Mobile Phones 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! #

"C U later!"

Oh, hello. I am just sending a text message to my friend.

There it goes!

Beep!

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

-BOTH: Hi, Nina.

-Hi, guys.

-We've got a question for you.

-How do mobile phones work?

That's a great question.

How do mobile phones work? It takes some very clever engineering.

Come down to my workshop and we'll 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 mobile phones work?

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 Belle!

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

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

Brilliant! I am all ears, Nina.

Today's question is - how do mobile phones work?

Because we use our ears to hear mobile phones, Belle will help us.

Standby, Neurons, I may need help from all of you.

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

Reo likes painting on rainy days. Kaitlyn loves dolls.

My mum talks to lots of people on mobile phones.

My mum can talk to people far, far away.

So today, for one day only, Reo and Kaitlyn become the engineers!

-Hi, Reo. Hi, Kaitlyn.

-BOTH: Hi, Nina.

Welcome to my workshop.

Thanks for your question - how does a mobile phone work?

To find out more, I think we need to start by using our senses.

All: Woo-hoo, a senses experiment! We're ready, Nina!

First, let's have a look at a mobile phone.

When we use a mobile phone to talk to a friend,

we type the number and then our friend's phone will ring

and when they answer it, we can talk to them. Hello.

NEURONS: Hello, Nina.

Ha, ha!

And we can do that with a telephone like this one, too.

This house phone needs a box connected to the wall

with wires to work.

It only works in or near the house

because it sends calls through the wires.

A mobile phone can make a call from almost anywhere,

and that is because mobile phones send calls through the air.

To send a phone call, we use something called a signal.

Oh, I like the sound of that word! Signal.

Signals from our mobile phones travel through the air

to other mobile phones. That's how we talk to each other.

I have got some different mobile phones.

-Do you see this bit sticking up?

-BOTH: Yes.

That's called an aerial,

and it is the most important part of the phone.

All mobile phones have one,

but sometimes they are hidden inside,

so you don't see them, like in these phones here.

And in my phone, too.

You can't see the aerial at all.

So let's find out a bit more about aerials and signals.

We can't see signals, but if we could,

they would look like this message on a line.

Let's imagine that this line is the signal

and the paper message is your friend talking to you.

We want to move the message along the line

so that aerial on the mobile phone can pick it up.

Let's give it a go.

Reo, do you want to pass the message along the signal?

Hooray! We have picked up a message from Reo. Woo-hoo!

So we can hear him talking to us.

To talk back to him, our mobile phone needs to send a signal, too.

Pop that on the bottom one and Reo will be able to pick it up

using the aerial on his mobile phone.

Go, Kaitlyn!

Here it comes, Reo.

Great! Fantastic, guys.

Aerials can send and pick up signals,

that's how we talk to each other.

We don't need an aerial to pick up what you say, Bud.

-You are loud enough!

-Ha, ha, ha!

Mobile phones send and pick up signals so that we can talk

and listen to our friends.

But some friends might be a very long way away, so engineers

realise that the signal might need some help to get there.

Let's go and get some fresh air to find out more.

Where do you think we are going today?

Nina said we're going to get some fresh air.

Can you find that in a supermarket?

No, Bud. Going to get some fresh air means going outside.

We are about to find out. Looks like we are here, everyone!

Here we are outside, in the fresh air,

and I have a challenge for you. Have a look around

and see if you can see something that looks like an aerial

that can pick up or send signals.

-Can you see anything?

-BOTH: No, Nina.

Well, have a look over there.

I think you have got that wrong, Nina, that is a lamp post.

No, Luke, I'm not wrong. This might look like a lamp post,

but it is actually a mobile phone mast.

Mobile phone masts are big aerials,

like the ones we have in our mobile phones.

When we phone a friend, the signal goes to a mast

and then the mast passes the signal on

to our friend's phone.

And masts can also help the signal to travel quite far.

Come with me.

Welcome to our pretend town on this misty day.

If you have a look, our pretend town is divided into parts.

That is because in real cities, towns and villages,

they are divided into parts,

and each part has its own mobile phone mast.

So we are going to put a mobile phone mast into every part

in our pretend town.

And we're going to use these flags.

Ha, ha, ha! Ready? Go!

Go, go, go! Go, go, go!

Excellent work, Kaitlyn. There you go, Reo.

Well done! Go, go, go! Here's a yellow one!

That's it! Remember to put a mast in every part.

That's it, Reo.

That's great. Come back over.

Brilliant work, engineers!

We now have enough mobile phone masts

so all the people in our pretend town can make mobile phone calls.

The number of mobile phone masts across the country can be

quite different, it all depends on how big the place you live is.

In a big city, there could be hundreds of mobile phone masts.

But in a small village, there might just be a few.

Let's go for a little walk around our pretend town. Follow me!

When we are in this part of town,

this blue flag is our nearest mobile phone mast.

If we made a mobile phone call, this mast would send the signals

from our phone to our friend's phone.

But if we move to this part of town...

Ho, ho, ho!

..then the red flag is our nearest mobile phone mast.

And this mast would send the call to our friend's phone.

Ring, ring! Bud calling Nina.

-What is it, Bud?

-How does a mobile phone mast actually work?

That's a very good question. It is time for one final experiment.

OK, we are here in our pretend town.

Kaitlyn, I'd like you to stay here at home.

I'm going to go off into town. See you later.

So, here I am over here. I am doing some shopping in town.

Kaitlyn, you are going to call me on your mobile phone and, Reo,

you are going to be the mobile phone signal.

Kaitlyn, make your call.

I hope they don't get the wrong number.

Now you've typed in the number,

your mobile phone is going to send a signal to the mobile phone mast

that is nearest to you.

So, signal Reo, find the nearest mobile phone mast to Kaitlyn.

Brilliant! Kaitlyn's phone signal has reached the mast.

Now, that mast needs to send a signal to the mast that is

nearest to me.

So, Reo, can you spot which flag is nearest to me?

-The red one!

-Yeah! Go, go!

So, the signal is nearly here.

It just needs to get from the mobile phone mast to my phone.

Eh! Kaitlyn is saying hello. Yay, we have done it, guys. Well done!

But for me to talk back to Kaitlyn,

my phone needs to send a signal to her.

So... Here is my message.

There you go.

Well done, everyone. We can finish our call now.

Boop.

Your question was - how do mobile phones work?

I think we've answered it.

We discovered that mobile phones don't use wires.

They make phone calls by sending and picking up signals through the air.

Mobile phone masts help the signals from our phone reach all

the way to our friend's phone.

We also discovered that cities, towns and villages are divided

into parts, and each part has a mobile phone mast.

These masts can help send signals backwards and forwards to our phones

so we can speak to our friends from almost anywhere.

-I hope that answered your question.

-BOTH: Thanks, Nina. Bye!

Oh, we have been really busy! Just like a mobile phone signal.

If you want to know more about the science and engineering

that's all 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! #

Oh, I've had a brilliant day

learning all about aerials and signals.

It's been a marvellous day!

Who'd have thought that places had so many mobile phone masts?

I've had a fabby day!

Signals work really hard to help make a call.

Remember, engineers help 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