| Title and
Description |
Resources |
| Antigravity
Bowling Use a box to cover a high-gauss "radar magnet." Paperclips set on the outer surface of the box will stand in alignment with the magnetic field lines. Very engaging! |
Recipe: PDF Notes to the Future - Notes 2 Photo - Video |
| Cloudy With a Chance of
Phyz Create a cloud in a bottle using a tire pump and a splash of rubbing alcohol. And a bit of elbow grease. |
Recipe PDF Notes to the Future |
| Dancing
Drops Based on The Exploratorium's Strobe Fountain. Use a variable strobe light to "stop" a stream of water droplets. Making the dripper is the hard part. Watch the video of Nate True's Time Fountain to see the magic of an extremely well-engineered version of this concept. High school students will not be constructing this version. But it might serve well as inspiration! |
Recipe: PDF Notes to the Future - 2 - 3 - 4 "Time Fountain" (Amazing!) |
| Fireclap Clap the giant (2-inch diameter) ball bearings together with a piece of paper between them. The energy of the collision will burn a hole in the paper; you can smell the smoke! Experiment with other materials between the clappers. |
Recipe: PDF Notes to the Future - 2 - 3 Photo |
| Ice Scream Press the electrophorus plate into the block of dry ice. The subsequent scream is piercing. Why does this make any sound at all? |
Recipe PDF Notes to the Future |
| Overcoming
Resistance Connect a series circuit using a battery, bulb, and one to two feet of light-weight chain. When the chain is relaxed, the bulb lights dimly if at all. When the chain is stretched under tension, the bulb lights more brightly. The greater the tension, the brighter the light (up to a point). |
Recipe: PDF |
| Purple
Gaze A "black light" is used to illuminate fluorescent inks and other objects. Switch between incandescent and fluorescent illumination to reveal significant differences. See transparent sunscreen gel become opaque under UV. See the fluorescent dyes ("whiteners") added to laundry detergent. Or just "write with light" using fluorescent highlighters on dark post-its. |
Recipe: PDF Notes to the Future - 2 - 3 - 4 Photo |
| Rocket Science Modeling a rocket launch to determine an actual rocket's launch speed. |
Recipe PDF Notes to the Future Photo
|
| Show
Stopper Deploy a strobe light and a rotator (or electric drill) to stop motion and show some tricky animation illusions. All items are available commercially. And the show never fails to thrill exhibit attendees. |
Recipe: PDF Notes to the Future - Notes 2 Photo |
| Science is Fun! Turning bumps into language and amplifying the sound. |
Recipe PDF Notes to the Future Photo |
| Sit and Spin Angular momentum is conserved in a surprising way. |
Recipe PDF Notes to the Future Photo |
| Voice
Viewer If you have an oscilloscope, break it out and hook up a mic. For the rest of us, computers to the rescue! The point here is to speak into the microphone and see the oscilloscope trace. I use Pasco's Waveport software (the Sound Capture feature). For the benefit of shy attendees, have some sound sources handy. Carl Sagan never forgot his amazement at "seeing sound." |
Recipe: PDF Notes to the Future: PDF Photos |
| Vortex
Bowling Knock down soda-pop cans from afar using a toriodal vortex of air. And an amusing use of the AirZooka! |
Recipe: PDF Notes to the Future - 2 - 3 Photo |
| Walk This Way Connect a motion sensor to a computer and project the video on a screen. Run an application such as Pasco's EZ-screen with its "Match Graph" feature. Attendees must walk to match the motion graph shown. Very kinesthetic with instant feedback. Very popular among those with a bit of competitive spirit. "I bet you can't beat my score!" |
Recipe: PDF Notes to the Future: PDF Photo |
| Dean's
Phyz
Website |
ExploratoRio
Rescources |
The Exploratorium Science Snackbook Online | |
| The Blog of Phyz |
The Exploratorium Science Museum | Information
on
Square Wheels
(new exhibit recipes) |