You can join Captain Zoom and her scientist friends Amy and Mark on Let's Find Out. Step aboard the spaceship Curiosity for some exciting experiments, curious kids and trips to faraway places.

It's all produced with support from Science Foundation Ireland and you can watch it any time on RTÉ Player.

Watch the full show here on RTÉ Player!

In this experiment Zoom finds out that rivers are made in mountains. But then she wants to know how mountains are made, so Hanna and Lia demonstrate - using towels!

With an adult present why not try it yourself or in school with your class?

Here is a full lesson plan...

You will need:

  • Three different coloured towels.
  • Blue food sprinkles
  • A blue ribbon

What to do:

  1. First, fold the towels in half, lengthways.
  2. Stack each towel on top of each other so you have three coloured layers.
  3. These represent the layers of the outer part of the Earth, called the crust.
  4. Place the towels on a flat surface and start to slowly push them from the ends to the centre. Your towels will start to fold up into mounds that look like mountains.
  5. Once your towel mountains are as big as you want them to be it is time to think about something else that forms around mountains… rivers.
  6. Start by sprinkling some of the blue food sprinkles onto the tops of the mountains, notice how the sprinkles start to pool together and fall down the side of the mountain.
  7. Next add the blue ribbon from the top of the mountains down the side, that represents the river that forms.
Hanna and Lia performing the experiment!

The science bit...

The towels represent the layers that make up the crust of the Earth. Some mountains are formed when these push against each other, making the ground bulge upwards. Of course, it doesn’t happen quickly like in this demonstration… It can take millions of years for a mountain to form.

Rivers often start in mountains; Rain falling at the top of the mountains can pool together and start to flow down the side of the mountain. The blue sprinkles represent the rain. If enough rain water is added it can become a river which is the blue ribbon in this demonstration.

Check out the RTÉ Player to watch the full episode HERE and all the series so far HERE!!

AND there are lots more experiments with videos and full instructions - Just click HERE!