Amphitheatres 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! #

Testing, testing, one, two...

Oh, hello there!

I'm just trying to see if I can make my voice sound louder.

Can you hear me?!

Hee-hee!

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.

What is an amphitheatre?

Oh, that's a great question!

What is an amphitheatre?

Amphitheatres are places where people go to see

a play or a performance.

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 what is an amphitheatre?

Which Neuron will be most useful in helping us find the answer?

It's Belle!

CHEERING

ALL: Go, Belle! Go, Belle! Go, Belle!

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

Go, Belle!

Brilliant! I'm all ears, Nina!

Today's question is what is an amphitheatre?

Because amphitheatres help sound travel,

Belle will be helping us today.

But 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.

Arnav loves playing video games.

Ayomide likes playing fashion games.

But they both want to know what is an amphitheatre?

So today, for one day only, Arnav and Ayomide

become the experimenters!

-Hi, guys!

-BOTH: Hi, Nina!

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

what is an amphitheatre?

Well, let's start by looking at some.

An amphitheatre is a type of theatre where shows and plays are performed.

Some of them are oval-shaped, some are completely round

and some are semicircles.

The stage is at the front and the audience sit on the steps.

Oh, how does sound get all of the way to the people at the back, Nina?

That's a great question, Belle!

Well, let's do an experiment to find out how sound travels.

ALL: Whoop-whoop! An experiment!

We're ready, Nina!

We are going to pretend that, Ayomide, you are on stage singing

and, Arnav, you are in the audience trying to hear the singing.

Now, when you make a sound it needs to go through the air to Arnav

so that he can hear it.

We're also going to pretend that the spring here is

the air in between you.

When you make a sound it pushes the air.

So, Ayomide, can I ask you to push the spring

and we'll see what happens?

-BUD:

-Wow! Look, it's wibbly-wobbly!

Great! You made a wave that moved forwards, through the spring,

all the way to Arnav.

When you push the springs, the first loops push the ones next to it

and that happened all the way along until it reached Arnav.

Even though you can't see it, sound moves through the air in waves too.

So when you make a sound, the sound from your voice pushes the air,

making it wobble. That air wobbles the air next to it,

until, finally, it wobbles the air next to Arnav's ears,

so he can hear the sound.

Now, you guys are quite close together.

So let's see what happens if we get you to move further apart.

Arnav, can you move over there for me?

Now, you've moved further apart.

There is more air between you, so you've got a longer spring.

Ayomide, could you push the spring for me again,

exactly the same as you did before?

And we'll see if the wave reaches Arnav.

That's good.

Oh, the waves aren't going all the way along.

-So, Arnav, did the wave get to you this time?

-No.

You're right! And that's because you're further apart.

The same thing happens with sound.

The further away you are from the person making the sound,

the further the sound waves have to travel.

If you're too far away, the sound wave won't reach you

and you won't hear the sound.

People at the back of the amphitheatre are a long way away

from the stage but they can still hear and that's

because amphitheatres do something clever to make it easier

for sound waves to travel much further.

I think we need to go somewhere far away to find out more.

Hmm, where do you think we're going today?

Nina said we were going somewhere far away.

Maybe we're going to the moon!

I think the moon's a bit too far away, Bud.

Well, we're not too far away now. In fact, we're here!

So we've come far away from the workshop to this

amazing amphitheatre in Lyon, in France.

This amphitheatre was built a long, long time ago.

So this is the stage and all those steps are where the audience

would sit to listen to the performance.

I hope it's not too noisy.

In the past, they didn't have microphones

to make the singers on stage sound louder.

But it's a long way from the stage up to the back of the audience.

How did the people at the back hear? Let's do an experiment!

We are going to pretend to be performers singing on the stage.

So let's make some noise!

ALL: La-la-la-la-la-la!

ALL: La-la-la-la-la-la-la!

Loo-loo!

Hey, fabulous performance, experimenters!

Now, let's see what happens when we do the same thing again

but this time holding a plastic board in front of our mouths.

There you go, Arnav. Here we go!

ALL: La-la-la-la-la-la-la!

That sounds different this time.

What did you notice, experimenters?

It sounds different.

Yes, and that's because the sound we made hit the hard board

and bounced off. You see, sound bounces off hard things.

So have a look at the amphitheatre steps.

-What do you think they're made of?

-Stone.

That's right! And is stone hard or soft?

-Hard.

-Yes!

Amphitheatres are made of hard stone so that

sound bounces off them.

So the sound from the singer on stage hits the hard stone and keeps

bouncing all the way around the amphitheatre

-so everyone inside can hear it.

-Sound bounces off hard things.

Amphitheatres are made of hard stone,

so the sound bounces all around and everyone can hear it.

But it's not just the performers on stage that make a noise,

the audience sometimes make a noise too.

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

Now, there are different types of sound.

There are high-pitched sounds.

And there are low-pitched sounds.

-High-pitched!

-Low-pitched.

Do you think the singer on the stage would mostly be using...

-HIGH PITCH:

-..high-pitched sounds...

-LOW PITCH:

-..or low-pitched sounds?

-High-pitched!

-That's right. And what do you think about the audience?

Low-pitched or high-pitched?

Oh, yes, very good show. Huh-huh-huh.

-Low-pitched.

-That's right!

We want to hear the high-pitched sounds from the singer

but we don't want to hear the low-pitched sounds

from the audience. Let's play a game to show us

how an amphitheatre does this.

You guys are going to be the high-pitched sound waves from

the singer on stage and you'll do something like this!

La-la-la-la-la!

-Let me hear you.

-BOTH: La-la-la-la-la!

I'm going to be the low-pitched sounds from the audience.

So I'll sound like this, oh, mumble, mumble. Ho-ho.

Oh, pass me a sweet. Hee-hee!

Our ear is someone sitting at the back of the audience

trying to hear the singer.

I'd like you guys to run around the amphitheatre,

like the high-pitched sounds bouncing off the hard stone.

I'll do what the low-pitched audience sounds do.

OK? Let's go!

-Are you ready?!

-BOTH: Yes!

Three, two, one - go!

BOTH: La-la-la-la!

(Mumble, mumble, mumble.)

BOTH: La-la-la-la-la-la!

SHE MUMBLES

Those high-pitched sounds are bouncing all round the amphitheatre.

Everyone will be able to hear them.

Nina's low-pitched sounds aren't bouncing anywhere,

they're staying still, no-one will hear them.

Stop there, everyone, you've reached the ear at the back! Well done!

Your high-pitched sounds bounced all around the amphitheatre.

-But what about the low-pitched sounds?

-You stayed still.

That's right!

The bumpy shape of the steps in the amphitheatre stops the

low-pitched sounds from bouncing around.

It's only high-pitched sounds that can bounce about.

It's easier for everyone in the audience to hear

the high-pitched sounds from the singer,

even if you're sitting at the back.

# Nina and the Neurons. #

Your question was what is an amphitheatre?

and I think we've answered it.

Amphitheatres help sound go from the stage, to the

people at the back of the audience.

Sound travels through the air as a wave.

The hard stone in an amphitheatre helps the sound bounce around.

The low-pitched sounds from the audience don't travel...

But the high-pitched sounds do!

So everyone can hear the singer! Laaaa!

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 up, 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 small, wide or tall, we can all get building.

See you again soon. Bye!

-ALL: Bye!

-Get building!