Beakman's World

When a fan asks what makes thunder and lightning, Beakman enlists Liza in a few simple demonstrations to explain static electricity. Revealing that lightning is caused by the neutralization of enormous positive and negative electrical charges between the top and bottom of a cloud, Beakman then uses a metal bowl, polyethylene putty, and a metal can lid to show how lightning can be created at home. Turning to thunder, he notes it is the sound of the shock wave created as lightning heats the air. After "Beakmania" fields questions about fish that live out of water (mudskippers, walking catfish and lungfish), the largest human muscle (the gluteus maximus), and the size of a blue whale's tongue (over twelve thousand pounds!), Beakman turns to his able assistant for the "Liza Challenge." With a penny set atop a plastic ring placed on top of a soft drink bottle, Lester is challenged to make the coin drop into the bottle by hitting the loop. After Beakman's friend sends the penny flying, Liza shows how easy it is by hitting the inside of the ring and pulling the loop out of the way, allowing inertia and gravity to deposit the coin in the bottle with ease. In response to a question about what happens when a bone breaks, Beakman first calls on Liza to give a musical accounting of the bones in the body while Lester sings about their use for support, movement and protection. Noting that bones are light in weight but very strong, Surfer Beakman uses a broken surfboard to demonstrate their three basic steps to healing ?? a hematoma, a fibrous lacing containing osteoblaths and, finally, a callous.

Responding to a question about the attraction of fossils, Beakman conjures up the late Dr. Louis S.B. Leakey, the discoverer of the earliest remnants of human life in Africa's Olduvai Gorge. After Dr. Leakey shows how fossil remains are deposited in layers of sedimentary rocks, Beakman takes over, describing the various methods of fossilization. Using the Boguscope to show how they have been used to establish the Earth's geologic history, he demonstrates how anyone can make their own fossil impressions at home. During "Beak-Mania," Beakman reveals the number of earthworms in an acre of land, (over three million), the origins of pasteurization (a process invented by French scientist Louis Pasteur), and that tarantulas can go for over two years without eating. For the "Beakman Challenge," Lester is asked to try and pick up a quarter from a dish of water without getting his fingers wet. When his feral friend is unable to provide a satisfactory solution, Beakman uses a candle, some gum and a jar to create a partial vacuum which leaves the quarter high and dry. Asked about the first musical instrument, Beakman reveals that it was not the drum, but rather the human voice. Demonstrating characteristics common to all instruments, Beakman constructs one of his own to show how music is made using vibrations, pitch and resonance. Then, with the Boguscope, he shows how the human body's vocal chords, lungs, mouth and sinus cavities act together to make beautiful sounds.

In response to a curious viewer in Missouri, Beakman begins his second season with an explanation of how submarines work. Noting that they can be over six hundred feet long, Beakman explains that subs operate by controlling their buoyancy, changing their density by taking on water which allows them to rise and sink in water. After demonstrating the different densities of wood, coins and water, he then goes on to make a simple homemade submarine, using a plastic soda bottle, a balloon, some rubber tubing, straws, tape, coins and rubber bands. In the "Beakman Challenge," Beakman reveals that the ball in the back of the throat is called the uvula, and that the windiest spot on earth is in Antarctica. After challenging Lester to push a skewer through a balloon without breaking it, Beakman shows that, by pushing it through the ends of the balloon, it can be done without causing a puncture. Asked about why people regurgitate, Beakman takes the opportunity to first explain digestion. Then, using a blender for a stomach, he constructs a simple model of the digestive tract to show how food is digested, before demonstrating how, acting in reverse, it can be vomited, too. Finally, Beakman explains that the growling noises made by the stomach, or borborygmi, are caused by liquid food being pushed through the intestines.