Arches Nina and the Neurons

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

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

# She makes sense of our 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, yeah!

# 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! #

Doo-doo-doo. Oh, hello there.

You just caught me making a balloon arch and I'm nearly finished.

Ah-ha, that should do it. Ta-da! Ha-ha!

Looks a bit like a rainbow, doesn't it?

BEEPING

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

BOTH: Hi, Nina!

Hi!

We've got a question for you.

Why do people use arches in buildings?

That's a great question! Why do people use arches in buildings?

I've just been making a beautiful arch out of some balloons

but I'm sure the arches in buildings are much stronger.

Come down 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, why do people use arches in buildings?

Which Neuron do you think will be most useful

in helping us find the answer?

It's Luke!

CHEERING

ALL: Go, Luke! Go, Luke! Go, Luke!

Go, Luke! Go, Luke! Go, Luke! Go, Luke!

Cool, Nina! I'll be looking out to help you.

Today's question is, why do people use arches in buildings?

And because we see beautiful arches,

Luke will be helping us today.

Stand by, Neurons, I've a feeling I may need help from all of you.

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

Phoebe likes eating chocolate cake.

Dylan loves reading books about dinosaurs.

But they both want to know, why do people use arches in buildings?

So today, for one day only, Phoebe and Dylan become the experimenters!

-Hi, guys!

-BOTH: Hi, Nina!

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

why do people use arches in buildings?

Well, let's start by having a look at an arch.

So an arch is a curved shape.

Where have you seen arches in buildings before?

-Under bridges.

-Holding up roofs.

Yes, we often see arches under bridges, like this one here,

or supporting big roofs, like this one here.

So people have been using arches to hold up buildings for a long time.

In fact, have a look over here,

these arches were built many, many years ago

and they're still standing today.

But why do people use arches in buildings?

Let's do an experiment to find out.

ALL: Whoop-whoop! An experiment!

We're ready, Nina!

OK, we're going to see how well

this flat piece of card

can hold up this heavy block.

OK, Dylan, you pop the heavy block onto

the middle of the paper for me

and we'll see what happens.

-What happened?

-It got squashed.

The flat card flopped, Nina.

That's right. The heavy block pushed down onto the flat card

but it wasn't strong enough to hold it up.

OK, well, let's change the shape of the card into an arch

and see what happens.

I'll do it like this.

Okey doke. Phoebe, if you can just pop the block onto the middle

of the arch for me again. Let's see what happens.

Oh, oh! Hee-hee-hee!

Wow! Look at that.

-So what happened this time?

-It stayed up!

-It did!

So changing the shape of the card into an arch means that it can

easily hold up the heavy block, even though it's the same

piece of card that got squashed when it was flat.

So the heavy block is pushing down on the arch

and the pushing force goes down

through the arch into the ground.

Because the ground doesn't move,

it helps the arch to hold up the block.

So arches are really strong shapes

and that's why they're used to hold up bridges and big roofs.

What are those for?

That's a great question!

Those blocks are really important

so I think we need to go somewhere

with lots of curves to find out more.

-LUKE:

-'Here we go! I can't wait to see where we'll end up today.'

Nina said it would have lots of curves.

Curves?! Like a banana!

Maybe it's a banana factory!

Ha-ha! Bananas grow on plants, Bud.

Well, I can't see any bananas here

but there are lots of curves.

So far we've discovered that arches are strong shapes that can

hold up heavy weights and we've come

somewhere where there are lots of arches.

Now, can you guess what's on top of those arches?

-A train track!

-Yes, a train track!

Actually, I think there's a train coming now.

-Shall we give them a wave?

-Yeah!

HORN HONKS

Chugga-chugga, chugga-chugga. Whoop-whoop!

Have a good journey!

Ha-ha!

So these arches need to be really strong to hold up a heavy train.

Now, you had asked what the blocks at the side of the arches are for.

So let's do an experiment to find out!

So here we have some boxes of sand

and I've made an arch in-between them.

Now, let's see if the arch can hold up this toy train.

Phoebe, try putting the train on top of the arch

and we'll see what happens.

Oh! Ho-ho-ho-ho! What happened?

The train squashed it down.

And the boxes moved.

Yes, when you put the heavy train on top of the arch,

the pushing force pushed the sides of the arch down and out

and the boxes moved and the arch didn't keep its shape.

Ha-ha! It was squashed flat like a pancake, Nina!

That's right, Bud!

Can you think of anything we could do to help the arch

keep its shape?

Make the boxes heavier.

Hey, that's a great idea because if the boxes are heavier,

they should be harder to move.

Oh, and I just happen to have some rocks here,

so let's put them in the boxes. Get some stones!

Grab a couple of stones each. Come on, Dylan. Let's go!

Now, guys, do you think the boxes are heavier?

BOTH: Yes.

Dylan, do you want to put the toy train

back on top of the arch and we'll see what happens?

Whoo! Ho-ho-ho-ho!

Excellent work, experimenters!

The heavier blocks at the side are helping the arch keep its shape

and holding up the train.

Real arches have heavy blocks at the side just like this, too.

They're called buttresses.

BUD-resses! Bud, that's me!

No! It's buttresses, Bud! Hee-hee-hee!

That's right, buttresses.

Buttresses are heavy blocks that hold the arch firmly in place

so it keeps its shape.

What can you see at the end of the bridge?

Big stones.

That is the buttress and there's one at the other end too.

Stone buttresses are really heavy so they won't move.

They help hold all the arches together and keep the bridge up.

Now, can you spot what the bridge is made from?

Stones, Nina.

Yes, stone. Now, is stone hard or soft?

-Hard.

-Yes, they are hard.

And that's important too, so let's go back to the workshop

to find out more.

Now we want to know why arches are made out of

hard materials like stone.

And we are going to find out by building our very own arch.

So we've got some building blocks here

-and what do these things remind you of?

-Buttresses.

-That's right!

Well-remembered!

So we've got our buttresses,

so we just need to build an arch between them.

So, let's get building!

Phoebe, do you want to come round here and help me with this one?

OK.

All right, Dylan, that's it. You get yourself into a comfy position.

Excellent work, Dylan.

Here we go! OK, that's it.

Well done, experimenters!

We have built our very own arch.

So let's have a closer look at the blocks.

What do you notice about their shape?

They're thinner at the bottom.

That's right, the blocks are thinner at one end and that helps them

to fit together tightly because these blocks,

they are not glued together, they stay in place

because they're pushing against each other and holding themselves up.

That's amazing, Nina!

And another incredible thing about arches is they get even stronger

when they have something to hold up.

So let me show you.

Would you like to try standing on our arch?

-BOTH: Yeah!

-Yeah? OK!

Right, Dylan, you're first. So get onto the starting block there.

Lovely! Whoa! Ho-ho-ho!

Good work, excellent!

OK, Phoebe.

Take a nice big step up into the middle. OK, and stop there.

Wow! That really is a strong arch.

The hard blocks are pushing tight together.

-Do you think the arch is holding you up?

-Yeah.

-It is!

When there's a weight on top of the arch,

it pushes all the blocks together, making it even stronger.

# Nina and the Neurons. #

So your question was, why do people use arches in buildings?

And I think we've answered it.

Arches are a really strong shape.

They can hold up heavy things like trains.

Whoop-whoop!

We build buttresses on the sides of arches to help them keep their shape.

Arches are often made of hard stone that doesn't squash easily.

The stones in an arch are thinner at one end

so they fit together tightly and make the arch even stronger.

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!

# Super structures Super structures

# Super structures Super structures

# Super structures

# Some of them are tall Some of them are wide

-# They're bumpy, lumpy, wiggly too

-Wiggly too

# Some of them are strong Some of them are small

# Like me!

# They're windy, whirly, whooshy too

# All around

# Look over here

# Build it, stack it, pile it up

# Come on, let's get building

# Building, building, building

# Race it, hold it, make it stick

# Come on, let's get building

# Come on, let's get building

# Some of them are cosy warm Some of them are chilly

# Keep us safe and hide us too

# Hide us too

# Some of them are just for fun Or help us to stay dry

# They're underground And high up too

# Look around

# Over here

# Build it, stack it, pile it up

# Come on, let's get building

# Building, building, building

# Race it, hold it, make it stick

# Come on, let's get building

# Come on, let's get building! #

And remember, there are super structures everywhere.

Whether they're big or tall, wide or small, we can all get building.

See you again soon. Bye!

# Nina and the Neurons. #

-ALL: Bye!

-Get building!