Beakman’s World - Season 1 Episode 14

Explaining how scientists use ideas and information to solve problems, Beakman demonstrates the Scientific Method with a simple experiment: Starting with "Will salt water conduct electricity-" as his question, and taking as his hypothesis that it will, Beakman tests a trio of beakers containing salt water, distilled water and just plain salt to determine whether it is right or wrong. Finally, he concludes that it is the reaction of salt with water that will conduct electricity but not just water or salt working on its own. "Beak-Mania" reveals the size of a dairy cow (up to 1,700 pounds), the temperature of the sun (10,000 degrees at its' surface), and the fact that the heartbeat cannot be stopped by sneezing. For the "Beakman Challenge," Lester is asked to pick up a mayonnaise jar without touching it. Asked for the solution, Beakman shows that by creating a vacuum which pulls the balloon partially inside, the jar can be picked up without actually touching it. In response to an inquiry about rainbows, Beakman takes Lester into the sky in search of an answer. Explaining that white light is actually composed of seven colors, Beakman uses a prism to show how sunlight can be broken into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Finally, after noting that raindrops in the atmosphere act like prisms, Beakman discusses light's two invisible components, the ultraviolet and infrared.