Cable Cars 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! #

# Doo-doo-doo, doo-doo. #

Oh, hello there. I'm just hanging my washing on the washing line to dry.

Time for the next bit of washing.

ALARM SOUNDS

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

-Hi, Nina.

-Hi, guys.

We've got a question for you.

-How do cable cars work?

-That's a great questions.

How do cable cars work? A cable car is a very unusual sort of car.

It doesn't have any wheels and it moves high above our heads.

But how does it work?

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

-ALL: 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 do cable cars work?

Now, which Neuron do you think will be most useful in helping us

find the answer?

-Me!

-Me!

-Me!

-Me!

-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!

-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 how do cable cars work,

and because cable cars are something that we can see

as they move above us, Luke is going to be helping us.

But stand by, Neurons,

I have a feeling I may be needing help from all of you.

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

Liam likes fishing.

Kieran likes playing football.

-Lewis loves drawing.

-I drew a cable car on holiday.

They go really high up.

They've got people inside.

So, today, for one day only,

Liam, Kieran and Lewis become the Engineers!

-Hi, guys.

-ALL: Hi, Nina.

Welcome to my workshop and thanks for your great question,

how do cable cars work?

To find out the answer, let's start by using our senses.

-ALL:

-Woo-woo, a senses experiment! We're ready, Nina.

Let's have a look at a cable car in action.

Cable cars move through the sky and they're joined on to something

called a cable, which is a very strong rope made out of metal.

This is what a cable looks like.

Now, have a feel of it, boys. Do you think you could bend or break it?

-No.

-That's right. The cable has to be very, very strong

so it can hold all the cars and all those people up in the air.

And what else did you notice about the cable car?

-Where were they going?

-Uphill.

-That's right.

They can take people uphill.

Sometimes hills are too steep or too rocky for cars to drive up,

so engineers invented cable cars to take people up and down.

Come with me and I'll show you how they work.

This is a model of a cable car and the cars are attached to the cable,

and when the cable moves, the cars move with it.

These wheels are very important, and I'll show you what they do.

Can I ask you to hold this piece of string? You hold a bit.

You hold a bit for me, my dear, and you as well. That's lovely.

Thank you, Lewis.

OK, now we need to keep it nice and tight so it's not floppy.

Let's see what happens if we move the cable.

SHE LAUGHS

The cable car is swinging around.

Let's put it down.

So when we move the cables without these wheels,

it's really quite bumpy,

and that wouldn't be very nice for the people in the cable cars.

See how smooth the wheels make it? These wheels are called pulleys.

A pull me? I like the sound of that!

Almost, Bud. It's a pulley.

It's a special wheel that helps move a cable or rope.

A real cable car has a pulley at both ends just like our model does,

and the pulleys keep turning, which keeps the cable moving.

Now, I'm turning the handle which is moving the pulleys at the moment,

but in a real cable car, a big motor turns the pulleys.

Those pulleys look way cool. I can see them spinning.

That's right, Luke. Pulleys are used for all sorts of things.

They move washing on a washing line. Boats use them to lift their sails.

Cranes use them to lift heavy things. They are very, very useful.

But how does the cable car stay up in the air?

I know a fun place where we can take a ride and see for ourselves.

Oh, goody. I love this bit. I wonder where Nina is taking us?

Maybe it's a play park? She said we could go on a ride.

-I love rides!

-Maybe it's a horse ride.

Looks like we've arrived, Neurons.

You wanted to know how does a cable car work, and so far we've found out

that cable cars move through the air

because they're joined to strong metal ropes called cables.

At each end of the cable, there's something called a pulley,

which helps to keep the cable moving smoothly.

But how do cable cars stay up in the air?

This is a cable car crossing the River Thames.

Look at those cars in the sky. I can't believe my eyes!

This cable car is a bit different. It doesn't go up mountains.

Engineers built it to make it easy for people to cross the Thames.

These big towers hold the cables up high, and keep them nice and tight,

just like we kept the string nice and tight for our little cable car

in the workshop.

The cables have to be very, very high

to make sure that the cars don't bump into anything.

They look seriously high, Nina.

-Can you see the big wheel?

-Yes.

That's the pulley that helps to move the cable,

and it's just like the ones we saw in the workshop,

but it's much bigger

and it has to be that big so it can hold up the really strong cable.

This pulley is turned by a big motor

that keeps the cable moving and moves the cable cars along.

-It's clever, isn't it?

-Yes, really clever.

-Shall we have a ride in a cable car?

-ALL: Yes!

-Let's go!

Yippee! I can't wait!

There's the pulley.

A speedboat and a tram!

-We're getting higher and higher.

-It feels like we're flying!

Wa-hoo! I love going on rides. This is fabby!

And we've crossed the river too.

That is way cool.

It was, wasn't it?

There's something else unusual about cable cars.

Did you notice, when we wanted to get off, our cable car slowed down,

-but the others further along the cable didn't?

-Yes, Nina.

All the cars are joined to the same cable,

but if cars slowed down or stopped when someone wanted to get off,

it would be a very slow journey,

so engineers had to find a way to make sure only a few cars

slowed down to let people off and the rest could keep moving.

So look at how the cars are joined on to the cable.

We can see it here too.

Look, it opens and closes.

It's a large grip that joins the car on to its cable

and it's this grip that makes sure only one car slows down at a time.

Let's go back to the workshop and I'll show you how.

A real cable car has big grips

just like the one we saw on our cable car journey.

This grip holds the cable car on to the cable.

Lots of things have grips in them, like clothes pegs.

We use pegs to hold washing on to our washing lines.

Here's our model cable car from earlier.

We're using these as grips.

Watch this.

As the cable car reaches the end, it has to slow down

to let the people off, so I'm going to open the grip.

Now watch what happens.

-What's happening?

-It stopped.

-That's right.

The cable is still moving, but the car stopped,

because it's not gripping on to the cable any more.

But what happens if I close the grip again?

-What's happening?

-It's moving.

Engineering is really clever.

That's right.

When the grips are closed, the cars are holding on to the cable

so they get pulled along by it, but when the grips are open,

the cars stop, because they're not being pulled by the cable any more,

and that's when people can get on and off.

Ooh, all the other cars are still joined to the cable,

so they're still pulled along and don't stop.

So your question was, how do cable cars work?

And I think we've answered it.

We discovered that engineers invented cable cars to help people

get up big hills and mountains or across rivers.

Cable cars move through the air,

because they're joined to a strong metal rope called a cable.

At each end of the cable, there's a big pulley that's turned by a motor

which keeps the cable moving.

Cable cars are joined to the cable using grips that open and close.

They grab on to move or they open their grips to slow down,

and that's when people can get on or off.

So I hope that's answered your question.

ALL: Thanks, Nina. Bye.

You're welcome. Bye.

If you want to know more about the science and engineering

that's all around us, go to 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! #

I really enjoyed myself today,

seeing how cable cars move using pulleys.

It's been a marvellous day. Crossing the river by going up in the sky

was so clever, and there was no chance of getting wet feet.

Ah, it's been such a great day, man,

seeing how the cars hold on to the cable.

And remember, engineers helped to build the world around us.

They make things work and use science to solve problems.

See you again soon. Bye!

ALL: Bye!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd