Canal Locks 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

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

# Oh yeah! #

Oh, hello. I am looking forward to my nice cool drink.

I wonder what will happen to my ice cube boat when I add the water.

Ooooh... It's floating and lifting up!

All that pouring is thirsty work.

Oh, look, the boat has moved down again.

Beep!

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

-BOTH: Hi, Nina.

-Hi, guys.

We've got a question for you. How do boats get uphill?

That's a great question. How do boats get uphill?

Well, it takes some very clever engineering.

Come down to my workshop to investigate.

BOTH: 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 do boats get uphill?

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 Felix!

ALL: Go Felix, go Felix, go Felix, go Felix!

Go Felix, go Felix, go Felix!

Marvellous! A little touch can mean so much, Nina.

Today was my question is, how do boats get uphill?

Since boats touch the water when they float,

Felix, our touch Neuron, will be helping us.

Stand by, Neurons, I may need help from all of you.

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

Rudy loves digging in the garden. Fraser's favourite colour is blue.

-Cars can drive uphill.

-I can jump uphill!

Today, Fraser and Rudy become the engineers!

-Hi, Rudy. Hi, Fraser.

-BOTH: Hi, Nina.

Welcome to my workshop. Thanks for your great question.

How do boats get uphill?

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

NEURONS: Whoo-hoo, a senses experiment!

We're ready, Nina.

Boats can travel on rivers,

but sometimes we want boats to travel where there isn't a river,

and that is why engineers invented canals.

Here is a picture of a canal.

Here is a picture of a river.

What is the difference between the canal and the river?

Spot the difference, sounds like a job for me, Nina.

-The canal is straight, but the river wiggles.

-Well spotted!

Rivers make their own way down over

the hills and over the land in a wiggly line.

Because engineers made canals, they are much straighter than rivers.

Canals are a great way to carry people and things

where they need to go.

Let's have a look at our own canal over here.

We will pretend that this long,

straight piece of plastic is a mini canal.

Let's have a play with our canal!

That looks fun! Splish-splosh!

Well done, engineers, that was great fun.

A canal is like a road but for boats.

Just like a road, canals sometimes need to go uphill.

And here I have a hill.

Let's see what happens if we lift our canal uphill.

-Oh! What happened?

-All the water went out.

Can you try to float the boat up the hill along the water?

Oooooh...

Oh! What's the problem?

-There is no water.

-You are absolutely right.

The problem is, when we tilt a canal uphill,

all the water flows away and the boat can't move without any water.

When engineers built canals,

they had to think of a way to solve this problem.

Let's go to a place where there's lots of things called canal locks

to find out more.

I wonder where Nina is taking us.

Nina said we were going to see lots of locks.

If there are lots of locks, there must be lots of doors.

We will soon find out, Neurons. Here we are.

OK, engineers, you asked how boats get uphill.

I've brought you here to help answer the question. This is a canal.

Can you see what is over there?

The canal is going uphill.

There are lots of steps with water in them.

It looks like a big watery staircase.

Those watery steps are called locks.

I thought locks were for keeping doors shut, Nina.

Good thinking, Belle. Canal locks have giant doors.

We open them to let the water through and we close them

to keep the water in.

The best way to see how locks work is on a boat.

Are you ready for a boat trip, engineers?

BOTH: Yeah!

-I can get there myself.

-Can you?

Whew! What a strange feeling. The water is moving below us.

That's right, Felix. The boat is floating in the water.

We need to be careful and hold on tight.

Oh, dear, how are we going to get through those gates?

That is the lock keeper.

Thank you, lock keeper! Thank you!

I'm glad we have made it through this first watery step, engineers.

How are we going to get this boat uphill?

Closing the gates behind us stops the water from running downhill.

Now the lock keeper is going around the gates in front of us.

Hold on tight, he is opening the bottom of the gates to let

the water through from the step above.

Can you feel it?

We're lifting up!

Listen to the water, bubbling and splashing!

I just hope we don't get wet.

Don't worry, Felix, we're stopped.

See? We are at the same height as the water front of us now.

-Yeah!

-We have moved up the hill one step.

-We have more steps to climb. Are you ready, engineers?

-Yeah!

Hold on tight, Neurons, I can feel the boat rising.

The gate is opening again.

The last gate has opened and we are ready to go.

-Look how high up we have moved!

-Just look at that!

I think it is time to go back on dry land.

That was brilliant!

That was great fun! And we saw lots of exciting things.

There were important things we couldn't see.

Let me show you.

This is where the water came through.

It happened under the water so we couldn't see it.

The gates let the water through and the gates can stop the water.

Let's go back to my workshop to see how it works.

Canal locks are how engineers change the water heights

in the canal so the boats can move uphill step by step.

To see exactly how it works, we have got a model of the canal locks.

You can see the watery steps just like in a canal.

Let's see if we can get this little boat uphill.

Oh, but there is a gate in the way.

-What do we need to do?

-Open the gate.

Yes, we need to open the gate.

In a real canal, the bottom of the gate opens under the water

so the water doesn't rush in too quickly.

We can do the same here by unplugging the gate like this.

Whoo! Whoo-hoo!

Brilliant, and now open the gate.

And, Rudy, can you push the boot through?

Excellent!

So our boat is in the first lock, but we want it to go up a step.

What would happen if I open the gate above it?

The water would run away.

That's right, the water would all rush away.

We need to keep the water in the lock by closing the gate behind us.

Slip it in there.

Now we need some water to float the boat up a step,

so we are going to let it in slowly again.

Hey, the boat is lifting up!

And there is only one more thing we need to do to

-to continue on our journey.

-Open the gate?

And, Fraser, do you want to push our boat through?

-Wheee! Yippee!

-Yay! Well done, engineers.

So your question was, how do boats get uphill?

I think we have answered it.

We discovered that just like a road,

canals sometimes need to go uphill.

But if you tilt a canal uphill, all the water rushes away.

Engineers solved this problem by keeping the water

in steps called locks.

The boat moves up through each lock one step at a time and,

when the water is the same level,

the boat moves forward, so it moves up the steps.

I hope that has answered your question.

BOTH: Thanks, Nina. Bye.

You're welcome. Bye.

If you want to know more about the science and engineering

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! #

It has been a marvellous day.

I enjoyed feeling the boat lifting up with the water.

I really enjoyed myself today.

A great day on the canal, so much to see and smell.

Oh, I have had a brilliant day,

hearing all that water splashing through the lock gates.

Remember, engineers helped to build the world around us.

They make things work and use science to solve problems.

See you again soon. Bye!

Neurons: Bye!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd