Beakman’s World - Season 1 Episode 25

Asked why you cannot see through a mirror, Beakman calls on the mythical Greek character Narcissus for an explanation. Describing them as pieces of glass with a metallic coating, Narcissus claims that the "silvering" both gives the mirror its reflective quality and makes it impossible to see through. Using a pool table to demonstrate how the angle of incidence always equals the angle of reflection, Narcissus shows how light rays enter and leave a mirror, while Beakman shows how a simple periscope can be made using a pair of mirrors, a shoe box and some tape. In "Beak-Mania," Beakman identifies the world's smallest fish (the Pygmy Goby), why grasshoppers jump so high (lots of leg muscles), and that the mountains in California get more snow than the North Pole. In the "Beakman Challenge," Lester is asked to remove a coin from a dish of water without getting his fingers wet. When he fails to provide a satisfactory solution, Beakman uses a candle, a jar and a lump of clay to demonstrate how a difference in air pressure can push the water into the jar, leaving the coin high and dry. Asked about atomic submarines, Beakman calls on the noted physicist, Madame Curie, to explain how radioactivity is used to provide their power. Defining radioactivity as the process by which certain atoms emit atomic particles and rays of high energy, Madame Curie describes how she and her husband, Pierre, discovered this unique property while experimenting with radium. Picking up where his guest left off, Beakman uses a series of mousetraps loaded with ping pong balls to show how radioactivity is used to initiate reactions that split atoms and give off energy which can then be harnessed to power a submarine.