How Clear is YOUR television?

This exhibit demonstrates how the difference in 2 resolutions can greatly affect the image that’s created. Resolution is how many pixels there are in a display. The more there are the higher the resolution. A higher resolution image is smoother and has more detail. Resolution is measured in how many pixels are horizontal by how many are vertical. A standard CRT television has a resolution of 440 × 486. A 1080p high definition TV has a resolution of 1920×1080. There is a massive difference in these resolutions thus a much higher quality image.  You can see here the screen on the left has bigger pins, or pixels, and creates a blockier image where the one on the right has more pins that are smaller and this creates a smoother picture. This is a similar comparison you would have if you compared a HDTV with a non-HTV of the same size. It’s hard to compare different resolutions on different sized screens; a slightly smaller resolution on a much smaller screen will look much smoother than a slightly bigger resolution on a much bigger screen. This exhibit demonstrates the difference in a very visual and easy to understand way. It’s also quite a bit of fun! Come check it out!

Coffee and Creamer – the experiment!

Motion Mania is the name of our brand new exhibit opening June 20th!  In order to get familiar with the science concepts in Motion Mania, try this …  We have a simple and easy to do experiment for you to try, one that you can actually conduct TODAY.

Supplies:

• Coffee (skip out on the mocha latte’s, just grab a regular)
• Creamer (the liquid kind in the 3/8 ounce cups)
• Coffee stirrer or spoon
• A friend or parent 

Procedure:

Before you just dump in the creamer and stir it up, think about the different ways you could mix your coffee and creamer.  Discuss these methods with a coworker.  Sheena and I came up with a few different ways:  just dump the creamer in and wait, stir frantically and then pour the creamer in, or just put the creamer in and then stir.

In this experiment, try the following technique:

1. Pour creamer in your coffee

2. Stir slowly in one direction twice

3. Stir slowly in the opposite direction once

How much time does it take for the creamer to be completely mixed? How does the appearance of the creamer change over time?

When Sheena and I tried this, we noticed that

Do try this at home!

Have you ever looked through a spectroscope?  Learn how to make one at home!  Check out our video link:

A spectroscope, and the pattern of colors you see inside the container is called a spectrum. Visible light from the sun is actually made up of many different colors, or frequencies, of light. When you point your spectroscope at a light source, the CD acts like a prism, spreading light into its component colors. Violet light (the highest frequency of visible light) is at one end of the spectrum and red light (the lowest frequency of visible light) is at the other. The surface of the CD contains many small grooves. When light hits the CD, these little grooves separate the colors so they reflect at different angles onto the inside wall of the spectroscope.

Jacob’s Ladder

This is a sketch of the Jacob's Ladder found in our lobby.

If you haven’t already, check out one of the newest exhibits out on the floor (or more accurately, in the entrance): Jacob’s Ladder. This sci-fi (think: Gene Wilder’s laboratory in Young Frankenstein) inspired exhibit takes its name from the biblical story describing Jacob’s vision to build a ladder to heaven. In the case of our exhibit, though, the rungs of the ladder are made up of glowing arcs of ionized air and electrons. The entire apparatus consists of a copper electrode running up the center of a giant cylinder, with smaller wires running up and away from the central electrode. A strong voltage (around 30,000 V) is applied to the copper electrode running up the center of the apparatus that causes an intense spark. The resulting spark is caused by an attempt of the electrons in the current to complete a circuit by “jumping” from this copper electrode to a metal wire. This spark ionizes the surrounding air molecules, thus dramatically reducing the resistance from the molecules and creating a conductive arc of ionized air called plasma. The resulting drop of resistance from the air causes the voltage between the two electrodes to drop dramatically, and electric current flows freely from the copper electrode to the surrounding wires that run up and away from the center.

How long can you keep it spinning?

Does this remind you of the earlier post on the chaotic pendulum?

What is the relationship between the chaotic pendulum and the turntable?

Ice Balloons

Frozen Ice...

Building our own Kelp Forest!

We started building our kelp forest by establishing a proper base, or the sea floor.  We built up from then, trying to convey a flourishing and healthy kelp bed.  Join us in our process:

Special thanks to our resident artist

Can you find order in chaos?

We have a Chaotic Pendulum exhibit!

How very appropriate, some might say…

Thanks to the Exploratorium for this image

At one point, myself and another interpreter tried to test this theory. We conducted all 100 trials on a quiet summer morning and before each trial, we would attempt to predict where the pendulum would end.  Is there order in chaos?  (Using this system as an example)

If we can predict one year into the future, that means we can predict one hour into the future and even one second into the future.  Let’s say every morning,  you take a walk in your neighborhood.  You walk down the street and back.  Is this walk always the same? 

Would you like to experience gravity?

How does gravity work?  Is gravity…

a. Fancy science jargon that doesn’t mean much

b. The name of my new pet hissing cockroach

c. A newly introduced character on “Lost”

d. the attractive force between objects that have mass

Right now at the Fleet (until May 3rd, 2009), YOU can EXPERIENCE gravity.  We have an interactive screen that reacts to your shadow.  It demonstrates many qualities of gravity.  Here are the rules:

1. The smaller object can crash into the bigger one.

2. The smaller object can be deflected.

3. If the conditions are just right, the smaller objects can orbit the bigger ones.

Come and see what you can do!

Where are the exhibits for adults?

Science Learning for All Ages: Locating Adult Exhibits at a Science Center

 

A question asked from time to time, particularly from our older visitors is, “Where are the exhibits for adults?”  Whenever I’ve been approached by a visitor with this question it has generally been during a time when the galleries are teeming with hundreds of school-aged children scurrying from one exhibit to the next in a frenzied effort to see and do everything there is to do in the 30 minutes of exploratory time they’ve been allotted by their teachers.