hello welcome to fun science demos my
name is Naomi and I am a teacher from
Temple University's College of Science
and Technology today we'll be talking
about viruses with a focus on the corona
virus you may have heard a lot about
corona virus on the news but we want to
talk to you about the science of viruses
first by understanding the science you
can keep yourself and the people around
you healthy let's start by asking what
is a virus a virus is very small
so small we cannot see it with just our
eyes let's zoom in so I can show you if
the virus was this big just the red tip
of this match then a bacteria would be
this big and this big balloon this would
be the size of one of our cells like the
cell in my cheek biologists are
scientists that study living things
biologists say that viruses are not even
alive what does that mean through
science we know that all living things
are made of cells and all living things
grow and change all living things can
reproduce viruses are not made of cells
they are much smaller than cells
remember viruses do not grow and change
viruses cannot reproduce on their own
they need living cells to reproduce
inside how can something so small infect
something so big a virus is like a
computer program that comes with special
instructions when a virus gets into a
healthy cell it can hack it and insert
its instructions into the cell once
inside the virus makes the cell build
more and more viruses until the cell
explodes and spreads those new viruses
to other cells to hack them this is how
infection starts here we have a 3d
printed model of the corona virus you
may have heard about from the news which
scientists call Co vid 19 all these red
parts are like keys which unlock a cell
letting in the virus's special
instructions viruses can change very
quickly you may have also heard of the
flu you may have even had the flu before
biologists called the virus that causes
the flu influenza and helped to develop
a new vaccine every year to fight new
forms of influenza vaccines stop viruses
from infecting new cells
kovat 19 is a new form of corona virus
there are biologists and doctors working
really hard right now to find a vaccine
to help your body fight off corona virus
in the meantime how do we keep ourselves
safe inside our body our cells are
always fighting infection so to stay
healthy from corona virus we have to do
everything we would normally do to keep
ourselves safe we need to eat well get
enough sleep and wash our hands remember
how small our viruses compared to the
bacteria or one of our cells it is so
small we cannot see with their eyes so
to make sure we get all of it off our
hands we need to use warm water and soap
for 20 seconds the soap will not kill
the virus but it will help them wash
away and down the drain for more
information about corona virus viruses
in general and other ways to stay
healthy check out the links and a
description if you would like to learn
more about science
check out our channel fun science demos
science stop and try to wonder why
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