Video transcript of Episode 11: Toilet Roll Solar System

Transcript

On-screen text reads: "Do Try This at Home from the Institute of Physics. Episode 11: Toilet Roll Solar System"

The camera cuts to a timelapse of two boys using felt-tip pens to draw some planets on paper. The planets they draw are Neptune and Jupiter. We hear some electronic music play in the background.

The camera cuts to a birds-eye view of the boys who are looking up to the camera and giving a thumbs-up.

They have cut around each planet and the sun leaving a small border on the outside. Each paper cutout can be seen on a table, and the sun, which is the largest cutout, takes up most of the space.

The background music stops playing. We hear a whooshing noise and the screen swipes to the right. 

The camera cuts to Jenny who is sitting on her sofa at home. She’s wearing a t-shirt which says: "Fly me to the moon."

There is a model of a space rocket on her left, and a table in front of her. We see a toilet roll, a ruler, some pens, and some paper on the table.

Jenny: "Hello and welcome to Do Try This at Home brought to you by the Institute of Physics. We’re making these films to help parents and carers across the UK and Ireland get their kids excited and curious about the world around them.

"My name’s Jenny and welcome to my home."

On-screen text reads: "Dr Jenny Search, IOP Regional Education Manager (Yorkshire and NE England)."

Jenny: "The activity I’ve got for you today is out of this world. It’s called the Toilet Roll Solar System, perfect for anyone who likes space. 

"What you’ll need for this is a toilet roll, a fresh clean one, some colouring pens or pencils, scissors, some sheets of paper and a ruler. You’ll also need a list of the planets and their distances and sizes and you can find this on our website."

As she speaks, Jenny picks up all the items in turn and shows them to the camera. 

On-screen text reads: "iop.org/athome."

Jenny: "Now toilet rolls really horrible to draw on so we’re going to draw the planets on paper and then you can cut them out and stick them on later. We’re also going to need to shrink the solar system to fit it onto a toilet roll.

"So, the way we’re going to do this is one sheet of toilet paper is going to be 30 million kilometres and if we use this scale the Sun would be this big."

As she speaks, Jenny picks up one rectangular sheet of toilet roll paper and shows it to the camera. The camera cuts to a close-up shot of the sheet of paper. Some text appears over the top of the sheet of paper and reads: "30,000,000 KM."

She picks up a drawing pin with a rounded end and places it in front of the piece of toilet roll. The end of the drawing pin represents the sun. We see the difference in size between the sheet of the toilet roll and the end of the drawing pin. 

Jenny: "If the Sun was this big the Earth would be too small to see so we’re going to have to cheat."

Camera cuts to a medium shot of Jenny.

Jenny: "We’re going to make the Sun and the planets 100 times bigger and if we did that the sun would be this big."

Someone off-camera throws an inflatable exercise ball to Jenny which she catches. We can hear her catch it.

Jenny: "And if the sun is this big the Earth would be this big and that makes everything a bit easier to see."

Jenny sets the ball down. Some text appears over the ball which reads: "x 100". It shows what size the sun will be if we make it 100 times bigger.

Jenny picks up the sheet of toilet paper and drawing pin again. Camera cuts to a close-up shot of Jenny holding up the sheet of toilet paper and placing the pin over it. 

Words appear over the sheet of toilet paper which read: "Earth x 100" which means it is 100 times bigger than the earth which is now represented by the head of the drawing pin.

Camera cuts to a medium shot of Jenny.

Jenny: "The first thing you need to do is build your worlds and I’m going to hand you over to two planet building experts for this part."

Camera cuts to a bird-eye shot of two boys. We hear some fast-paced music and see a time-lapse of the planets being created. 

They have 6 sheets of A4 paper in front of them which have been stuck together. They use a ruler and pencil to mark up 9 squares, make a dot in the centre and, using a ruler, draw a large circle which they cut out. The diameter of the circle is equal to the width of the square, which means there is some paper left over once the circle has been cut out.

They use different paint sponges to colour the sun, and then use the leftover scraps of paper to make their planet. Using felt tip pens, they colour in and label each planet before cutting each one out.  The sun and all the other planets are laid out on the table. 

The background music stops playing.

The camera zooms in on the planets which have been labelled as follows: Saturn 50 mm, Jupiter 62mm, Mercury 2mm, Venus 5mm, Uranus 20 mm, Earth 5mm, Mars 3mm, Neptune 20mm.

Jenny (voice-over): "Great! Now you’ve got your planets ready you’re ready to stick them down and lay out your toilet roll solar system. Let’s go on the grand tour."

Camera cuts to a medium shot of Jenny who points to her right. Screen swipes right, and we see a close-up shot of our first planet the sun. The word ‘sun’ has been written on it.

Jenny (voice over): "We’re starting at the centre of the solar system with our Sun, an ordinary star about halfway through its lifetime." 

Atmospheric music plays. The cutout of the sun is lying on the floor. We see the end of the toilet at the edge of the sun. A hand can be seen rolling out the toilet roll away from the sun.

Jenny (voice over): "Place your loo roll to the edge of the Sun and roll out two sheets to get to your first planet Mercury, the smallest of the planets, just a little bit bigger than our moon and covered in craters.

A hand places Mercury at a distance of two sheets from the sun on the perforation. On-screen text reads: "Two sheets from the sun 2." We hear a digital typing sound effect as the text appears.

Jenny (voice-over): "Next is Venus, another rocky planet with a thick poisonous atmosphere where temperatures can reach over 470 degrees C." 

We see the toilet paper rolled out further, and a hand places the paper cutout of Venus at a distance of 1 ½ sheets from Mercury. The camera cuts to a close-up shot of the planet. On-screen text reads: “Number of sheets from previous planet 1 ½.” We hear a digital typing sound effect as the text appears.

Jenny (voice-over): "Third rock from the Sun, our home. A little bigger than Venus the Earth is just far enough away from our star for water to be a liquid but not too far away that it’s all frozen."

The toilet roll is rolled out further. This time earth is placed at a distance of 1 ½ sheets form Venus on the perforation. The camera cuts to a close-up shot of the planet. On-screen text reads: "Number of sheets from previous planet 1 ½." We hear a digital typing effect as the text appears. 

Jenny (voice-over): "Moving on to Mars, the final rocky planet, it’s about half as wide as the Earth. On average it’s a chilly minus 63 degrees C with ice caps made of solid carbon dioxide."

The toilet roll is rolled out further and Mars is placed at a distance of 2 ½ sheets from Earth. The camera cuts to a close-up of Mars.  On-screen text reads: “Number of sheets from previous planet 2 ½.” We hear a digital typing sound effect as the text appears.

Jenny (voiceover): "Leaving the small inner planets behind we go out to Jupiter, the first of the gas giants, and it really is giant – over 11 times as wide as Earth and has a mass that is two and a half times greater than the mass of all the other planets in the solar system put together."

We see the toilet roll being rolled out further. Its takes noticeably longer this time and passes a doorway and round a corner. A hand places Jupiter on the toilet roll. It is noticeably larger than the others. On-screen text reads: “Number of sheets from previous 18 ½.” We hear a digital typing sound effect as the text appears.

Jenny (voice-over): "Moving on we reach another gas giant, Saturn, the second largest plan-et in the solar system and the lord of the rings. It isn’t the only planet to have rings, but it definitely has the most beautiful ones." 

The toilet roll is rolled out for quite a distance. We see Saturn placed down on the toilet roll at a distance of 21 ½ sheets from Jupiter. The camera cuts to a close-up shot of Saturn. On-screen text reads: "Number of sheets from previous planet 21 1/2)." We hear a digital typing sound effect as the text appears.

Jenny (voice-over): "Six down and two to go and there’s a reason that the last pair are called the outer planets."

We see the toilet roll being rolled down part of a hallway, up some stairs and onto a landing. 

Jenny (voice-over): "It took the Voyager spacecraft five years to travel this distance. About four Earths across, Uranus is an ice giant and was the first planet to be discovered using a telescope." 

Uranus is placed down on a toilet roll sheet. Camera cuts to a close-up shot of the planet and the on-screen text reads: "Number of sheets from previous planet 47 ½." We hear a digital typing sound effect as the text appears.

Jenny (voice-over): "And finally, up here in the loft, four and a half billion kilometres out from the Sun, we reach the last planet that we know about, Neptune! Another ice giant about the same size as Uranus and surrounded by supersonic winds that take 165 years to complete one lap around its host star the Sun." 

The toilet roll is rolled up a further a flight of stairs before the final paper cutout of Neptune is placed down. One of the children gives a thumbs-up next to the planet. Camera cuts to a close-up shot of the planet. On-screen text reads: “Number of sheets from previous planet 54.” We hear a digital typing sound effect as the text appears. 

Camera cuts to the two boys sitting at the top of the stairs. We hear one of them say: "We got all the way to the loft!." The other says: "It’s such a long way to Neptune and that’s just in our solar system!"

Jenny (voice-over): "So, let’s roll it up, repairing any tears as we go, and put it back into its box to treasure
forever." 

Camera cuts to a timelapse of the two children rolling up their homemade solar system. Camera cuts to the toilet roll being placed in a box. We see that the children have folded the sun so that it becomes a temporary 3D holder which they have placed on a shelf. We see the words, "Loo Roll Solar System" on the temporary holder.

We hear a whooshing sound and the screen swipes right. Camera cuts to a medium shot of Jenny, who is sitting on her sofa.

Jenny: "If you liked this film then please give it a like and why not head on over to our website where there’s lots more activities that you can do at home. Thanks for watching and see you next time!"

Camera cuts to the two boys giving a high five. They turn to the camera and give a thumbs-up.

The image is replaced by some on-screen text which reads: "Do Try This at Home from the Institute of Physics. For instructions and more Do Try This at Home films visit iop.org/athome. These experiments have not been specifically safety tested for home use, but we believe them to be safe if the instructions are followed. Adult supervision is recommended as appropriate. All experiments are carried out at your own risk."