They take care of our machines: Irons, phones, and toasters,
MP3s and TV screens, Even rollercoasters.
Without them clocks stop ticking, Without them lights go out!
But if you meet a Fixie, please, Don’t let their secret out!
Friction
Tom Thomas! That door of yours squeaks terribly!
Yeah, and it's not easy to open either.
Well, that's because the hinges are rubbing. That's why your door is not working right.
How can I fix it?
Just reduce the amount of friction.
- How? - With some oil on the hinges.
I can do it for you because I've got a pack-o-mat.
Alright.
Simka, can I help you?
Sure you can! Wear the pack-o-mat, all right?
Friction is the force that tries to stop something from sliding or rubbing smoothly against something else.
Rubbing can make things wear out quickly if there is a lot of friction.
If you want less friction, you need to put something on the parts that rub against each other. Like oil.
There are special kinds of grease used to keep clocks and wheels turning smoothly,
and for skis, a special kind of wax can be used to make them go even faster.
That's it! Now the top hinge.
It’s all done! Go ahead and check how it's working.
It's not squeaking!
I told you!
You guys are the best!
- I've got to go. - Go where?
I'm going to go sledding!
Maybe you'll take me with you?
Sorry, Nolik. You don't have a sled to ride on. I'll see you later!
Simka, should I grease the saucer?
What for? It will slide down the hill just the way it is.
OK then.
Wait here for me, Nolik.
I’ll be back real soon with a surprise for you.
Yeah! Oil is slippery! I know what I'll do!
Wow! Talk about no friction!
Hey! Any one?
Help, help! Simka!
Nolik? Are you alright?
Just stay where you are, I’ll be right there!
- Papus! - Papus, help us, please!
Who called for me? Help is on the way!
Hey, what are you up to?
- Grandpus, stay away from here! - You'll fall over!
What did you say?
Stay where you are!
What happened here?
I poured some oil on the table.
- Why did you do that? - To reduce... friction.
That's brilliant!
Nobody move!
I know exactly what to do!
And what was the problem you had with the friction?
I want to see all of this oil gone in five minutes.
Engineers are in a constant battle with the force of friction.
They want less friction so that cars will run faster,
and their parts will wear out less quickly.
But just imagine what the world would be like if all of a sudden there was simply no friction at all!
Everything would start slipping out of our hands and falling off the table.
Knots would untie themselves. And that's not the half of it!
Cars wouldn't be able to run without friction either.
Wheels would spin around and around in one place unable to grab onto the road.
We wouldn’t even be able to walk!
Because when we walk, we move forward by pushing off the ground with our feet.
And how can we do that without friction?
We can't!
So now I think you can see why it's not so bad to have a little bit of friction in our lives!
We cleaned it!
But it's still so stinky!
Nolik, I completely forgot!
I promised you a surprise.
Look!
What is it?
I made you your very own saucer for sledding.
That's great!
Only… what good is this thing without snow?
Nolik, hey! Look at what I've got for you!
Snow?
Yeah!
Is it real snow? Really?
Yep! Now you've got your very own hill to sled on!
This is great! What an awesome surprise!
And you don't need oil to make it go quickly!
Just like the name says, Fixies live to help machines and appliances.
But machines are very big and Fixies are very small.
So they can’t get by without tools.
Long ago Fixies worked with just about anything they could find:
little feathers, threads, pins… But now they have backpacks called pack-o-mats.
Inside a pack-o-mat are all sorts of tools.
Just push the button and the pack-o-mat spins around quickly shooting out a hook, or a magnet,
or even a parachute.
Every adult Fixie has their own pack-o-mat,
but before children can get them, they have to go to school and study hard,
and then pass an exam before they have the rights of a full-fledged Fixie.
And it’s only after all of that that young Fixies get their own pack-o-mats.
We’re missing something here.
I can tell you what.
You mean confidence?
Calculations?
Elegance?
I know! Speed!
What's missing here is teamwork!
Simka, you're right. It's one for all and all for one!
Then here's what we gonna do.
We got it!
Attack and check, don't lose control. A line change on the fly.
The puck is zooming towards the goal To score and break the tie.
It's one for all and all for one! Great teamwork is a must!
Let's go and show them how it's done! This game was made for us!
Hockey's our game! Hockey!
Hockey's our game!
Tell me again what's the name of our game?!
I can't hear you!
Hurrah!
A long time ago it was discovered by scientists
that some materials produce electricity when light hits them.
Sheets that are made out of these materials are called photoelectric cells.
By connecting a few of these photoelectric cells together,
you can build a solar battery!
A solar battery in a calculator sits behind a small clear window.
And when light hits the solar battery
it produces the electricity that powers the calculator.
Fixies go to Fixie schools And study to be masters.
There's so much they need to learn To save us from disasters!
There isn't one appliance That they don't know about.
But if you meet a Fixie, please, Don't let their secret out!
Batteries
Oh, my little lemon, just you wait!
One day you'll be a strong and splendid tree!
She’s talking with a flowerpot!
You scared me!
Do you like it?
Like what?
My seedling, don't you see?
It will grow into a huge tree!
And there, amongst the green leaves...
will be beautiful yellow lemons.
Class!
From that thing? Lemons?
Oh yeah! It will grow into a tree!
All it needs for that is to gather energy.
Get energy? From where?
From our Sun!
The Sun? It'll be so slow.
Batteries would be faster than the sun!
Batteries?
I really don’t think so.
Toola!
Do you know how much energy they have?!
Let’s just bury a bunch of those batteries in here
and you'll be watching your lemon plant shoot up into a tree!
Are you... positive?
Absolutely!
And where can we get the batteries?
Over there!
Professor Eugenius has a whole box full of them!
Batteries, batteries!
We use them every day and need them by the ton.
Batteries, batteries!
They give power to appliances so they can run.
That does it!
We'll be seeing the first lemons before the week's over!
The first battery in the world was made in Italy
more than two hundred years ago.
When two different kinds of metal were placed in salty water,
electricity started flowing through a wire from one piece of metal to the other.
Many years have passed since then, but batteries still work in pretty much the same way.
Today you can find batteries being used for electricity just about everywhere.
Tiny batteries are used inside of wristwatches.
While big batteries can power cars and even ships.
With new batteries being produced by the millions, we have to think, how should we get rid of the old ones?
You can’t just throw away batteries because they'll poison our soil and water.
The best way to dispose of batteries is to take them to a special collection station
that sends them to factories for recycling.
Yes-yes! It's a terrible idea to bury batteries!
You can kill any plants that are growing there.
And this is the very reason why Professor Eugenius puts all of his used batteries in that box over there
so he can dispose of them properly.
Hey, where are they?
Oh, my seedling! We harmed you!
What? Where are the batteries?
They're in... the flowerpot.
How come?
So the lemons would grow faster.
From the batteries?
Who came up with that idea? It will die!
Hurry, we've got to go save it!
The soil is contaminated! We've got to find a new home for this seedling.
But where?
Over there! There’s a pot with healthy soil.
Let's do it!
Batteries, batteries!
They come in different sizes, shapes and colors too.
Batteries, batteries
Could be yellow, might be green, or maybe red and blue
Don’t cry, Toola!
The seedling will be perfectly fine.
It will grow big and strong
with branches full of beautiful lemons!
And oranges!
And watermelons!
It's a lemon tree, Fire.
Will you ever stop going too far, like with the batteries?
Well, anyhow, batteries are cool, right?
Look how many appliances can't work without them!
You're right! APPLIANCES can't work!
Look! The seedling is coming back to life!
It really is!
Toola, tell us. Isn’t it splendid?
Splendid!