Pen and Paper 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 our 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! #

Hello! I've collected some seeds from my sweet peas,

and put them in this container, ready for planting.

I've written a label, to remind me what they are.

BEEPING

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 does a pen work?

That's a great question - how does a pen work?

A pen is a useful invention. You can write all sorts of things with it.

Come down to my workshop and we'll check it out.

See you soon, Nina, bye!

Bye!

I'm going to need some help to answer this, and I know who to ask.

OK, Neurons, time to get to work.

Neurons at the ready, Nina.

Today's question is - how does a pen work?

Which Neuron will help us find the answer?

ALL: Me, me, me!

Will it be fabulous Felix?

I can help so very much If you need the sense of touch.

Beautiful Belle?

I send messages to brain from ear If there's 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.

-Yes!

ALL: 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 does a pen work?

We need to see what a pen is writing, so Luke is helping.

But, stand by, Neurons, I may need help.

I need to get the workshop ready before the inventors arrive!

Ross, Toni and Olivia want to find out all about pens -

chunky pens, dinky pens, multi-coloured inky pens.

So, for one day only, Ross, Toni and Olivia become The Inventors!

Hi, guys!

Hi, Nina!

Oh, welcome to my workshop, come on in!

It's lovely to see you all.

So, your question was - how does a pen work?

Why do you want to know that?

Because I know pens use ink, but I don't see how the ink comes out.

Well, I've got lots of pens here,

so maybe we should try them out and see what happens. OK?

I like their drawings.

The ink is really flowing.

So let's go with the flow!

Nice work, Inventors! We know that ink comes out of a pen,

and that it lets us write or draw with it.

But how does it do it? We need to get inside and have a closer look.

Taking things apart can be dangerous,

so don't do this yourself.

That's right, Nina's been specially trained to do this.

Taking things apart can get very messy!

OK. Now, I'm going to take the pen out of its hard plastic cover...

And inside is a bendy tube.

And the tube is filled with ink.

And you write at this end of the tube, here.

What's this little metal thing called?

Is it called the nib?

That's right!

Nib? What a funny little word! Hm! Nib!

Let's do an experiment.

I wonder what will happen if I cut the nib off the bottom of the tube.

There we go.

Now, let's see how it writes.

Here comes the messy bit...

OK.

-Oh!

-It's a little bit gloopy and globby.

It's very messy, and it scratches the paper.

Yeah. I can't really draw properly,

because the pen keeps sticking.

I think we can safely say that a pen doesn't really work

without the nib at the end.

So the nib must be very important.

Here it is, here.

Let's have a really close look using the Nina-cam.

What can you see?

There's a tiny ball.

That's right. And there's a piece of metal holding the tiny ball.

But what does the tiny ball do?

Well...

Here are lots of metal balls.

They're just like the ball in the pen, but a bit bigger.

They're called ball bearings.

So look at this.

Whoo-hoo!

If I put this little book on here,

and give it a little push...

See how easily it moves over the ball bearings,

all the way to the other side?

It's very smooth!

Yes. Ball bearings are used to help things move smoothly

against each other.

So, they help the book move over the tray smoothly

in the same way as they help the pen move over the paper smoothly.

That reminds me of something else that uses ball bearings,

only it's much bigger and very exciting.

-Shall we go and see another invention in action?

-Yeah!

OK, let's go!

Off they go. I really enjoy seeing the big inventions.

What other big thing uses ball bearings?

Hey! Do you think we're going to see a big, enormous pen?

I really don't know, Bud. Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be exciting.

Looks like we're here!

OK, guys, I want you to look at...this!

Wow!

This is a wind farm, turning wind into electricity.

The more they spin, the more electricity they make.

-Wow! They're cool!

-They're definitely something to see!

Now, have a look at this.

-It spins!

-Yeah, and it spins really smoothly.

-Do you see those balls?

-Yeah.

Those are ball bearings, like the ones we saw earlier,

and like the one at the end of a pen, only much bigger.

And these ball bearings let these two metal rings

spin really smoothly and easily.

And there's something very similar to this in a wind turbine.

So ball bearings help wind turbines to spin round!

Exactly! So the same technology that helps the wind turbine spin round,

helps a pen move smoothly across paper.

OK, inventors, I think it's time to get creative.

-So let's go back to the workshop!

-Yeah!

Pens are so useful!

Everyone uses them, but who actually invented the pen?

Ooh! I know that.

The ballpoint pen that we've been looking at today

was invented by a man named Laszlo Biro.

He was working for a newspaper,

and got fed up with his old-fashioned pen.

He didn't like all the smudges it made,

and sometimes it even scratched and tore his paper. How annoying!

One day, he had an idea,

and he invented the ballpoint pen.

Your question was - how does a pen work?

We've discovered that a ballpoint pen

has a tube of ink with a nib at the end.

And the nib is a piece of metal

that holds a ball between the ink and the paper.

And the ball helps the pen move smoothly across the paper.

Let's get inventing to find out more.

So today, we are going to make a chunky ballpoint pen.

The first thing we need to do is take our deodorant bottle

and make sure it's empty and clean.

Yes, it's important that you clean it out very well.

And you'll also need an adult to help you pop the ball out.

We've already done that.

So our bottle is ready,

now we just need to fill it with some of the poster paint.

Take the balls off the top of your bottle...

I'll go first. Now, just a little bit of paint...

Just a little bit in the bottom's all we need. On you go.

Go for it, Ross. That's it, bring it towards you.

Very good.

That's plenty, well done.

And Olivia...

Now, guys, we can put the ball back on.

Now, gently, just give it a little squeeze...

Excellent!

Great! And now it's time to write with it, Nina!

So, this is the super-fun part. Give it a gentle shake...

And turn it upside down...

And let's draw!

So the ball rolls against the paint,

and then carries it evenly onto the paper.

This is great fun.

Well done, Inventors, you've made your very own chunky ballpoint pen!

Your question was - how does a pen work? I think we've answered it!

We've found out that inside most pens

is a tube of ink with a nib at the end.

And the nib holds a ball.

And the ball helps the pen move smoothly over the paper.

It also takes the ink from the tube and puts it evenly on the paper,

without any blobs or gooey bits.

And that is how this pen works.

Thank you for your great question.

Thanks, Nina, bye!

Bye!

To make today's invention,

go to the Nina section on the CBeebies website.

That'll give you all the instructions you need.

Or, you may have other ideas of what you want to invent.

-Bikes!

-Trains!

-Binoculars!

-Televisions!

-Speakers!

-And cars!

# We all love inventing

# Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh Go inventing!

# We all love inventing

# Why don't you try it too?

# Inventions make life easier

# And help us get things done

# Go inventing!

# I always like to take a look

# At how they work and run

# Go inventing!

# We all love inventing

# Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh Go inventing!

# We all love inventing Why don't you try it too? #

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

I like to see all the ink moving smoothly across the paper.

It's been a marvellous day.

Nina got messy taking the pen apart,

but she didn't forget her rubber gloves.

Oh, I've had a brilliant day!

I liked the sound of all those ball bearings moving together.

I've had a fabby day,

especially when they all went out and had fun.

I really enjoyed myself today.

The chunky ballpoint pen invention is really simple, but very clever.

Our day's been bursting with inventions. I hope you enjoyed it.

-See you again soon! Bye!

-Bye!

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