Cranes 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! #

Oh... Oh, hello. I'm experimenting with balance.

I've been trying for ages to balance them evenly.

Hopefully this time.

Oh...

-Ha-ha! Hooray, it's worked!

-BEEPING

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

-Hi, Nina.

-Hi, guys.

-We have a question for you.

-How do cranes lift heavy things?

-That's a great question.

How do cranes lift heavy things?

Cranes solve lots of engineering problems, but how do they work?

Come down to my workshop and we'll investigate.

-See you soon, Nina. Bye!

-Bye.

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.

Today's question is how do cranes lift heavy things?

Which Neuron will be most useful in helping us find the answer?

-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!

-CHEERING

-NEURONS:

-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 cranes lift heavy things?"

We'll be looking at lots of cranes,

so Luke, our sight Neuron, will be helping us.

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

Blossom loves sandwiches,

Ka Wing likes playing table tennis.

I saw a crane at a building site.

What can lift really big things?

So today, for one day only, Blossom and Ka Wing become the engineers.

-Hi, Blossom, hi, Ka Wing.

-Hi, Nina.

Welcome to my workshop. Thanks for your great question,

"How do cranes lift heavy things?" To find out the answer,

let's start by using our senses.

-ALL:

-Woop-woo!

A senses experiment. We're ready, Nina!

First, let's have a look at how a crane works.

-What can you see the crane doing?

-It's lifting things up.

That's right. It's lifting something really heavy.

Now, here we have a stone and a rubber duck.

-Which one do you think would be heavier?

-The stone.

The stone looks heavier to me, Nina.

You're both right, the stone is heavier.

Let's see what happens if I put these on my weighing scales. Oh...

Oh!

The stone has made this side go down.

That's because the stone is much heavier than the rubber duck.

Let's see what happens if I put a stone in the other side as well.

There you go, Mr Duck. Quack!

Oh!

Hey.

Now that both sides have the same weight in them, they're balanced.

So when cranes lift heavy things, they have to stay balanced

to stop them falling over, and I'll show you how in our next experiment.

To find out more about how a crane works,

we're going to pretend to be one. So what does a crane look like?

It's like a tall tower.

And it has a long arm sticking out.

That's right. I shall now become a crane.

-Oh...

-CHILDREN LAUGH

Ha-ha-ha! Nina looks funny!

But she does look like a crane!

OK, Neurons, if you can stop giggling at me, you'll see that

my legs are straight like the crane tower, and my body is the long arm.

So why don't you guys try?

That's it, very good. You should always bend your legs

if you're lifting something heavy, but these boxes are very light.

OK, so pick up the ropes.

One, two, three, lift!

We need crane sound effects!

-Vrrrrr-rrrr!

-Vrrr-rrr!

Well done, our bodies make great cranes.

Let's see what happens if we try the same again

but with our backs against this wall. So, pop your boxes down.

OK, after three we're going to make the shape of the crane

with our bodies. One, two, three, go!

Ooh... Ha-ha!

-What happened?

-We nearly fell.

Yeah, we tripped forward, that's right.

That's because, as we bend forward like a crane,

our bottoms balance the weight of our top halves bending forwards.

But when we're standing against the wall... Oh,

our bodies can't move backwards. Ha-ha!

-And what happens?

-We fall forward.

Yes, and most cranes work in exactly the same way.

So, we found out that cranes have a long arm sticking out in front

of them which stays straight, while a chain lift things up.

But they also need something to stick out behind them

to help them to balance so they don't tip over.

Crane engineering is really clever.

And we're going to find out more by visiting a big giant.

Ho-ho! So come on, engineers, let's go!

Oh, goodie! I love this bit.

I wonder where Nina is taking us.

Nina said something about visiting a big giant.

Maybe it's giant pandas at the zoo!

Sorry, guys - no pandas.

But I think I see the giant!

Your question was "How do cranes lift heavy things?"

We've discovered that there are lots of different types of cranes

and some, like this massive crane, are shaped a bit like a "T".

To balance properly, cranes also need something to stick out

behind it so it doesn't fall over.

This amazing crane was used to build ships.

It is so strong it could lift over 100 cars all at once.

Normally we're not allowed to go near cranes because they're working,

but this is a special crane that we're allowed to visit. Let's go!

Oh, we're very high up, Nina.

It's OK, Felix. Cranes are often very high up.

They have to be, so that we can use them to build tall towers

and lift heavy things up high.

What's that for, Nina?

That's the strong metal cable that has a hook on the end

that the crane uses to pick things up.

And this here is a trolley, and it moves the cable backwards

and forwards. In fact, I'll show you on the model crane how it works.

So, this is the trolley here.

And it moves the cable backwards and forwards so that the heavy load...

Oh!

..can be moved to wherever they need to be dropped off.

But, Nina, why doesn't this crane fall over?

Good question, Luke! As the heavy load is at this end,

there needs to be another heavy thing at the other end

to make it balance. Just like our weighing scales.

So let's have a look.

This is the counterweight.

Counterweight.

That's an interesting word. Counterweight.

Engineers use a counterweight to balance a heavy weight

so the crane doesn't tip over.

It's like when we moved our bottoms back so that we didn't fall over.

When the crane lifts a light load,

it can lift it from the very end of the arm.

But when the crane lifts a very, very heavy load,

it has to move it much closer to the middle, just like this.

Why does it have to move, Nina?

Oh, good question.

Let's go back to the workshop and we'll investigate.

OK, engineers. For this experiment only,

we're going to pretend that this seesaw is a crane. Ha!

Blossom, you can be the heavy weight that the crane is lifting,

and, Ka Wing, I'd like you to be the counterweight at the other end,

keeping the crane balanced.

But what if the crane needs to lift something heavier?

Blossom, I'm much heavier than you are

so I'll pretend to be the heavier load. Let's swap!

That felt odd.

-Oh, what's happened?

-It's not balanced any more.

That's right.

I'm heavier than Ka Wing, so our crane isn't balanced any more.

-And what can happen if a crane isn't balanced?

-It could fall over, Nina.

That's right. So we need to fix this.

What do you remember about the big crane?

Where on its arm did it lift the heavy load?

-Close to the middle, Nina.

-That's right.

The heavy load could move backwards and forwards.

Let's see what happens if I move closer to the middle of the seesaw.

Here we go. Oh!

Oh...

Oh...

-They're balancing! I love seesaws.

-Hooray!

We're balanced! Well done, Ka Wing. You're a brilliant counterweight.

So, even though I'm heavier than Ka Wing, the crane is balanced.

That's because we're different distances from the middle

of the seesaw. This is the same as a real crane.

By moving the heavy load closer to the middle,

a crane can lift lots of different things, like a car or even

something much heavier, like a ship, and still stay balanced.

# Nina and the Neurons! #

So, your question was "How do cranes lift heavy things?"

I think we've answered it.

We discovered that cranes have to stay balanced to stop them from

falling over, and because cranes lift lots of different weights,

engineers invented a counterweight, which helps balance everything.

Light loads can be lifted at the end of the crane arm,

but heavy loads are lifted nearer the middle.

-So I hope that's answered your question.

-Thanks, Nina. Bye.

You're welcome. Bye.

If you want to know more about the science in 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! #

It's been a marvellous day. Especially the balancing experiment.

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

The view from the crane was amazing!

I've had a fabby day! That seesaw experiment was fantastic!

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

They make things work and use science to solve problems.

See you again soon. Bye.

Bye!