Caves Nina and the Neurons: Earth Explorers

# If you've got a question and you don't know where to go

# Ask Nina for some help cos she's got a science show

# She makes sense of her senses while helping all her fans

# By doing her experiments with potions and with bangs

-# Touch your tongue!

-Tongue!

-Fingers!

-Fingers!

-# Eyes!

-Eyes!

-Ears!

-Ears!

-Nose!

-Nose!

# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know

# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know

# Luke, he helps us with our eyes and Felix with our touch

# Ollie sniffs out smells and scents and Belle, she hears so much

# Bud is Ollie's brother, he helps us with our taste

# They're Nina's little Neurons and they're coming to your place

-# Touch your tongue!

-Tongue!

-Fingers!

-Fingers!

-# Eyes!

-Eyes!

-Ears!

-Ears!

-Nose!

-Nose!

-# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know!

-Yeah!

-# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know!

-Oh, yeah!

-#

Oh, dear! Ow! Oh!

Oh, hello there. I'm just making a cave.

But it's really dark in here, I can't see a thing.

Ah! This should help.

Whoo!

Oooh!

-BEEPING

-Oh, I hear a beep, I see a flash.

I wonder what they're going to ask.

-ALL: Hi, Nina.

-Hi!

-We've got a question for you.

-How are caves made?

That's a great question, how are caves made?

Caves are great fun to look inside and explore, but why are they there?

Why don't you come down to my workshop and we'll investigate?

-ALL: See you soon, Nina. Bye!

-Bye!

I'm going to need some help to answer this one,

and I know just who to ask. OK, Neurons, time to get to work.

ALL: Neurons at the ready, Nina.

Today's question is how are caves made?

Which Neuron do you think would be most useful

-in helping us find the answer?

-ALL: Me! Me!

Will it be...fabulous Felix?

I can help so very much if you need the sense of touch.

Will it be beautiful Belle?

I send messages to brain from ear,

if there's a sound, I'll help you hear.

Will it be lovely Luke?

For looking and seeing, day or night,

I'll help you with your sense of sight.

Will it be awesome Ollie?

If it's pongy or whiffy but you can't tell,

my messages help your sense of smell.

Or will it be baby Bud?

Sour, salty, bitter or sweet, I'm your taste buddy whenever you eat.

It's Belle!

ALL: Go, Belle! Go, Belle!

Go, Belle! Go, Belle! Go, Belle! Go, Belle!

Brilliant. I'm all ears, Nina.

Today's question is how are caves made?

Because caves are full of sounds and echoes,

Belle will be helping us today.

But stand by, Neurons, I may need help from all of you.

I need to get the workshop ready before the explorers arrive.

Joshua likes sailing with his family,

Parisa loves doing cartwheels, and Raymond's favourite colour is blue.

But they all want to know, how are caves made?

-There's caves near my house.

-How did they get there?

What's inside the cave?

Today, for one day only, Joshua, Parisa

and Raymond become the explorers.

-Hi, guys.

-ALL: Hi, Nina.

-Welcome to my workshop.

Thank you for your great question, how are caves made?

To find out the answer, let's start by using our senses.

ALL: Whoo-whoo! A senses experiment! We're ready, Nina.

First, let's have a look at this picture of a cave.

What does it look like?

-A big hole in the ground.

-That's right.

A cave is a big hole under the ground.

It's made of rock, and often there's water in there.

Whoo! It must have taken someone really strong to dig that!

Actually, Bud, caves aren't made by people.

-They're part of the world around us.

-How do they get there?

Well, this cave looks like it's got water in the walls,

so I wonder if water has something to do with how caves are made.

Let's find out.

We all have two glasses of water in front of us.

And we also have some sugar and some glass marbles.

Let's see what happens when we mix the sugar with the water.

Let's go.

That's it. Get it all in there.

Good stirring, everyone.

You're doing really well.

Ooh!

-What's happened?

-It disappeared.

-Yes!

The sugar disappears because it dissolves.

Water can dissolve things.

The sugar is still there, we just can't see it.

So when it dissolved, it mixed in with the water.

Now let's try dissolving these glass marbles.

Pop them in one at a time.

Give it a stir.

-They're still there!

-Yes!

So water can dissolve some things, like sugar,

but not other things, like glass marbles.

So we know that caves aren't made by people,

they're part of the world around us.

And we've found out some things, like sugar, dissolve in water,

but some things, like marbles, don't.

That's right, Neurons.

I wonder if water could dissolve rocks to make caves.

We need to look into this a bit deeper to find out.

Look at them go. I wonder where we'll end up today?

Nina said we had to look deeper to answer the question.

I know! The swimming pool! That's really deep.

I hope Nina's brought her armbands!

THEY LAUGH

Sh, everyone, we're here.

To answer your question, we've come to look inside a really big cave.

So far, we've found out that caves aren't made by people

and water can dissolve things.

But now we want to know if water can dissolve rock to make caves.

-Are you ready to do some exploring?

-ALL: Yeah!

Let's go!

Remember, caves can be dangerous,

so you should always have an adult with you when you're near one.

Look at this, explorers, this is where a new cave is forming.

What do you notice?

-There's water in there.

-Yeah.

Rainwater from above ground is coming down into the cave,

and it's dissolving the rock to make a hole.

Only a small amount of rock has been dissolved by the water so far.

Slowly, the water will dissolve more of the rock

until, eventually, it's a big underground cave.

But it will take a very, very, very long time for a cave to form.

Who wants to see a big one?

Hee-hee-hee! Let's go!

Look at this! Hello!

ALL: Hello!

Hellooo!

I love the sound of echoes.

It's huge, isn't it?

And look at all the water on the walls.

There's lots of rainwater coming down from above,

and it has very slowly dissolved this rock to make a really big cave.

And what do you notice about the cave walls?

They're all bumpy.

Yes, the walls are bumpy.

That's because there are different types of rock here.

Some of the rock is like our sugar, and it dissolves in water.

The other type of rock is a bit like the marbles

and doesn't dissolve in water, so it's still there.

So it takes a very, very, very long time for a cave to form.

Caves are made by water dissolving the rock underground.

How fascinating!

That's right, Neurons.

Let's see if we can make our own cave.

So you asked, how are caves made?

So far, we've found out that caves are part of the world around us

and are made by rainwater slowly dissolving the rock underground.

Let's see if we can make our very own cave.

Now, let's imagine that this is the ground.

It's made of two types of rock, the modelling clay is one type of rock,

and the sugar cubes is another type of rock.

We're going to see if we can make our own cave by making it rain.

I've added some blue colouring so it's easier to see what's happening.

Here we go!

-Do you see what's happening?

-The sugar is dissolving.

Yes! The rainwater is dripping through

and making the sugar cubes dissolve.

And when the sugar dissolves, it's taken away by the water,

leaving a big hole underneath.

We've made our own cave!

So caves are made by rainwater dripping underground

and dissolving the rock to make a big hole!

Brilliant!

That's right, Belle.

And there are different types of rock in caves.

Some are dissolved by water and some aren't.

The roof here and in our model hasn't been dissolved.

-Are you ready to go back above ground, explorers?

-ALL: Yeah!

# Nina and the Neurons! #

So your question was, how are caves made?

I think we've answered it.

We found out that caves aren't made by people.

Most of them are made by rainwater getting underground.

Drip, drip, drip!

Water dissolves things like sugar and some types of rock -

very slowly.

Water dissolves some rocks underground, making a big hole.

But some rocks don't dissolve, and that makes the roof.

Now, that's what I call clever!

So I hope that's answered your question.

ALL: Thanks, Nina. Bye.

You're welcome. Bye.

If you want to know more about science all around us,

go to the Nina section on the CBeebies website. Have fun!

# Every day the sun comes up, it brightens up the sky

# A brand-new day to understand

# A chance to ask ourselves why

# Why?

# There's a world of possibilities outside our front door

# So every day, take a look around and explore

# Explore, explore, explore, explore

-# Exploring in the garden!

-Grass!

-Exploring in the park!

-Rivers!

-# Exploring in the daytime!

-Mountains!

-# And even when it's dark!

-Planets!

# Look at the earth, look at the sky look at the world before us

# Explore, explore, explore, explore

# We're always on the lookout

-# We're earth explorers

-Oh-oh, oh-oh

-# We're earth explorers

-Oh-oh, oh-oh

# We're earth explorers. #

Exploring is about looking at the world around us,

asking why and finding out the answer.

Whether it's deep underground, at the end of your playground

or way above the clouds, keep exploring our exciting world.

See you again soon. Bye.

ALL: Bye.