Waterfalls 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! #

There! Finished. Oh, hello!

I've just been making my very own waterfall. Watch this.

SHE LAUGHS

Who needs water when you've got sticky notes?

I can use these later on.

Oh! I hear a beep, I see a flash, I wonder what they're going to ask.

COMPUTER BEEPS

Hi, Nina!

Hi!

We've got a question for you.

How are waterfalls made?

That's a great question. How are waterfalls made?

Waterfalls are amazing to see, but what makes the water fall like that?

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

BOTH: See you soon, Nina. Bye!

Bye! Well, 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.

OK, today's question is, "How are waterfalls made?"

Which Neuron do you think would be most useful

in helping us find the answer?

ALL: Me! 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!

-CHEERING

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

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

Brilliant! I'm all ears, Nina.

Today's question is, "How are waterfalls made?"

Because waterfalls make lots of noise, Belle will be helping us,

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

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

Ollie likes eating prawns and Maya loves bodyboarding in the sea,

but they both want to know, "How are waterfalls made?"

Some waterfalls are really big.

How are waterfalls made?

So, today, for one day only, Ollie and Maya become the Explorers!

-Hi, guys!

-BOTH: Hi, Nina!

Welcome to my workshop and thank you for your great question,

"How are waterfalls made?" To find out,

let's start by using our senses.

ALL: Whoop-woo! A senses experiment! We're ready, Nina.

First, let's find out more about what a waterfall is

by taking a look at this model.

Some rivers have waterfalls and I've got some little pretend leaves here

that I'm going to put into our model river

so you can see how the water moves.

Whoa!

Hee-hee!

The river runs downhill over the rock,

but the rock stops here and there's a big step down,

so the water falls over the edge into the pool below

and that's why it's called a waterfall.

There's lots of different waterfalls in here.

There's one there, one there and a big one here.

Now, let's have a look at some real waterfalls in action.

This is Niagara Falls. It's really big, isn't it?

BOTH: Yes!

In fact, it's one of the biggest waterfalls in the world

and it makes a lot of noise. The more water that falls over the edge,

the more noise a waterfall makes.

And waterfalls aren't made by people,

they're part of our amazing world.

Now, let's have a look at another one.

-What do you see here?

-Lots and lots of rock.

-That's right.

There are lots of different layers of rock on top of each other. Hmm.

Oh, I wonder if these rock layers have something to do with how

a waterfall is made. Let's find out!

Now, there are lots of different types of rock.

Some are really hard and some are softer,

like a pencil wears away when we use it to draw.

In front of us we have two types of rock

and we're going to see which one is hardest by scratching them

with sandpaper and seeing which one wears away or becomes smaller.

-Are you ready?

-BOTH: Yes!

Go! And we'll scratch the dark rock first. Phew!

LOUD SCRAPING

Oh, that's a really funny scratchy sound!

It makes me feel quite shuddery! Woo!

Phew! Oh!

Now, let's move on to the white rock.

Oh!

This is hard work.

Why don't we stop and have a look at our rocks?

OK, now which one was the easiest to wear away?

-The white one.

-Yeah, the white one!

The white one rubbed away really easily.

So which one do you think is the hardest?

The dark rock.

Yeah, the dark rock is hardest

because it's hardly worn away at all.

Now, all rocks feel hard to us, but some rocks are harder than others,

and harder rocks are more difficult to rub away than softer rocks.

BELLE: 'Oh! So waterfalls are made when the bottom of a river

'makes a step and the water falls over the edge.'

-FELIX:

-'All rocks feel hard to us,

'but some rocks are harder than others.'

-LUKE:

-'Softer rock is easier to wear away than harder rock.'

That's right, Neurons! Maybe hard and soft rocks have something to do

with how a waterfall is made. Let's go somewhere noisy to find out.

OLLIE: On the road again. I really enjoy our trips with Nina.

-BELLE:

-Nina said we're going somewhere really noisy! Hoo-hoo!

-I'm going to be busy.

-BUD:

-Oh! Oh! Maybe we're going to see a rocket!

That's really noisy! Lift off!

FELIX: I don't think anything could be noisier than you, Bud.

So, in order to answer your question, "How are waterfalls made?"

What better place to come than a real waterfall?

-LAUGHING:

-Isn't it lovely?

-BOTH: Yes!

So far, we've found out that waterfalls are made

when the bottom of the river makes a step and the water falls over

the edge, and we also found out that some rock is hard

and some is soft, and they can also be found in layers.

Can you see any layers of rock here?

-There!

-There!

Yes! The top layer of rock is made from hard rock

and it's harder to wear away.

The softer layer of rock is that layer underneath

and it's easier to wear away. In fact, look...

You can see the water has worn it away so much, it's left a big hole.

Oh, ho, ho! It's quite noisy, isn't it?

BOTH: Yes!

You can say that again! It's like the noisiest shower ever!

And look at all the layers.

The water has worn away the rock at the bottom

and the rock at the top is sticking out more than the rock underneath,

and it's called an overhang because it's hanging over.

-Over...

-Hang!

-Over...

-Hang!

BOTH: Got it!

And look, there's a big pool where the waterfall lands

and continues its journey down the river.

-OLLIE:

-So, now we know waterfalls sometimes have an overhang.

-FELIX:

-An overhang is where rocks stick out further

on top than underneath.

Exactly, Neurons!

I wonder if we could make our own waterfall.

Let's go back to the workshop to find out.

So, you asked, "How are waterfalls made?"

And so far we've discovered that when a river flows over

hard and soft rock, the rocks get worn away differently

and make a step which the water falls over.

But now we want to see if we can make our very own waterfall.

So, let's try. We're going to imagine that this sand

is our softer rock and it wears away easily.

And underneath this sand is a layer of hard rock, like this one,

and it's harder to wear away.

Now, let's see what happens when we add our very own river

by using this watering can.

SHE GASPS

Oh!

Do you see what's happening?

The sand's going downwards.

Yeah, our softer rock is getting worn away.

The water's rubbing it away,

but the hard rock underneath is not being worn away at all.

SHE GASPS

Look! Now lots more soft rock is getting worn away,

we can see the hard rock sticking out and making an edge.

And that edge makes a waterfall!

ALL: Waterfall!

Yay! We've made our own waterfall!

SHE LAUGHS

And...

this is exactly how a waterfall works.

-BUD:

-Wow, so the soft rock gets worn away easier than the harder rock.

BELLE: The harder rocks end up

sticking out and making a waterfall.

That's right, Neurons.

# Nina and the Neurons! #

So, your question was, "How are waterfalls made?"

I think we've answered it.

BUD: 'Some rivers have waterfalls where the bottom of the river

'forms a step and water falls over the edge.'

-OLLIE:

-'Soft rock is easier to wear away than harder rock.'

-FELIX:

-'As the river runs over the rock, it wears away the softer rock

-'quicker than the hard rock.

-LUKE: 'And that makes an overhang.'

-BELLE:

-'Waterfalls can be really loud!

'I love all the splashing noises!'

So, I hope that's answered your question.

BOTH: Thanks, Nina. Bye!

You're welcome! Bye!

If you want to know more about the science that's 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

-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

-O-oh o-oh

-# We're Earth explorers

-O-oh o-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 above the clouds, keep exploring our exciting world.

See you again soon. Bye.

ALL: Bye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd