Loud and Clear 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, hello!

I'm doing some experiments about waves.

When I touch the water, it makes waves scatter out

-in all directions.

-BEEPING

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

-ALL: Hi, Nina!

-Hi, guys!

We've got a question - how do speakers work?

That's a great question! How do speakers work?

Speakers are a great invention because they allow us to hear music,

voices and... Oh, hang on!

I can hear YOUR voices through my speakers here!

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

-Bye, Nina!

Bye!

I'm going to need help to answer this one. 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 speakers work?

Which neuron do you think would be most useful in finding the answer?

-Me!

-Me!

-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 from brain to ear

-If there's a sound, I'll help you hear.

-Will it be...lovely Luke?

For looking and seeing day and 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!

-Yes! ALL:

-Go, Belle! Go, Belle!

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

Brilliant! I'm all ears, Nina!

Today's question is how do speakers work?

Because speakers send out sounds,

we need hearing neuron Belle to help us.

But I may need help from all of you!

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

Emma, Mairi and Isabella want to find out about speakers -

loud speakers, cool speakers, dancing-round-your-room speakers.

Today, for one day only, Emma, Mairi and Isabella become

the inventors!

-Hi, guys!

-ALL: Hi, Nina!

Lovely to see you! Thanks for coming.

Your question is, how do speakers work?

-Why do you want to know?

-Our computers at home need speakers.

And we want to know how music comes out of them.

Well, sound travels in invisible waves.

For example, as I am speaking to you, my voice is travelling

in invisible waves towards your ears.

-Even though we can't see them, we can hear them, can't we?

-Yes.

Over here, I've a plate with some beads on,

and I've sat it on top of one of my own speakers.

Now, I'm going to play some music. Let's see what happens.

MUSIC BEGINS

NINA LAUGHS

-The beads are jumping up and down!

-That's right!

It's vibrations that's making the beads jump!

Vibrations are actually waves of air,

and when the waves of air reach our ears,

we hear them as sound. So speakers send out sound waves.

-How do they do that?

-Let me turn this off.

I think we need to get inside and have a closer look.

Taking things apart is my job. It can be dangerous

-so don't do this yourself.

-That's right!

Nina's been trained to do this.

If YOU open things that use electricity,

you could hurt yourself.

I'm going to use the the Nina-cam to have a closer look.

Here we have some wires...

..and a cone. We know that sound waves are created by vibrations,

and in a speaker, vibrations are caused by electricity.

So the electricity comes through these wires

and goes to a little disc that's hidden

beneath this cone. Now, that brown disc there

is called the diaphragm,

and it vibrates. And when it vibrates

it creates sound waves which travel through the air to our...

ear!

Ho-ho-ho!

# Ta-da! # I'm a sound neuron - this is my job!

That's right! You're doing a great job.

We know that on a speaker, the disc vibrates and sends out sound waves.

But what about that cone? Why do speakers have cones?

We might get a clue if we look at an invention

that helps lots of people hear things.

-Would you like to see another invention in action?

-ALL: Yeah!

Cool! Let's go!

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

What helps lots of people hear things at the same time?

Nina said it had something to do with a cone.

Looks like we'll find out soon enough. We're here!

Oh, I love the seaside! It's one of my favourite places

to do experiments. Today I've got a great experiment for us.

Emma, can you take the red flag, please?

Isabella, the green flag,

-and Mairi, you have the yellow.

-Are we going to wave them?

-Yes, you are!

-Do you see the end of the beach, over there?

-Yes.

Can you guys go and stand over there

and I'm going to shout a colour, and you wave that colour of flag.

But how are we meant to hear you if we're far away?

Ah, well that's where this might come in handy.

This is a megaphone,

and it's a really big cone, and similar to a cone inside a speaker.

OK, off you go!

There they are. They're in position.

Red!

Red!

RED!

It works! It works! They heard you, Nina!

They have, Belle! They heard me when I used the megaphone

but not when I used my own voice.

GREEN!

Yellow!

YELLOW!

Wow, this megaphone works really well!

I think it's time to get them back now.

OK, guys! Come back!

Hey, guys, how well did you hear me?

At the beginning we could hear something, but we didn't know what!

When you used the megaphone, we could hear you well!

So, cones DO make sound louder!

And it's because of their shape.

The shape of it makes my voice go in just one direction,

rather than all over the place, so it makes it sound louder.

Now that we know lots about cones and speakers,

we should go back to the workshop and GET INVENTING! Let's go!

Speakers are so useful. Life would be much too quiet without them.

But who invented the speaker?

Listen to me, everyone! I can tell you!

Over 100 years ago,

there was a man called Alexander Graham Bell.

His mother and his wife were both deaf,

and that's why he became interested in things to do with sound.

He knew all about vibrations and sound waves.

Alexander Graham Bell was actually inventing the telephone, when...

he invented the first ever speaker!

What a clever man!

So, you asked, how does a speaker work?

So far we've found out that sound is carried in waves and vibrations.

And then we looked inside a speaker and saw wires went to a little disc

and made it vibrate. And that vibrating disc sent out sound waves

which we can hear. There is also a cone in a speaker,

so I wonder what the cone does.

I think we should get inventing to find out! For today's invention,

we're going to make a mini speaker. The first thing we're going to do

is draw around the bottom of the cup. Once you've done that,

we're going to cut these out. We're going to cut two discs.

-A disc is just a circle.

-Yes, here it is - one round disc.

The next thing I'd like you guys to do is glue the first disc

to the bottom of the cup.

Now, we're going to attach...the cup

to...our stick, and push it through

so you can feel it's gone to the other side of the cup.

Next, we're going to attach the second disc to another stick.

So, on the flat side... I just need sticky tape.

And in the middle...

like that. OK. Now we're going to take THIS disc, with no cup,

and stick it in this one.

And now stick that one in here. Take a pencil

and, with the pointy end, we're going to rub the back of this disc

-and listen carefully.

-SCRAPING

-It makes a clickety sound, and it's quite quiet.

-It IS quite quiet.

Let's try doing the same on the disc attached to the cup.

-That one's much louder.

-It IS louder

and that's because the cup, like a speaker cone, is vibrating too.

It makes the sound waves stronger. A speaker cone works the same way.

-And the stronger the sound waves, the easier it is to hear.

-Exactly, Belle!

And there you have it. You've made your very own mini speaker!

Your question was, how do speakers work? I think we've answered it.

We found out that sound is caused by vibrations

that travel through the air in sound waves. We looked inside a speaker

and saw a small disc that vibrates. When that disc vibrates,

it creates sound! We also saw a cone inside the speaker.

Without the cone, the disc just makes a small sound.

The cone makes it sound much bigger because the cone vibrates too,

making the sound waves stronger. That's how a speaker works!

-Thanks for coming down to see me.

-Thanks, Nina! Bye!

Take care!

If you want to make today's invention, go to the Nina section

on the CBeebies website for all the instructions.

Or you may have other ideas you want to invent!

-Bikes!

-Planes!

-Speakers

-And cars!

# We all love inventing

# Whoa, love 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, go inventing!

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

It's been a marvellous day!

I particularly liked feeling the vibrations.

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

It was so fascinating to see inside a speaker!

The wires, the disc, the cone!

I really enjoyed myself today.

It was really funny when Nina used the megaphone to call the inventors.

I've had a fabby day! I liked the clickety noise maker best!

The cone shape of the cup made the noise even LOUDER!

Our day's been bursting with inventions.

-I hope you've enjoyed it! See you again soon! Bye!

-Bye!