Podcasts · Education · Kids & Family

Bunsen Bites

Tess & Rui

41 episodes · in order

Big questions. Bite-sized explanations.

More about the show

Why does gravity keep us grounded? Could time run backwards? How does an algorithm know what to show you? And who gets to tell history?

Bunsen Bites brings school subjects and fascinating ideas to life through lively conversations between two young presenters. From science and maths to history, technology and the world around us, each episode breaks a topic into clear explanations, relatable examples and questions worth asking.

An educational show for middle-school minds with an appetite for understanding. Each season follows the UK curriculum for the level it covers, one topic at a time.

Small bites. Big discoveries.

Created with the help of AI. Spoken by AI.

Episodes

  1. Ice, Water, Steam: One Substance or Three? (Chemistry Level 8)

    · 9:48 · S1 E2

    We're going to find out what actually makes something the same stuff, even when it looks, feels and behaves completely differently. First we'll work out how scientists identify a substance. Then we'll see why the same…

  2. The Invisible Kickers: Particles, Substances and States (Chemistry Level 8)

    · 9:38 · S1 E1

    We're going to track down the invisible thing that was shoving that pollen around. Then we'll use it to solve a harder case: two liquids that look exactly the same. How do you prove which is which? The mystery Brown…

  3. The Empty Seat: How Mendeleev Described an Element Before It Existed (Chemistry Level 8)

    · 7:28 · S1 E3

    So how do you describe something before it exists? We'll follow Mendeleev's trick first, then crack open an atom and find that the clue he was sorting by wasn't what really makes an element itself. Gallium's real…

  4. The Salt Shaker Periodic Table (Chemistry Level 8)

    · 7:20 · S1 E4

    We're going to find out what sodium and chlorine actually are, why one counts as a metal and the other doesn't. Then we'll see why those two in particular grab each other so hard, and why some elements refuse to grab…

  5. What Every Atom Wants (Chemistry Level 8)

    · 8:32 · S1 E6

    So we're chasing one question: what does an atom actually want? First we'll work out exactly what 'full' means for an atom. Then we'll find the two ways atoms get there: one grabs, one shares. The listener can now…

  6. Why You Can't Breathe Water (Chemistry Level 8)

    · 6:31 · S1 E5

    The answer is the difference between atoms that are just hanging around together and atoms that are actually locked together. Once you get that difference, you can read a chemical formula, and you'll see how a deadly…

  7. Why the Juice Carton Is Lying (Chemistry Level 8)

    · 7:23 · S1 E7

    So we're going to find out what 'pure' really means to a chemist, and why the juice fails the test. Then we'll see what the juice actually is, and why that turns out to be useful rather than a let-down. The listener…

  8. The Sugar That Never Left (Chemistry Level 8)

    · 7:37 · S1 E8

    In the next few minutes we're going to track that sugar down. First we prove it never actually left. Then we find out that water can only hide so much, and what happens when it runs out of room. The crystals that…

  9. Why Salt Slips Through the Filter (Chemistry Level 8)

    · 8:26 · S1 E9

    We're going to chase that question. First we'll see what a filter can actually catch, then why salt slips straight through it, and what you have to do instead. The sieve couldn't tell salt from water, but boiling can.…

  10. The Rigged Race in your Teacup (Chemistry Level 8)

    · 6:56 · S1 E10

    Here's the secret behind every way of pulling a mixture apart: find the one way its bits are different, then turn that difference into a race only some of them can win. We'll start with the most beautiful race in…

  11. The Case of the Vanishing Metal (Chemistry Level 8)

    · 7:35 · S1 E11

    We're tracking down missing metal. First we find out where it disappears to in acid. Then we catch metal doing the opposite in plain air, getting heavier, and work out what it stole. The case is solved: metal is never…

  12. Why Nobody Ever Found a Lump of Sodium ready (Chemistry Level 8)

    · 8:43 · S1 E12

    That one question is the whole episode. First we work out which metals are the bullies that grab other things and won't let go, and how we know. Then we see how humans steal them back out of rocks, and why the biggest…

  13. Why Your Lunchbox Will Outlive Your Sandwich (Chemistry Level 8)

    · 7:21 · S1 E13

    We're going to find out what bread, wool and a plastic box have in common: they're all giant chains. Then we'll see how we learned to build our own chains on purpose, and why the thing that makes plastic so useful is…

  14. The Plate That Survives the Oven but Not the Floor (Chemistry Level 8)

    · 5:56 · S1 E14

    That's what we're chasing: first, what makes ceramics so tough and so fragile at the same time. Then, how people beat that weakness by joining two materials so each one covers for the other. Composites solve the…

  15. The Cell With a Wall That Isn't a Plant (Biology Level 8)

    · 7:29 · S2 E1

    So today we're cell detectives. First we learn the clues that tell a plant cell from an animal cell. Then a suspect turns up that breaks those clues, and the only way to catch it is to work out how big it really is,…

  16. The Cells That Threw Away Their DNA (Biology Level 8)

    · 6:51 · S2 E2

    So why would your body build cells that are missing parts? We'll find out what each specialist cell gives up to be brilliant at one job. Then we'll see why giving things up means no cell can survive alone, and that…

  17. The Plant That Robs an Empty Wallet (Biology Level 8)

    · 6:40 · S2 E3

    To see why that's impossible, we first need the rule that moves almost everything in and out of your cells for free. Then we'll watch the plant break it and find out what that costs. Back to the plant: it isn't…

  18. The Cracker That Turns Sweet (Biology Level 8)

    · 6:30 · S2 E4

    That sugar was made inside your mouth, just now, by a chemical tool you carry around. Today we follow that cracker all the way through you. First, how your body cuts food into tiny pieces. Then, how those pieces get…

  19. You Are Breathing Out Your Breakfast (Biology Level 8)

    · 8:33 · S2 E5

    We're going to follow that breakfast out of you. First we find the door it leaves by, which is your lungs. Then we find where it was turned into gas in the first place, and that's a different process with a different…

  20. Why Your Blood Goes Through Your Heart Twice (Biology Level 8)

    · 5:37 · S2 E6

    We're going to follow one red blood cell on one full lap of your body, and find out why its route has two loops instead of one. Then we'll look at what it's carrying and who's riding with it, because the road is…

  21. The Leaf That Can't Stop Leaking (Biology Level 8)

    · 7:20 · S2 E7

    Because a leaf is trying to make food out of thin air, and the doors it has to open to get that air are the same doors its water escapes through. First we work out the recipe the leaf is cooking. Then we find out what…

  22. Which Way Does the Arrow Point? (Biology Level 8)

    · 6:39 · S2 E8

    We're going to work out what that arrow really means. Then we'll follow it to the top of the food chain and find out why the animal everyone thinks is in charge is the one most likely to be in trouble. The listener…

  23. The Forest That Needs an Otter (Biology Level 8)

    · 6:25 · S2 E9

    We're going to work out who that animal is and why a forest needs it. To do that we'll zoom out step by step, from one animal to the whole forest, and then find out what happened when people took that animal away. If…

  24. The Fittest Might Be Squishy (Biology Level 8)

    · 8:02 · S2 E10

    Today we're finding out what 'fittest' really means, and it isn't strongest or fastest. First we'll see what every living thing is actually fighting over. Then we'll see what happens when the rules of that fight…

  25. Your Bathroom Scale Is Lying (Physics Level 8)

    · 6:36 · S3 E1

    We're going to work out what a scale actually feels when you stand on it, and what number it should really show. Then we'll take that scale somewhere else and watch the number change, even though you haven't changed at…

  26. The Getaway Car That Was Parked and Speeding (Physics Level 8)

    · 8:06 · S3 E2

    We're going to solve this case. To do it, we need to learn to read one kind of motion graph, then catch the detective nearly arresting the wrong person because she read the second one the same way. The case is solved…

  27. Seventy Miles an Hour and Zero Newtons (Physics Level 8)

    · 7:33 · S3 E3

    We're going to find out why a thing can be moving fast and still have its forces add up to exactly nothing. Then we'll take that idea somewhere much scarier: a person falling out of a plane. The listener can now say:…

  28. The Screams Over Your Head (Physics Level 8)

    · 8:10 · S3 E4

    We're going to work out exactly what a sound has to be for your ears to catch it, and then why bats deliberately make the ones you can't. By the end you'll be able to calculate how small a bat's sound waves are, using…

  29. The Mirror Nobody Can See (Physics Level 8)

    · 7:24 · S3 E5

    So today's question is: how do you steer something moving at 300,000 kilometres every second? It turns out light only lets you do two things to it, bounce it or slow it down, and by the end you'll know the exact rule…

  30. Why Your Red Shirt Goes Black (Physics Level 8)

    · 5:55 · S3 E6

    By the end you'll know why that shirt goes black. First we take white light apart to see what's inside it. Then we see that every coloured thing you've ever looked at is really throwing light away. Back to the shirt,…

  31. The Flash You've Never Seen (Physics Level 8)

    · 8:47 · S3 E7

    That invisible flash is a cousin of the light you read by, and of your microwave, your dentist's X-ray and sunburn. They're all one family. By the end you'll know the family in order, why they all travel at the same…

  32. Stuck Charge, Moving Charge (Physics Level 8)

    · 7:27 · S3 E8

    We're hunting for the one difference between those two. First we'll make charge pile up and stay put, then we'll let it go and count it as it moves, and by the end you'll know exactly what an amp is counting. The…

  33. Why the Pigeon Doesn't Fry (Physics Level 8)

    · 8:04 · S3 E9

    The bird's secret is that a volt isn't something a wire has. It's a difference between two points. We'll chase that idea until it gives us one equation, and by the end you'll be able to work out exactly why the bird…

  34. The Night a Prankster Rewired Your House (Physics Level 8)

    · 6:30 · S3 E10

    We're going to run your house wired the wrong way, watch it fall apart, then rewire it the right way. Along the way you'll get the two rules electricians live by. Houses are wired in parallel so every device gets full…

  35. Why the North Pole Is Secretly South (Physics Level 8)

    · 6:47 · S3 E11

    We're going to work out why the North Pole is secretly a south pole, using nothing but the rules of magnets. Then we'll find out that the Earth isn't really a magnet like the one on your fridge at all. It's something…

  36. The Magnet That Never Arrives (Physics Level 8)

    · 5:48 · S3 E12

    This episode chases one idea: a magnet with an off switch. First we'll see what you can do by switching it on and off, then what happens when you flip it back and forth fast enough to make sound and spin a motor. The…

  37. The Mars Bar and the Power Station (Physics Level 8)

    · 7:55 · S3 E13

    We'll follow one Mars bar from the wrapper into you, then follow the same idea into a power station. By the end you'll know why some energy runs out forever and some never does, and it comes down to whether you're…

  38. Where Your Phone Battery Actually Goes (Physics Level 8)

    · 8:10 · S3 E14

    Here's the deal: we're going to follow every single joule out of a dying phone and find out where it actually goes. Then we'll hit a weirder question: if all that energy is sitting in your room right now, why isn't…

  39. The Flask That Doesn't Know Anything (Physics Level 8)

    · 7:11 · S3 E15

    It doesn't know anything. It just blocks every road heat can travel, and there turn out to be two kinds of road: one you can block by taking stuff away, and one that doesn't need any stuff at all. The flask is a…

  40. The Horse Watt Rounded Up (Physics Level 8)

    · 7:05 · S3 E16

    We're going to follow Watt as he tries to put a price on a horse's effort, and that will show us exactly what work and power are. Then we'll open your electricity bill and see that you're paying for the thing Watt was…

  41. Who's Holding the Other Two-Thirds? (Physics Level 8)

    · 6:13 · S3 E17

    We're going to find the one rule that makes that possible, and it fits in three words: force times distance. Then we'll find out what that rule secretly charges you, because nothing comes free, not even in physics. No…

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