Living Underwater Nina and the Neurons

# 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! #

Mmm! Mmm!

Ha-ha-ha! Hello, there!

I was just pretending to be a fish, you know, swimming around underwater.

Ha-ha! BEEP

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

-Hi, Nina.

-Hi.

-We've got a question for you.

-Could we live in an underwater house?

Oh, that's a great question. Could we live in an underwater house?

We usually live above the ground. Could we live underwater?

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

-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, it's time to get to work.

ALL: Neurons at the ready, Nina.

Today's question is could we live in an underwater house.

Which Neuron do you think would be most useful in helping us

find the answer? It's ALL Neurons!

ALL: Go, Neurons. Go, Neurons. Go, Neurons. Go, Neurons. Go, Neurons.

Go, Neurons. Go, Neurons.

Go, Neurons. Hip, hop, happy to help, NIna.

Today's question is could we live in an underwater house?

Because we need all our senses to live underwater,

all the Neurons will help us today.

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

Sandy loves playing football. Lila loves playing tig with her friends.

But they both wanted to know, could we live in an underwater house?

So, today, for one day only, Sandy and Lila become the experimenters.

-Hi, guys.

-Hi, Nina.

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

could you live in an underwater house?

Living underwater with all the beautiful fish to look at.

That would be so cool.

And I've got a drawing here of what an underwater house might look like.

Wow! That is beautiful!

Building an underwater house is much more difficult than building

a house on land, so let's do an experiment to find out more.

-ALL:

-Woo-whoo! An experiment! We're ready, Nina.

So here we have our model house. It's got a door and some windows.

So let's see what happens if I pour some water over it,

like it's raining.

Hee-hee-hee, hee-hee!

-So do you think any water got inside?

-No, Nina.

Well, let me have a check. You're right. It's dry.

So our model house kept the rain out, cos it's made of plastic and plastic

is waterproof and real houses are waterproof too, to keep the rain out.

But I wonder what would happen

if we were to put the whole house underwater?

Let's give it a try.

OK, Sandy. I'm going to give you this little house.

Can you pop it under the water for me? That's it.

Push it down. Down, down and hold it.

That's great. So lift it out.

And oh! Look at all the water coming out.

-So did any water get inside this time?

-Yes.

You can say that again! It got absolutely soaked.

So when we put the model house underwater,

it had water all around it.

So it got much wetter than when it rained.

And the water got in through tiny gaps in the windows, and the doors.

A real underwater house would be surrounded by water all the time,

so as well as making it waterproof, we'd have to make it watertight,

so no water could come in any gaps at all.

Oh! So watertight means no water could get in at all, Nina?

Yes, Ollie.

I've got another model house here.

Lila, I'd like you to put this underwater for me. There you go.

Push it down, down, down, down.

Pull it out. Hold it above. Oh!

-Now, did any water get inside this house?

-No.

No, and that's because it's watertight.

Now, it's really difficult to make a house watertight.

You have to seal all the windows shut and you can't have normal doors.

And if we want to build a house in deep water,

there is another problem to solve.

So we need to go somewhere with lots of deep water to find out more.

Off we go for another adventure.

Nina said we're going somewhere with deep water.

Maybe we're going swimming!

Hey, I bet we're going to the beach, which means picnics,

and sandcastles and picnics!

Oh, calm down, little Bud!

Well, we'll find out now! We're here!

So here we are at an aquarium.

The people who build aquariums have some of the same problems

that we would have if we were building an underwater house.

Hey, we're under the water. Just like in an underwater house.

Look at those big sharks, looking for something to eat.

Chomp, chomp, chomp!

I'm glad they're on the other side of that plastic.

Don't worry. The plastic that this tunnel is made from is extra thick

and incredibly strong and it doesn't just protect us from sharks.

So let's do an experiment to find out more.

OK, guys, you have two buckets in front of you, full of water.

Now I'd like you to try and lift the buckets. On you go.

-Oh, OK and pop them down. How did they feel?

-Heavy, Nina.

Yes, and the buckets felt heavy because they are full of water.

Now you might not think it but water is actually really heavy

so if a single bucket of water feels heavy,

-how heavy do you think this water would be?

-Really, really heavy.

Yeah. You're absolutely right

so this plastic tunnel has to be extremely strong

to hold up the weight of all this water that's pressing down from above

and pressing in from the sides

and this pressing force is called pressure.

One, two, three, pressure!

We are going need some help for this experiment and we need some

people that are used to being in deep water, so say hello to our divers.

So, our diver friends have a bottle just like this, made from thin

plastic and we're going to imagine that this is an underwater house. OK?

So have a look.

Now what does the bottle look like at the top of the tank?

Just the same.

That's right. Now let's see what happens if we dive a bit deeper.

So we are much deeper now. What's happening?

The bottle's getting squashed.

Yes. The pressure of the water is squashing the bottle.

You see, the deeper down you go, the more water is on top of you.

More water means more weight and more weight means more pressure.

And that's what's squashing the bottle.

Oh, dear. So would an underwater house get squashed like that, Nina?

Not if the walls were strong enough, Felix, like the plastic is here.

You see, in really deep water, and down at the bottom of the sea,

the walls would have to be incredibly strong. Thank you!

There's one other problem we need to solve

if we wanted to live underwater, so come with me.

So, your question was, could we live in an underwater house.

And so far, we've discovered that an underwater house would need to

have really strong walls to stop it getting

squashed from the pressure of the water.

But there is one other problem we would need to solve.

Underwater houses would need something in them

that we couldn't see but needed to breathe.

-Can you think what that might be?

-Air.

-You're right.

Now air is all around us but we can't see it,

but if you flap your hand like this, you can feel it.

Ah, yes. I can feel the fresh air!

But if your house is underwater, how can you get fresh air in?

-What do you think?

-Through the tube.

-That's a great idea.

Let's do one final experiment to find how that might work.

OK, Lila, I would like you to go into our fantastic tent. On you go.

Now, we are going to pretend that Lila is in an underwater house

and we're above the water

and we're going to try to get some fresh air to Lila through this tube.

Now, Lila, can you feel any fresh air coming through

-the tube at the moment?

-No, Nina.

That's because it's a long way for the fresh air to travel

through the tube to the underwater house. It's going to need some help.

Sandy, can you think of any way we could get fresh air

-from above the water down into the house?

-Pump it.

What a great idea. Yes, we can pump the air to push it through the tube

and we can use this pump. Woo-hoo!

Okey doke, go for it.

-So can you feel any fresh air, Lila?

-Yeah.

Ha-ha-ha-ha! It's working.

-Mmm! Lovely fresh air.

-To breathe in an underwater house,

we would need to be able to pump fresh air from above the water

down a tube. And we've done it. Well done, experimenters.

# Nina and the Neurons. #

So, your question was - could we live in an underwater house?

And I think we've answered it.

An underwater house needs to be waterproof,

and watertight, to stop the water getting in.

And the walls need to be really strong to hold

the weight of the water pressing on it.

Especially in very deep water, where there is more water pressure.

Fresh air also needs to be pumped from above, so we can breathe.

So that's how we could live in underwater houses. Yes!

Building an underwater house would be difficult, but it is possible.

-So, I hope that answered your question.

-Thanks, Nina. Bye.

You're welcome. Bye!

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

go to the Nina section under the CBeebies website. Have fun.

# Superstructures

# Superstructures

# Superstructures, superstructures superstructures, superstructures

# 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

# Windy, whirly-whooshy too

# All around. #

Look over here!

# Build it, stack it

# Pile it up

# Come on, let's get 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

# Underground and high up, too. #

Look around!

Over here!

# Build it, stack it, pile it up

# Come on, let's get building

# Race it, hold it, make it stick

# Come on, let's get building

# Come on, let's get building! #

And remember, there are superstructures everywhere,

whether they are big or small, wide or tall, we can all get building.

See you soon. Bye!

# Nina and the Neurons. #

Get building!