The Ruff Ruffman Show
Pulling for the Plushie!
10/14/2017 | 6m 15sVideo has Closed Captions
Sand, grass, or pavement? Which surface will pull Ruff to victory?
Ruff’s plushie is buried in a prize load of kibble! To get it back, Ruff will have to get Steve, a very unfriendly llama, to pull him and 200 pounds of kibble over one of three surfaces: sand, grass or pavement. But which surface will get Ruff to the finish line the fastest?
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
The Ruff Ruffman Show
Pulling for the Plushie!
10/14/2017 | 6m 15sVideo has Closed Captions
Ruff’s plushie is buried in a prize load of kibble! To get it back, Ruff will have to get Steve, a very unfriendly llama, to pull him and 200 pounds of kibble over one of three surfaces: sand, grass or pavement. But which surface will get Ruff to the finish line the fastest?
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
How to Watch The Ruff Ruffman Show
The Ruff Ruffman Show is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
The Ruff Ruffman Show!
With Blossom and Chet.
Yeah!
♪ ♪ Hello, viewers.
Today we're at the county fair.
Why?
Because a penguin tossed the Ruff Ruffman action to the max-tion plushie I was going to give to Grandma for her birthday onto a passing truck full of dry dog food, also known as kibble, and I followed the truck here.
You know, happens all the time.
Oh, hey!
It's my nephew Glen.
Uncle Ruff, I just saw a plushie that resembled you.
What?
Where?
(screams) All that kibble is for the annual county fair llama pull.
RUFF: A llama pull?
GLEN: Yeah.
Each contestant rides a llama as it pulls 200 pounds of dried kibble over a surface of their choosing-- sand, grass, or pavement.
The contestant that travels 50 feet the fastest wins all the kibble.
(panting) Wait, I have to travel 50 feet the fastest?
Well, then, I have no choice but to become the llama pull champion!
So, you must be, uh, Steve.
Steve the llama.
Okay, Steve, here we go, huh?
Oh.
Doesn't seem too bad.
Kind of comfortable.
(screaming) Whoa, Steve, whoa!
(screaming) I need to stop!
Whoa, camel!
No, no!
(screaming) (coughing) (i-bone rings) Blossom, hi.
So you're saying I was dragged by Steve over three different surfaces, and sometimes the llama moved more slowly than other times?
Huh.
So maybe one of these surfaces is easier for Steve to pull a sled over than the others.
And if I figure out which one, it'll help me win?
Thanks, Blossom!
Okay, viewers, if anyone out there has an extra sled and a South American pack animal lying around, I could sure use your help.
(i-bone ringing) BOTH: Hi, Ruff!
We're here to help.
I have Jade here, who's really strong... A sled.
Some kibble.
And a llama hat.
Luckily we have every surface we need for the test-- grass, sand, and pavement.
Okay, Ruff, as you can see, it's really heavy, so it's going to be hard to pull.
Yep, that's super-heavy, all right.
So how are we going to test which surface is easier to pull a sled on?
Well, the easier it is to pull it, the faster it will go.
And I can time you to see how long it takes you to pull the sled on each of the surfaces, and then we can compare the times.
Yeah, great idea.
Yay, I'm excited!
We have this rope.
We're going to use it to measure the same distance on each surface so that it's fair.
RUFF: We want fairness here.
- So what surface do you think's going to be the easiest to pull the sled on?
JADE: Probably the sand, because it's the softest.
- I think it's going to be the grass, because the grass will... because the grass will fall down, and then it'll be slippery.
JADE: Well, only one way to find out.
RUFF: I'm so hungry-- look at all that kibble.
I'm going to time how long it takes you, and then record the results on this chart.
Ready, set, go!
That looks really hard.
JADE: It is!
(grunting) RUFF: It's difficult.
And across the finish line.
12 seconds.
Okay, that seems to be a long time.
How are we feeling about 12 seconds?
Well, I would have thought that would be easier.
Well, it was kind of hard.
Let's try the sand and see how it compares.
Jade predicted it would be easiest.
Let's hope I'm right about this.
- Ready, set... RUFF: ♪ Draggin' kibble across the sand ♪ ♪ It looks difficult.
♪ Wow.
Come on, you can do it!
RUFF: That doesn't seem much easier.
Go, go, go!
Across the finish line!
16 seconds.
RUFF: That took even longer!
It was actually a lot harder to pull the sled across the sand than the grass.
I wonder how long it would take us to get across a hard surface like pavement.
Let's find out.
RUFF: I'm not a big fan of pavement.
Just... my paws are very sensitive.
Three, two, one, go!
Whoa, she is flying!
Eight seconds!
RUFF: Whoa.
What a surprise, Ruff!
The pavement was the fastest surface, even though it was the hardest.
The pavement?
Why would the pavement be easier?
I think it has to do with the fact that the pavement surface is smooth, while the other surfaces are rough and bumpy.
RUFF: Friction?
Yes-- when the surface of objects push and pull against each other...
It slows their motion?
That's right.
RUFF: And the force that slows the motion, that's called friction?
By George, you've got it, Uncle Ruff!
That must be it.
There's less friction when I pull the sled across the pavement, because it's smoother than the other surfaces.
Awesome work, guys.
BOTH: Bye, Ruff-- good luck!
RUFF: Bye, guys!
Great hats!
(grunting) Come on, Steve, we've got kibble to pull.
On pavement!
ANNOUNCER: Ready, set, go!
RUFF: ♪ Go team go, go, Steve, go ♪ ♪ Get across the finish line, you are awesome.
♪ Yeah!
(crowd cheering) Yeah!
Go, kibble!
Ha-ha!
Action to the max-tion plushie recovered!
Hey, come back here!
Come on, Chet.
We've got to get that llama!
♪ The Ruff Ruffman Show.
♪ Yeah!
- Science and Nature
Follow lions, leopards and cheetahs day and night In Botswana’s wild Okavango Delta.
- Science and Nature
Explore scientific discoveries on television's most acclaimed science documentary series.
Support for PBS provided by: