Beakman’s World - Season 4 Episode 6

The science crew cleans up the smoke surrounding catalytic converters. Catalysts help the world breathe just a bit easier by changing harmful, polluting toxins into less polluting gasses by speeding up a chemical reaction within vehicles. Beakman demonstrates how this breath of fresh air works with a wooden model and a bubbly chemical reaction. But catalysts aren't only roaring in engines, they are also fast at work in our bodies to speed up the absorption of chemicals. In the Beakmania portion of the show, Phoebe holds her breath to find the answer to a question about how much air is in our lungs. (An adults' lungs can hold almost a gallon of air.) Then Beakman sucks the life out of science with a sticky viewer questions about the biggest leech in the world. (The Amazonian leech of South America; it's over a foot long.) Then, Beakmom plugs into a "Beakmom Challenge." A blind-folded Beakman tries to find his mother by the sound of her voice to test the deception of binaural hearing. The pressure is turned on when Beakman nearly explodes trying to answer a question about aerosol cans. With the use of compressed gas, aerosol cans release tiny particles suspended in a gas.