Beakman’s World - Season 1 Episode 23

In response to a question about why toilets used to "explode," Beakman seizes the opportunity to explain the inner?workings of household plumbing's most remarkable device. Using a demonstration toilet bowl, he shows how water pressure, air pressure, gravity and levers work together to make it flush. Then, in response to Lester's concerns, Beakman notes that, before the invention of a trap to keep the volatile gases from coming back through the pipes, toilets were prone to explode. For "Beak-Mania," Beakman reveals the name of the world's fastest fish (the sailfish), that bats can eat 600 mosquitoes in an hour, and that explorer Vasco Da Gama first reported the existence of penguins back in 1499. During the "Beakman Challenge," Lester is asked to take a single sheet of typing paper and cut a hole big enough for his boss to step through. Though Lester claims it cannot be done, Beakman makes a series a of carefully planned cuts that produce a circle large enough to meet the challenge. Asked about how roller coasters work, Beakman explains that they operate using inertia, conservation of energy and centripetal force. After a seemingly dangerous demonstration of the conservation of energy using a bowling ball and his face, Beakman notes that a roller coaster is supplied with all of its' energy in the first, and highest, hill. Asked why the passengers don't fall out when the car turns upside down, he explains that gravity is overpowered by the inertial and centripetal forces acting on the roller coaster, keeping everyone safe inside.