine is Hannah.

-Hi, Hannah.

-It's Hannah's job in a race to tell me exactly what

-the course is like up ahead.

-Let's get collecting data.

Hannah and I are going to drive the course to collect

all the information.

We are then going to turn this into what rally drivers call pace notes.

REVVING

On the recce we can see the road and we can judge which angle

the corner is and mark it in our pace notes.

My preferred system is using 1-6, so one being really slow

and six being really fast. Right, three.

I would say that is more of a two myself.

We also mark things like if it is a tarmac track or

gravel on the road or if there is ice or water.

Four, loose, over a small crest.

TYRES SCREECH

OK. Collect data and make pace notes, got it. What is next?

Now you have collected all your data, it is time to analyse it.

I do it by re-watching the footage and comparing it with what

we've written down to make sure that our pace notes are 100% correct.

When you analyse your data,

you have to be willing to change it if necessary.

Originally, I saw this corner as a four, but decided after

watching this footage that I'm going to change it to a three.

So, step one.

-Go on a tour of the course and collect your data.

-Right, three.

Next, analyse it, check that your data stacks up with the footage.

When you are happy, it's race time!

REVVING

Left, five.

Pace notes are allowing co-driver Hannah to tell Katie which

-turns are coming up...

-Right, four.

..well before they have even reached them.

Flat right, five.

Braking to left...

Left, four, past the crest.

Right, four.

So, thanks to all that data, it means that they can go really,

really fast.

And that's why collecting and analysing data won't just make

you an epic rally driver, it will make you an epic scientist too.

Thanks, Catie.

OK, it's time for our final scientific wedge of epic myths

and this is all about looking for patterns.

To show you how, we've got scientist Fran Scott.

Hi, I'm Fran and I'm going to show you why in science

looking for patterns is so important,

but to do that I'm going to show you how to make an epic rocket.

Blast off!

You need a two litre drink bottle,

a cork that fits in the end...

But how does all that make a rocket?

Vinegar is an acid and bicarbonate of soda is a base.

When they mix together they create a gas called carbon dioxide

and if you do this in a bottle with a cork,

then this CO2 builds up and up until the bottle fires off into the sky.

-OK, can we make rockets now?

-To make your rocket,

you add your vinegar to the two litre bottle like this.

Then you need to roll 50g of bicarbonate of soda in a paper

towel, really tightly.

When you have done that, add the bicarbonate of soda to the

vinegar and then put the cork in as fast as you can.

OK, it's launch time.

Whoa! That's epic!

That was pretty cool, but I do think we can do better.

It's now time to look for patterns

and Fran has got different containers of vinegar to see

how much of it makes the most epic rocket. And they're off.

250, good start.

500, can't beat it.

750 takes the lead. We come to 1,000 and it is massive.

1,250, ah!

1,500, that is really poor.

So we have fired our rockets and we've had a look at the pattern

and the pattern tells us that for our two litre bottle,

it goes highest when it has one litre of vinegar in it,

so when it's about half full.

It's all about the amount of liquid in the bottle.

Too little vinegar and there is not enough push to launch the rocket.

Too much vinegar

and the bottle is too heavy to be lifted off the ground.

So let's see what happens when we do this on an epic scale.

Please be a big rocket, please be a big rocket, please be a big rocket.

It's a big rocket!

Fran is using the same ratio of vinegar as in the little rocket.

This should make it truly epic!

-We have liftoff!

-Hoo, hoo!

Did you see that? That is how you make an epic rocket.

Thanks, Fran.

Who knew that spotting patterns could be such fun?

Sorry about your rocket.

That's it. We're done.

You can now think like an epic scientist and ask questions,

perform simple tests, make mistakes,

be accurate, analyse data

and look for patterns.

Now go forth and be an Epic Scientist!