- [Mr. C] What time is it?

- [Group] It's science time!

♪ Science, science, science time ♪ ♪ Let's all stop and just unwind ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, here we go ♪ ♪ Learn so much your brain explodes ♪ ♪ Lessons not boring, so fresh ♪ ♪ Beat so big you'll lose your breath ♪ ♪ Burning facts and real cool stuff ♪ ♪ Scream for more, can't get enough ♪ ♪ It's, it's science time ♪ ♪ It's fun, you best believe ♪ ♪ Explore and learn new things ♪ ♪ Come and join me please ♪ - I'm, Mr. C and this super smart group is my science crew.

Lyla is our notebook navigator, Alfred is our experiment expert, Rylee is our dynamite demonstrator and London is our research wrangler.

Working with my team is the best and makes learning so much fun.

Actually, you should join us.

Today, we're talking about patterns.

What time is it?

- [Group] It's Science Time!

- Welcome back to another episode of DIY Science Time.

I'm Mr. C and I'm so excited that you're here to be part of our crew today.

We're talking about patterns, patterns, patterns!

Patterns!

That's right, we're talking about patterns and how they surround us each and every day of our lives and speaking of patterns, I'm gonna put one up on the screen right now and I wanna see if you can finish the pattern.

All right, so what do you think comes next in this pattern?

If you picked this part, you are correct.

All right, nice job.

All right, let's do one more.

Check out this pattern.

Ooh, this one's a little tougher.

Did you figure it out?

All right, this is the solution.

(audience applauds) Oh my goodness, you are so good at solving and finding patterns.

Don't you think we should try one of our own?

If so, you'll need some simple materials.

Alfred, what do we need today?

- To follow along with the crew, make sure you have the following materials.

Aluminum foil, some masking tape, a large craft stick, an LED bowl, a Bunsen battery, a binder clip and to keep up with the pattern we always use, you'll need your super sorted science notebook.

- A science notebook is a tool that every scientist should have, and it gives us a place to record all of our learning.

Taking good notes and being organized allows us to be better scientists.

A science notebook allows us to go back and review all the data and information we've gathered during our experiments, plus it allows us to share results with other scientists who might be interested in learning more about what we've discovered.

Whenever you see the notebook pop up on the screen, like this, it's a reminder that this is a good place for us to jot down new information.

You can see I've already added a title and a list of materials for today's activity.

Our crew is still going to have lots of information to collect and organize as we go through the experiment, so keep your notebook handy.

Most importantly, the more you use the science notebook, the better you'll get at taking notes and recording data.

If you don't have a science notebook yet, download a copy of Mr. C's science notebook from the website.

- Patterns are so much fun and the first pattern we're actually going to use today is Morse code.

That's right, we're going to build a flashlight to shine dits and dahs, which are dots and dashes, to one another so that we can convey a message without actually talking.

So how do we do that?

We build a mini flashlight that has basically an option for us to hit a button and make flashes so that we can communicate.

All right, let's get to it.

First thing is we have our popsicle stick.

We're going to take our popsicle stick and we're going to cut two pieces of foil pretty much the length of the popsicle stick.

(joyful music begins) They're both a little long, but that's okay, we can always make 'em shorter and then I'm going to cut two smaller, shorter pieces also.

Now what we're going to do is we're going to take these shorter pieces and we're going to tape them down to each side of our popsicle stick.

That's one, I'm gonna flip it over and that's two.

All right, so here we have our popsicle stick, our craft stick with the aluminum foil on both sides and we're going to actually connect this LED to the top.

Now, the thing with an LED is you have to make sure that you're connecting it a special way so that it lights up properly and here I have my little button battery.

What we're going to do is I'm actually going to test it to make sure.

So an LED, a light emitting diode, is one directional.

So it wants to be hooked up to the battery a certain way for it to work.

So this way it doesn't work but when I flip it over, it does light up.

So the longer side, the longer post needs to go on the positive side of your battery.

The shorter side needs to go on the negative side, because if it's reversed, it won't work.

So we just have to remember that.

So I'm going to put my LED on to my craft stick.

I need to put a piece of foil on this side as well so it runs the whole length.

I'm gonna take my foil.

I'm gonna fold it in half, it's a little wide.

This gets tricky.

Hopefully you can see everything I'm doing, but I have my LED right there.

Take a piece of tape, I'm gonna tape it down.

We'll make it really nice and tight here in a second.

But right now I'm just gonna kind of hold that in place so it holds everything in place and now I'm gonna flip it over and do the same to the other side.

Let's push that down.

I'm gonna use that piece of tape I just had on this side, I'm gonna bring it over 'cause I want that on there nice and snug and it's on there pretty good.

I'm going to put another piece of tape on to reinforce it.

Remember to keep track of which side is the longer side, because that's the side you want connected to your positive terminal of your button battery.

So this is my longer side, that means that this piece of aluminum foil needs to actually touch the positive side.

So I'm actually going to fold this up here like this.

I'm gonna shorten that a little bit so it's out of the way and then I'm going to put my button there, just like that and now I need to tape it down (joyful music continues) and now I have this side and I'm just going to leave that there and I'm gonna take my binder clip, put my binder clip on it, I'm gonna close my binder clip.

So this is Morse code.

Well, technically it's not Morse code yet 'cause I'm just making it go on and off, but really quick, what I have is a simple circuit.

So I have current flowing from the battery to the LED and back to the battery and when I open this up, it breaks the current and it doesn't work and when I close it, it allows the light to turn on.

So using this idea of Morse code with a light, you can also use it with sound.

If this was a buzzer.

Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep, like that, like SOS sounds and things like that, you can do that with a light because we're still sending the same signal.

So we have dots and dashes.

So a dot is quick, short doot and then dashes are longer.

So for example, the letter A is just a dot and the dash so dot dash, dot dash, dot dash, dot dash.

You put all those together, it's like, aaaaaaaah!

(laughs) Right?

So you can actually use the Morse code to send a signal and a message to friends and family.

So give this a try.

SOS is dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot.

Dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot.

Dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot and that is a signal that you use when you need help and when you're on a ship and something's going wrong, you send out a signal, Morse code, "help, help, save us!"

And that's what they would do, but not with this little teeny tiny flashlight.

Could you imagine being on the ocean, dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot.

Dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot.

Dot dot dot, dash dash dash... All right, I need to work on my Morse code.

You should also, and yeah, give this a try because this allows you to create some simple patterns and have some simple fun with Morse code.

A pattern is a simple repeated design or a repeated process.

It's important to know that patterns exist all around us and sometimes we may not even recognize a pattern initially.

Patterns in nature are often visible regularities found in the natural world.

Natural patterns include symmetries, trees, spirals and stripes.

Skunks have distinct patterns to warn off predators and we have traffic patterns to follow while we're driving, which keep us safe.

One thing that these all have in common is that patterns repeat, repeat, repeat!

- Camouflage is French word that means disguise.

Animals often have patterns that help them camouflage to say hidden from predators.

Some critters, like butterflies, have circular patterns on their wings that look like the eyes of animals much larger than the butterfly, such as owls.

These eye spots can confuse predators such as birds and help keep them away from the butterfly's soft body.

- ♪ A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y ♪ ♪ But why?

♪ ♪ It's DIY Science Time, that's why!

♪ (Mr. C laughs) That's so awesome.

Seeing the pattern of my voice on the wall was super cool and you can also build a voice visualizer with me right now.

You're going to need a tube.

Now I've taken my tube, I've already cut it in half.

Well, not quite half, but I've cut it into tube parts.

(laughs) (cymbals crash) So I've cut it into two parts.

I'm going to use the smaller part of my tube and then I'm going to take a balloon and I'm going to cover up one side of the tube so that we create sort of like a drum, like a vibrating membrane.

Hello!

You can already hear it's echoing.

So I'm gonna take a rubber band, I'm gonna double it and I'm gonna stretch it over just so it gives me some extra grip there to keep the balloon in place.

Now this is the first part, this is our resonating tube.

This is the part that's going to resonate and we're going to take some of this mirror paper and I'm just gonna take a small little piece and cut off a little square, it doesn't have to be perfect and I'm gonna take the mirror paper and just tape it right to the center.

Perfect.

So now I have my reflective surface.

This is mirror paper.

I'm using this because a mirror is really scratchy and sharp if you try to cut it and this is really a safe way to do this, so you'll need some mirror paper.

What I'm going to do here in a moment is I'm going to tape it down to my meter stick, kind of like that.

But the thing is, is you have to have a laser pointer.

So I have my little kitty cat laser pointer.

Meow, meow, meow.

This little kitty is going to be an amazing little sidekick for me today because this kitty is a laser pointer.

When I take the laser pointer and I shine it at the mirror, it reflects and bounces that direction.

Now you can't see that just yet, but you'll be able to see how it works in just a moment.

The laser is traveling in a straight line and it's bouncing into this.

So we need to lift this up a little bit so that it's going to come here and it's going to bounce up and away from our vibrating membrane.

So I have some extra cardboard and I'm just going to kind of fold it into a triangle shape.

Now we're going to tape our tube to the meter stick just like that.

We want this to be nice and sturdy, so it's not moving and vibrating.

Woo, whoa.

So we wanna take that and tape it down and also we're gonna tape this down first, keep it in place.

(joyful music continues) It's sturdy, it's not going anywhere and now what we have to do is take our laser and we need to get it to bounce into the mirror and it's bouncing up onto the ceiling.

So I need to build a little buffer underneath this.

Looks like one piece of cardboard is going to do the trick.

If you need to make it a little more, or you can move it up a little bit so that it gets into the right place so it bounces correctly.

I'm gonna tape that down.

Right about there is where I want the kitty cat to be and now the kitty cat's gonna wanna move because it's not flat so I'm gonna need a few pieces to get the kitty cat to stay in place.

It looks funny because I'm making sure the cat is strapped down so it's nice and safe, snug as a bug in a rug.

All right, let's see here.

All right, good.

It's hitting it, perfect.

Now the other thing I have to do is because I'm gonna be holding it like this... Hello, hello!

I need the laser pointer to be able to be turned on without me having to push it and hold it so my hands don't get into the way.

So I'm going to take a little piece of cardboard.

I'm gonna put it right over its nose, which is the button.

Bring this underneath here, just like that.

Put this where the button's gonna hit and then when I pull it off, I'm using the cardboard to put pressure onto it and now it's gonna hold it in place and now hopefully you can see that the laser pointer is coming from here, hitting this mirror and what you can't see is that it's bouncing off past the camera behind me but if I turn it around, you should be able to see it bouncing on the wall and we can see the laser pointer.

Now the laser itself, it looks kind of blurry on the wall.

That's because it's mirror paper.

So it's not perfectly smooth like a traditional mirror.

It's not as shiny, it's not as smooth so the reflection we get isn't perfect, but this is a great way to build this at home and that's why I wanted to illustrate it with this specific paper.

All right, so now that we have it all built, it's time to test it and in order to test it, once again, we need to turn off the lights.

♪ Mr. C has the best science crew in the world ♪ ♪ Thank you for being part of the science crew ♪ - Tessellations are an arrangement of shapes that can cover an entire plane without any gaps.

For our tessellation today, we are going to start with a square.

The trick to a square tessellation is that whatever shape you cut out of the bottom of the square must be added to the opposite side of the square and if you cut something out of the right side of the square, you have to add it to the left side of the square.

Be creative and design your own masterpiece.

Once you're all finished, you can trace your design repeatedly and cover the entire surface to create a magnificent and mesmerizing pattern.

- Those tessellation patterns are beautiful, but have you ever wondered why tigers have striped patterns?

It's so they won't be (snaps) spotted!

Have you ever noticed that our show is actually created in a pattern?

Mr. C starts the show, Alfred talks about materials, I introduce you to the science notebook, we do lots of demonstrations and experiments, London shares amazing facts and Rylee finds cool activities for you to try at home.

It's a pattern!

This pattern helps us learn about the science concepts in every episode.

I wonder what would happen if we camouflaged the show's pattern and changed it up, or what if we use Morse code for the entire episode?

(laughs) That might get a little confusing.

- A Caesar Cypher allows you to use a traditional alphabet to make a not so traditional message.

We can create our own letter pattern and then only share it with the person who will be getting our messages.

For example, for this message, we are going to shift the pattern by three letters.

First, write out the entire alphabet.

Then directly underneath it, start with a different letter.

Since we're shifting our pattern by three, we'll start with the letter D. Now, if we want to write "science rocks", we would use the V for S, the F for C and so on.

When we're finished, we'd have a message that looks like this!

"VFLHQGH URFNV" (laughs) That's definitely an amazing new word.

No one would ever know what our messages says, unless we share our pattern to decode the words.

Give it a try and have fun creating your own Caesar Cypher with your crew, because you know that "VFLHQGH URFNV!"

(chuckles) - The patterns of stars seen in the sky are called constellations.

If we want to be more accurate, a group of stars that form a pattern in the sky is called an asterism.

- Another great way to explore patterns is to make a fractal.

We can make our own fractal really easily and you might be saying to yourself, "Self, what's a fractal?"

Well, a fractal is a pattern that repeats itself over and over over time and the pattern is the same whether it's in large scale or small scale and they're super easy to make and they're super fun.

The first thing you need is some paper and markers and the second thing you need is to select a shape.

We're going to do our fractal using a triangle for our pattern.

(joyful music continues) So as you can see, while I'm working on this, I'm taking my triangle and in the empty triangle space that I have, I add another triangle and then around it, I add another triangle and then there's vacant space and I add another triangle and I keep digging down further and further and further until I basically run out of space and that is a fractal pattern.

(joyful music continues) So here is my fractal pattern with triangles.

Now I intentionally didn't go down as far down on the blue as I did on the black, because I wanted to show you the different levels.

So the blue has three layers down.

So the big one, the second one in the middle, the third one, and then the smaller fourth.

Four, four layers.

The pink has the fifth layer and the black one has the sixth layer and you can see how teeny, tiny it goes.

Now, if I had a really fine tip marker, it would be able to go on essentially forever.

It would repeat itself indefinitely, as long as I could get in there and draw additional triangles.

What I love is that fractals can be found in nature all over.

We can find them in snowflakes.

We can find them in branches.

We can find them in leaves.

We can find them in ferns.

We can find them in lightning.

We can even find them in broccoli, pineapples, peacocks and sometimes crystals.

Fractals are amazing patterns that once you see 'em with your eyes, it's hard to unsee them.

- Another pretty amazing pattern is right here at your fingertips.

Seriously, right on your fingertips!

It's your fingerprint.

Everyone's fingerprints are different and create a unique pattern that no one else in the world has.

The most common fingerprints are loops, arches and whorls.

To check out the patterns on your fingers, grab an ink pad and a piece of plain paper, Dab your fingertips into the ink and then press your print onto a sheet of paper.

Do all your fingers have similar patterns?

How do your prints compare to your science crews prints?

Are you a loops, arch or whorl pattern?

I like to make mine into art.

Bzz, bzz, bzz!

This little guy is off to find more patterns too.

Bzz, bzz, bzz!

- Well, that activity has my mind buzz, buzz, buzzing with cool ideas to try.

Great job science crew!

We've definitely got a pattern for a great show perfected.

We have lots of really cool information about fractals, tessellations, sound patterns and fingerprints.

I also added the key for our Caesar Cypher so that we can remember the pattern Alfred used when creating his message.

It's so much fun to write secret messages to friends.

Can you see the secret message I made for you?

"RXU VFLHQGH RUHZ URFNV"!

Okay.

(laughs) That's right, it says "Our science crew rocks"!

- Yes.

I just finished my fractal pattern and it is gorgeous.

Remember patterns repeat, repeat, repeat and just like every one of our other episodes, at the end of the show, we always remind you to get your science notebook out to... my science notebook.

I don't know where my science notebook is.

My science notebook, right here and you can have one of these too, just hop online and download it.

Science notebooks are critical because they're a place for you to store your information and keep track of all of the experiments that you do with your science crew.

Oh, what an amazing day learning about patterns.

Keep learning, keep having fun, keep exploring and remember, science is wherever you are.

Speaking of patterns, I need to get back to working on my Morse code.

DIY.

D... (machine beeps) I... (machine beeps) Y.

(machine beeps) I got it!

(upbeat music begins) ♪ It's science time ♪ Boots and cats and boots and meow.

Boots and cats and boots and meow.

(laughs into tube) That is so cool.

I was looking at the microphone to talk instead of the camera.

(laughs) Hey little kitty.

Hi, Mr. C. You ready to do some science, little kitty?

Well, I've got the voices mixed up, but that's okay.

We have our science notebook and if you don't... (laughs) we have our science notebook and-