Piers 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 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! #

Mm-hm. Mm-hm. Er...

Ha-ha!

Oh, hello there. I'm just doing a little experiment

to see how hard I need to tap this bowl to make waves.

Oh! Ho-ho-ho! It's like waves in the sea!

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.

How are piers built?

That's a great question!

How are piers built?

Now, we sometimes see a pier at the seaside

but how do they stay up in the sea?

Why not 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 how are piers built?

Now, which Neuron do you think will be most useful

in helping us find the answer?

It's Ollie!

CHEERING

ALL: Go, Ollie! Go, Ollie! Go, Ollie!

ALL: Go, Ollie! Go, Ollie! Go, Ollie! Go, Ollie!

Sniff, sniff. Standing by to smell and tell, Nina.

Today's question is how are piers built?

Because people breathe in the fresh air at the seaside,

Ollie will be helping us today.

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

Right, I need to get the workshop ready

before the experimenters arrive.

Syd loves dinosaurs.

Star likes arts and crafts.

But they both want to know, how are piers built?

So today, for one day only, Syd and Star become

the experimenters!

-Hi, guys.

-BOTH: Hi, Nina!

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

how are piers built?

First, let's have a look at a photo of a pier.

A pier is a walkway that stretches from the beach out into the sea.

The first piers were built a long time ago to help people

get into boats that were too big to come to the beach.

Sniff! Oh, there's nothing like the smell of the salty sea air.

And the fish and chips, yummy!

Why are there gaps underneath, Nina?

That's a great question.

Hmm. Well, yes, the pier isn't a solid wall

that stretches out into the sea, it's got lots of gaps underneath it.

Let's do an experiment to find out why.

ALL: Whoop-whoop! An experiment!

ALL: We're ready, Nina!

So, here we have two model piers in our pretend sea.

Now, this one is like a solid wall

all the way round that's got no gaps in it.

This one has lots and lots of gaps in it,

like the pier that we looked at.

It's held up by pillars underneath.

I think there's something missing from our pretend sea.

I think it's just a bit too still.

-What do we need?

-BOTH: Waves.

Yes, we do need some waves.

ALL: Hello, Nina! Nina!

ALL: Yoo-hoo! Coo-ee!

Not those types of waves, Neurons! Waves in the sea.

And we are going to make our very own.

So, Star, I'd like you to move this paddle

back and forth to make some waves.

Sydney, I need you to watch the waves

and see what happens when they hit the piers.

-OK, are you ready?

-BOTH: Yes!

-Let's make some waves!

Oh, that's good!

Come on, keep going, Star. Faster, faster, faster!

Ho-ho-ho! Listen to all that splishing and splashing!

OK, I think that's enough wave making.

So what happened when the waves hit the pier with no gaps in it?

They splashed up.

Oh, interesting.

Star, what happened

when the waves hit this pier with lots of gaps in it?

They went underneath.

Yes! Because this pier doesn't have any gaps in it,

the waves hit it and pushed against it, which could break it.

But with this pier, with the gaps, the waves can go underneath,

so they don't push against it as much and it won't break.

How does the pier stay up in the sea, Nina?

That's a great question!

Building in the sea is really difficult.

So I think we need to go for a little walk to find out.

Off we go for another adventure.

I wonder where Nina's going for a walk.

Maybe it's a gentle stroll through the countryside.

Or a walk through a noisy city street, yeah!

Well, you can stop guessing now, everyone, we're here!

So here we are at Brighton Palace Pier.

We want to know how a pier stays up in the sea.

-Now, can you see those pillars?

-BOTH: Yes!

Yeah, well, those pillars are really important.

The pillars are holding up the pier as well as the buildings

and the people on it.

The pillars are pushed really deep down into the ground,

down to the sand and into the rock or hard soil beneath

so they can't move.

Let's do an experiment to find out more.

Now, we're going to pretend

that these poles are pillars under the pier, OK?

We're also going to pretend

that these trays are the ground under the sea.

We've got the sand on top and we've got the hard clay at the bottom

and that's like the rock deep down under the seabed.

Now, Star, your pillar is a straight pole and we're going to try

and push it down through the sand into the rock at the bottom.

So here we go.

Oh, you're doing really well!

That looks like hard work.

-Was it difficult?

-Yes!

Yeah. Pushing pillars into the ground is really difficult.

The sand underneath gets squashed hard

and it stops the pillar from going down.

Did you think the pillar got deep enough

-to reach the rock at the bottom?

-No, Nina.

-I think you're right.

People building real piers had the same problem.

They had to come up with a clever way

of getting the pillars deep down into the ground.

Syd, your pillar is a different shape.

It's got a spiral on the bottom, which is called a screw.

We're going to try and push this deep down into the ground

but this time, instead of pushing straight down,

we're going to turn it around as we push it.

OK? Why don't you give it a go.

Oh, that's it. You're doing really well.

I think it's nearly at the bottom.

-Really? Do you think it's going into the clay, the hard clay?

-Yeah.

-Now, was that easy or hard?

-Easy.

Of course, it was much easier with a screw shape

at the bottom of the pillar.

So when you turned it round, the screw pushed the sand

out of the way, so that it was much easier to push it down.

It went deep enough to reach the rock at the bottom.

Oh-ho-ho! Good job.

The pier pillar is being held really tightly

and the screw at the end is also helping to hold it into the rock.

I've seen this really cool old pier that's not used any more

and to find out why, I think we need to do one final experiment.

Now we want to find out what happened to that old pier.

Now, do you know what the pillars are made from?

Metal!

What colour is the metal on the old pier?

Brown!

That's right, it's orangey brown

and that's because the metal on the old pier has gone rusty.

Oh! A new word - rusty.

Now, you see, some metals go rusty

and if they go really rusty, the top bits can flake off.

That makes the metal thinner and it isn't as strong.

That's why the old pier isn't used any more.

Why did it go rusty?

That's a great question. Let's do another experiment to find out.

So these are all made from metal.

Let's have a closer look

to see if there's any rust on these pieces of metal.

It looks nice and shiny new to me, Nina.

-No rust, Nina.

-Great.

Now, I'm going to put my metal into this jar with air in it

and we're going to leave it and see what happens.

But, the metal pillars under the pier are in the sea,

so I think we need to see what happens

when we leave metal in salty water, like the sea.

Now, Syd, you have some salty water there in front of you,

so can you pop your metal in for me, please.

Lovely, and close it up.

Now, we've got one piece of metal left over there with you, Star.

It looks a bit different, doesn't it, because it's painted.

Now, Star, can you pop your painted metal

into the salt water for me, please.

And close it up for me.

Now, I think we need to leave these to SEE what happens. Ha-ha!

I think it's time to have a look at our metal.

Now, mine's still silvery and shiny.

So the air will rust this metal eventually

but there's no rust on it yet.

Now, how about yours, Syd?

You've some metal and salty water there. So what's happened?

-The water's gone dirty.

-Yes! So that's the rust

that's come off the metal. It's starting to fall apart.

Salty water make some metals go rusty really quickly.

Now, what about yours, Star?

You've got painted metal in salt water there.

-So has it gone rusty?

-No.

-That's right.

Even though the painted metal was in the salt water,

just like Syd's was, it hasn't gone rusty.

That's because the paint keeps the salt water and the air

away from the metal. The paint protected the metal.

So if you paint the metal on piers, will it stop it going rusty, Nina?

Exactly, Ollie!

# Nina and the Neurons. #

So, your question was, how are piers built?

I think we've answered it.

Piers have gaps underneath them to let waves go through.

The metal pillars under the pier hold it up.

They are pushed deep into the ground to stop them moving.

Lots of piers are made with screw pillars

that go into the sand and rock below the sea.

Some metals go rusty in the salty sea and air,

so piers are painted to protect them.

So they stay strong and we can have fun on them, yeah!

-So I hope that's answered your question.

-BOTH: Thanks, Nina. Bye!

You're welcome. Bye!

# Super structures... #

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.

# 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

# Brrrrr

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

See you again soon. Bye!

-ALL: Bye!

-Get building!