0:00:05 > 0:00:08# If you've got a question and you don't know where to go
0:00:08 > 0:00:12# Ask Nina for some help Cos she's got a science show
0:00:12 > 0:00:14# She makes sense of her senses While helping all her fans
0:00:14 > 0:00:17# By doing her experiments with potions and with bangs
0:00:17 > 0:00:19- # Touch your tongue - Tongue!
0:00:19 > 0:00:20- # Fingers - Fingers!
0:00:20 > 0:00:23- # Eyes.- Eyes! - Ears.- Ears!- Nose.- Nose!
0:00:23 > 0:00:26# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know
0:00:26 > 0:00:29# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know
0:00:29 > 0:00:32# Luke, he helps us with our eyes and Felix with our touch
0:00:32 > 0:00:35# Ollie sniffs out smells and scents And Belle, she hears so much
0:00:35 > 0:00:38# Bud is Ollie's brother He helps us with our taste
0:00:38 > 0:00:42# They're Nina's little neurons And they're coming to your place!
0:00:42 > 0:00:43- # Touch your tongue - Tongue!
0:00:43 > 0:00:44- # Fingers - Fingers!
0:00:44 > 0:00:48- # Eyes.- Eyes! - Ears.- Ears!- Nose.- Nose!
0:00:48 > 0:00:51# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know
0:00:51 > 0:00:53# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know
0:00:53 > 0:00:55# Oh, yeah! #
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Hello! I'm just doing a little experiment
0:01:00 > 0:01:04to find out what happens if I pop a lovely grape in my mouth,
0:01:04 > 0:01:06and I've discovered that it goes all juicy
0:01:06 > 0:01:08and tastes delicious!
0:01:08 > 0:01:13Maybe I should have another one just to check my findings are correct!
0:01:14 > 0:01:16- BEEP, BEEP! - Oh!
0:01:16 > 0:01:21I hear a beep, I see a flash - I wonder what they're going to ask!
0:01:27 > 0:01:29ALL: Hi, Nina!
0:01:29 > 0:01:30Hello there!
0:01:30 > 0:01:35We've got a question for you, Nina. How does a microwave oven work?
0:01:35 > 0:01:39That's a great question! How does a microwave oven work?
0:01:39 > 0:01:42Come down to my workshop and we'll check it out.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45- Bye.- Bye!
0:01:45 > 0:01:49I'm going to need help to answer this one. I know just who to ask!
0:01:49 > 0:01:52OK, Neurons! Time to get to work.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11ALL: Neurons at the ready, Nina!
0:02:11 > 0:02:15OK. Today's question is, how does a microwave oven work?
0:02:15 > 0:02:19Which Neuron will be most useful in finding the answer?
0:02:19 > 0:02:22ALL: Me, me! Me!
0:02:22 > 0:02:25Will it be...fabulous Felix?
0:02:25 > 0:02:29I can help so very much if you need the sense of touch.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31Will it be...beautiful Belle?
0:02:31 > 0:02:33I send messages to brain from ear.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35If there's a sound, I'll help you hear!
0:02:35 > 0:02:37Will it be...lovely Luke?
0:02:37 > 0:02:42For looking and seeing, day or night I'll help with your sense of sight!
0:02:42 > 0:02:44Will it be...awesome Ollie?
0:02:44 > 0:02:47If it's pongy or whiffy, but you can't tell,
0:02:47 > 0:02:49my messages help your sense of smell.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51Or will it be baby Bud?
0:02:51 > 0:02:53Sour, salty, bitter or sweet,
0:02:53 > 0:02:55I'm your taste-buddy whenever you eat!
0:02:59 > 0:03:03- Yippee!- It's Ollie and Bud.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07Go Bud, go Ollie! Go Bud, go Ollie!
0:03:07 > 0:03:11- Go Bud, go Ollie! Go Bud!- Yippee!
0:03:11 > 0:03:14It's you and me, sis!
0:03:14 > 0:03:16Stand by for a taste-and-smellathon!
0:03:16 > 0:03:20Today's question is, how does a microwave oven work?
0:03:20 > 0:03:22We use microwave ovens to cook food.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25Bud and Ollie are the Neurons who help us taste it!
0:03:25 > 0:03:28But stand by, Neurons - I may need help from all of you.
0:03:28 > 0:03:33I need to get the workshop ready before the Inventors arrive.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39Thomas, Cariad and Joseph want to find out about microwave ovens.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42Big ones, small ones, cooking-really-fast ones.
0:03:42 > 0:03:48So today, for one day only, they become...the Inventors!
0:03:50 > 0:03:52Hi, guys!
0:03:52 > 0:03:55- Hi, Nina!- Come on in, come on in.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59Thanks for coming, and thank you for your brilliant question -
0:03:59 > 0:04:03how does a microwave oven work? Why do you want to know that?
0:04:03 > 0:04:06We use it a lot to heat our snacks and cook our food.
0:04:06 > 0:04:11And we wonder how it manages to do it so quickly.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15When food, especially raw food gets very hot, it cooks,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18and if we cook our food, we're heating it up, ready to eat.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21We know what a microwave does, but how does it do it?
0:04:21 > 0:04:24Let's get inside and have a closer look!
0:04:24 > 0:04:28Taking things apart is my job. It can be dangerous.
0:04:28 > 0:04:29Don't do this yourself.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33That's right. Nina's been specially trained to do this.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36If you open up things that use electricity,
0:04:36 > 0:04:38you could hurt yourself.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42So let's have a look at the inside of a microwave.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45I'm going to use my Nina-cam here...
0:04:45 > 0:04:51So we've got lots of wires, and there's a fan in there...
0:04:51 > 0:04:55- What's that? - This grey box here?- Yeah.
0:04:55 > 0:05:00This is a magnetron, and it's one of the most important parts.
0:05:00 > 0:05:05Here's what a magnetron looks like outside of a microwave.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09A magnetron sends out invisible waves called microwaves.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13They change our food from cold to hot.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16But how do they do that?
0:05:16 > 0:05:18Actually, I can show you.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20Come round here! Oh-oh-oh!
0:05:20 > 0:05:25We're going to imagine that these bouncy balls are microwaves,
0:05:25 > 0:05:29and these plastic vegetables are food inside a microwave oven.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33Let's see what happens when we throw microwaves at the food.
0:05:33 > 0:05:34Go!
0:05:38 > 0:05:41All the pieces of food are moving about.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44And the same happens in a microwave oven.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47The magnetron throws microwaves into the food
0:05:47 > 0:05:51and the tiny pieces of food jiggle against each other.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53This heats up our food.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55Microwaves aren't just used for cooking food.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58They're useful for something else.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01- Shall we go and see another invention in action?- Yes!
0:06:01 > 0:06:02Let's go!
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Look at them go! I wonder where they'll end up today.
0:06:11 > 0:06:18What else uses microwaves? Nina said it was something very big.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21I haven't got a clue!
0:06:21 > 0:06:25Ah, goody! I think we're here now!
0:06:25 > 0:06:28This is a weather observatory.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31It's where people find out what the weather's like.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36This is a big radar dish that sends out microwaves
0:06:36 > 0:06:39and catches them if they bounce back!
0:06:39 > 0:06:40Wowee!
0:06:40 > 0:06:43Look at the size of that dish!
0:06:43 > 0:06:47Well, it's got to be big if it's going to catch all those microwaves.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51Microwaves don't just cook food.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55They also bounce off certain things, like clouds and rain.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59When a microwave hits a cloud, it's a bit like a bouncy ball
0:06:59 > 0:07:02hitting a wall... Ooh-ooh! Ha-ha!
0:07:02 > 0:07:04..and bouncing back.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07But if there's no wall there...
0:07:07 > 0:07:10the bouncy ball doesn't bounce back.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14Microwaves are the same. If they don't bump into a cloud,
0:07:14 > 0:07:17they don't bounce back. If this radar dish
0:07:17 > 0:07:19sends microwaves into the sky,
0:07:19 > 0:07:23and they bounce back, we know they've hit something like a cloud,
0:07:23 > 0:07:24even if they're far away.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27How do they do that?
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Let's go inside and find out. Here we go.
0:07:31 > 0:07:36This is the control room and all these colourful pictures
0:07:36 > 0:07:39are made using information from the radar dish.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41It doesn't look like rain.
0:07:41 > 0:07:46It doesn't, but these pictures tell us lots about the weather -
0:07:46 > 0:07:50like where it's raining or how heavy the rain is,
0:07:50 > 0:07:53even the shape of a raindrop.
0:07:53 > 0:07:58By using a radar dish like this, we can find out the weather forecast.
0:07:58 > 0:08:04Is that how the weatherman on TV knows all about the weather?
0:08:04 > 0:08:05Yes! That's right.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08How do microwaves make our food hot?
0:08:08 > 0:08:11To find that out, we need to go back to the workshop.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Come on, Inventors. Let's get inventing!
0:08:15 > 0:08:20Microwave ovens are handy things to have in the kitchen.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23I wonder who actually invented them.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26Me, me, I know that one.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31The microwave oven was invented by a man called Percy Spencer.
0:08:31 > 0:08:36One day he was busy inventing things in his lab
0:08:36 > 0:08:38and standing in front of a magnetron.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42Suddenly he noticed that waves from the magnetron
0:08:42 > 0:08:45had melted a chocolate bar in his pocket. Eugh!
0:08:45 > 0:08:48What a mess!
0:08:48 > 0:08:54He decided to try something else, so he got some popcorn.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58Moments later - pop, pop, pop!
0:08:58 > 0:09:00There was popcorn everywhere.
0:09:00 > 0:09:06Percy realised that if he put the magnetron into a box
0:09:06 > 0:09:12that he could invent the first ever microwave oven.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20Your question was, "How does a microwave oven work?"
0:09:20 > 0:09:23So far we've found out that inside a microwave
0:09:23 > 0:09:25is something called a magnetron.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29A magnetron sends out invisible waves called microwaves.
0:09:29 > 0:09:34When microwaves hit food, they make all the tiny pieces of food move.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37But why would making food move make it hot?
0:09:37 > 0:09:39Let's try something.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42Let's all rub our hands together like this.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46- What's happening to your hands? - KIDS: They're getting hot.
0:09:46 > 0:09:47The same thing happens
0:09:47 > 0:09:50when particles of food move together quickly.
0:09:50 > 0:09:55Nina, all that hand rubbing is making me feel a bit flushed.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57Maybe we could invent something
0:09:57 > 0:10:00that will show us the force of invisible waves.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03KIDS: Yeah!
0:10:03 > 0:10:06Today we're going to invent our invisible wave bowling game.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08First take your cup,
0:10:08 > 0:10:12and we're going to cut a hole in the bottom of the cup...
0:10:13 > 0:10:16That's good. Just a little hole.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19You may need to ask an adult to help you with tricky scissor bits.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23Now we've made the hole in the bottom of the cup,
0:10:23 > 0:10:25we're going to take our plastic bag,
0:10:25 > 0:10:27lay it out in front of you,
0:10:27 > 0:10:31pop the open part of your cup into the middle of the bag...
0:10:31 > 0:10:35I'm going to draw a line so I know where to cut.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42Once you've cut out the plastic, take one of our rubber bands...
0:10:42 > 0:10:46- And stretch it over the top. - That's right.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50This is going to act like our little magnetron.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55But first we have to cut out our veggie skittles.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04Once you've cut out the veggie skittles and their bases
0:11:04 > 0:11:07you just slot them together.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10This means they'll be able to stand on their own.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12Line up your veggie skittles. OK.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16To start your magnetron, point it towards your skittles
0:11:16 > 0:11:19and flick the plastic. Go for it!
0:11:22 > 0:11:23NINA CHUCKLES
0:11:26 > 0:11:28Well done!
0:11:32 > 0:11:34Ha-ha! There you have it!
0:11:34 > 0:11:38You've made your own invisible wave bowling game.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42# Nina and the Neurons. #
0:11:42 > 0:11:45Your question was, "How does a microwave oven work?"
0:11:45 > 0:11:49I think we've answered it. Inside a microwave oven
0:11:49 > 0:11:54is a magnetron and a magnetron throws microwaves at food.
0:11:54 > 0:11:59A microwave is an invisible wave that bounces off things like clouds,
0:11:59 > 0:12:01but goes into something like food.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03When microwaves hit food
0:12:03 > 0:12:08they make all the tiny little pieces of food rub together very fast.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11when things rub together fast, they get hot
0:12:11 > 0:12:13and when food gets hot, it cooks.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17And that's how a microwave oven cooks our food.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19Thank you for your question today.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22KIDS: Thanks, Nina. Bye!
0:12:22 > 0:12:23Bye.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30If you want to make today's invention,
0:12:30 > 0:12:33go the Nina section on the CBeebies website.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37That will give you the instructions to make your own,
0:12:37 > 0:12:39or you may have other ideas to invent.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43- Bikes.- Crates.- Binoculars.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47- Television.- Speakers.- And cars.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49# We all love inventing
0:12:49 > 0:12:53# Whoa-oa-oa-oa go inventing
0:12:53 > 0:12:55# We all love inventing
0:12:55 > 0:12:58# Why don't you try it too?
0:12:58 > 0:13:01# Inventions make life easier
0:13:01 > 0:13:03# And help us get things done
0:13:03 > 0:13:05# Go inventing
0:13:05 > 0:13:07# I always like to take a look
0:13:07 > 0:13:09# At how they work and run
0:13:09 > 0:13:11# Go inventing
0:13:11 > 0:13:13# We all love inventing
0:13:13 > 0:13:16# Whoa-oa-oa-oa go inventing
0:13:16 > 0:13:19# We all love inventing
0:13:19 > 0:13:22# Why don't you try it too? #
0:13:22 > 0:13:25Oh, I've had a brilliant day.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28Microwave ovens are such a clever invention.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30I've had a fabby day.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34I loved watching the inventors bounce balls into pretend food
0:13:34 > 0:13:37to show how the microwaves worked.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40I really enjoyed myself today.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43Gosh, that radar dish was enormous.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46Imagine all the microwaves it must catch.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49It's been such a great day, man.
0:13:49 > 0:13:55Did you see those radar pictures of clouds? They were far out!
0:13:55 > 0:14:00It's been a marvellous day. Making the carrots move was so much fun.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03Our day's been bursting with inventions.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06I hope you've enjoyed it. See you soon.
0:14:06 > 0:14:07ALL: Bye!