Roads 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 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

# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know

# Oh, yeah! #

Bruuuuum! Brrrrrum!

Oh, hello there, I'm just playing with my racing car!

Watch this! Nee-owww! See how fast it goes?

Oh, I might try the same on this piece of grass.

Nee-oh...

That's interesting.

The car went fast on the road, but much slower on the grass. Hmm...

BEEPING

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

BEEPING

-Hi, Nina!

-Hi, guys!

-We've got a question for you.

How are roads made?

That's a great question, how are roads made?

There's clever engineering used to make roads.

Come down and we'll investigate.

-See you soon, Nina! Bye!

-Bye!

I'll need help to answer this, 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 roads made?

Which Neuron will be most useful to help find the answer?

ALL: Me! Me! Me! Oh, 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 Luke!

CHEERING

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

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

Today's question is how are roads made?

As we see roads being made, Luke, our sight Neuron, will be helping.

But I have a feeling I may need help from all of you.

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

Isla loves dancing. Mia likes playing with friends.

I see people digging up roads.

I use roads all the time.

Today, for one day only, they are the engineers.

-Hi, Isla. Hi, Mia.

-Hi, Nina.

Welcome and thanks for your great question.

How are roads made?

To find out, let's start by using our senses!

ALL: Whoop! Woo! A senses experiment! We're ready, Nina!

I've been playing with my toy car. Cars use roads.

Roads are specially engineered for traffic.

They get busy, so it's important that we stay on the pavement

and be careful when we're crossing the road.

First, let's look at why we need roads. Look at this.

We're going to pretend these scooters are cars

and we'll see which type of road they like best.

First, we've got sand.

OK, Isla, step on to the scooter and have a go.

Oh, dear! The wheels are sinking!

-What's happening?

-The wheels are stuck.

Yes! And Mia, can you feel the sand for me?

-Hmm, how does the sand feel?

-Soft.

Yes, sand is very soft, and soft ground is easy to sink into.

It's your turn now, Mia, and we've got soil next.

If you can step on there. OK and have a go!

Oh, that's better!

Isla, can you feel the soil for me? What does it feel like?

-It's hard.

-Yes, soil is harder than sand.

But what happens when soil gets wet in the rain?

It's time to get nice and muddy! Ho-ho-ho!

Oh, ho-ho-ho!

OK, Isla, can you use your wellies to make it even muddier?

The wet soil will be soft and squidgy.

OK, Mia, have another go.

Oh, oh... Now the soil is wet, the wheels are sinking in.

OK, guys, the last one is a rocky surface.

Isla, it's your turn again, my dear.

Have a try.

Oh, now that works really well.

Can you feel the rocks for me, please, Mia? What do they feel like?

-Hard.

-Yes, rocks are very hard.

What's why the wheels aren't sinking in. But, what if the rocks get wet?

OK, can you feel the rocks for me?

-How do they feel now?

-Hard.

-They're still hard.

Isla, can you have another go?

Cars, lorries and buses are heavy.

They would just sink into the ground if we didn't have roads.

Roads give cars a hard surface to drive on.

And that's why the hard rocks were best for moving our scooter.

Most roads do contain rocks, but to find out more,

we'll have to do some "digging around".

So, come on, let's hit the road!

-Oh, I wonder where we're going today?

-Nina mentioned digging.

Perhaps it's a spot of...gardening?

Ah, soft-scented flowers and petals.

Sorry, guys, but I don't see any flowers. We've arrived!

These are roadworks. People are working here, fixing the road.

We've been given special permission to be here.

Roadworks are dangerous, so we should be careful.

Wow! A massive hole in the road!

-What can you see in there, engineers?

-Pipes, Nina.

Yes, Pipes carry lots of important things, like water.

-Can you see any rocks in the road?

-Yes, near the top.

Yes, engineers put lots of rocks on top to make the roads nice and hard.

-The rocks are all different sizes.

-Well spotted, Luke!

Engineers put bigger rocks in the ground first,

then smaller rocks on top to make a road. Come on, girls!

Inside these trays are two roads.

Here, I've put small rocks on top of big rocks,

just like the real road.

And in this tray, there are big rocks on top of small rocks.

Let's take our trucks for a road test. There you go, girls.

And we're going to try this tray first. Big rocks!

Ha-ha! How does that feel?

-Bumpy.

-Yes, big rocks are hard, so the truck's not sinking,

but it's far too bumpy for our little truck.

Let's try the other tray.

Oh, that's much flatter.

-What's happening now?

-It's easier.

Having the big rocks underneath means the small rocks

can squeeze into the spaces in between and flatten out any bumps.

The top of a road is normally black

and that black stuff is important, as we're about to find out.

Let's go, engineers!

Underneath this new road are small, hard rocks

and underneath that, are big rocks.

And then the whole thing has been covered with this black stuff

and it's called tar.

"Tar" sounds a bit like "car".

-Your car will go far on tar.

-ALL LAUGH

Tar is like black glue with small rocks in it.

When it's hot, it's smelly and sticky,

but when it cools down, it goes hard.

-What's that big machine, Nina?

-That's called a roller.

The big, heavy wheel squashes the tar to make a nice flat road.

Let's go back to our experiment.

This black glue is a bit like tar, but there's something missing.

We need tiny rocks to make this black glue like tar.

Let's mix it in.

Great, we've mixed it all in.

We're ready to copy the road engineers

by spreading this on top of our road.

Oh, there we are. This black glue is just like tar on a real road.

It sticks the rocks down firmly.

We've got one more thing to do to finish it.

-Can you guess what it is?

-Roller it, Nina.

We need to take the lumps and bumps out of the road

using a heavy roller to squash the road nice and flat.

You guys are great road engineers!

The surface is nice and flat now, so why don't you road test it.

Brilliant! There are no big bumps!

The tiny rocks that we put into the glue make the road a bit rough

and it's that roughness on a real road that helps wheels to grip.

Gripping the road is very important because it stops cars from sliding

when they go around a corner, and traffic can stay safe.

Your question was, how are roads made?

I think we've answered it.

Roads have to be hard to stop wheels sinking into them and getting stuck.

Road engineers use small rocks on top of big rocks

to help flatten the surface

and then cover it with a sticky glue called tar.

Tar contains tiny rocks to make the road feel rough

and that make wheels grip more easily.

-I hope that's answered your question.

-Thanks, Nina!

# Nina and the Neurons! #

Oh, we've had great fun finding out how roads are made!

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

visit the Nina section on the CBeebies website. Have fun!

-# Pulling!

-Pushing!

-Twisting!

-Mixing!

-# Drilling!

-Squeezing!

-Floating!

-# Go engineering!

-Go engineering!

# When you need to fly it make it, shape it

-# Go engineering!

-Go engineering!

-# When you want to build Go engineering!

-Engineering!

# When you've got to solve a problem but you don't know how to do it

-# It's time to go engineering!

-Engineering!

# When you want to lift it Stick it, pop it, bend it

-# It's time to go engineering!

-Engineering!

-# Go engineering!

-Go engineering!

-# When you need to fly it make it, shape it!

-Engineering!

-# Go engineering!

-Go engineering!

# When you want to build Go engineering

# Go engineering! #

Ah, it's been such a great day!

The scooter experiment was lots of fun!

I've had a brilliant day.

All that noisy roadworks and machinery!

I really enjoyed myself today.

Making our very own road was brilliant!

Engineers help to build the world around us.

They make things work and use science to solve problems.

-See you soon, bye!

-ALL: Bye!

# Nina and the Neurons Go engineering! #