Amazing Magnetic Liquids
Make a pool of magnetic ferrofluid "dance" and manipulate blobs of ferrofluid with rare-earth magnets. You'll explore the surprising properties of these materials and discover how their unusual micro-structure makes them useful in all kinds of places - from your laundry room to the operating room.
Amorphous Metal
Meet the future of metals. The unusual structure of amorphous metals makes them
incredibly hard. Drop one ball bearing on a platform made of amorphous metal
and another on a platform made of metal with a normal crystalline atomic structure.
The result is astounding: while one ball behaves in an expected fashion, the
other bounces for an impossibly long time.
Demo Theater *
Through the use of multimedia and live demonstrations, this unique demonstration/lab
space brings together many elements of the exhibition. Take part in a facilitated
lab experiment and find out how and why you are a materials scientist.
Foam
Watch a dramatic column of foam reach for the ceiling. Feel the form and learn
the functions of a variety of foam samples. Marvel at the lightest material
ever made -aerogel - and see its weight balanced by grains of rice.
Materials Evolution
Could a strand of spider silk actually stop a 747 in flight? What do modern firefighters
and medieval knights have in common? This exhibit area will allow you to trace
the fascinating and often unexpected development of materials throughout history
- from "The Iceman" (3300 BCE) to the present world of the "Material
Girl", while discovering which materials have played a key role in human
civilization.
Materials Science Overview Video
How does materials science use atoms and molecules to design the "stuff" of
our everyday lives? How has it changed human history and how does the performance
of materials grow from their structure, properties and processing? In this video,
you'll meet materials scientists who bring it all together.
Memory Metals
Bend and twist a Nitinol metal ribbon, a startling example of a metal with a
memory, and see it return to its original shape with a little bit of hot air.
Why is this metal different from many others, and what can it be used for?
Sand to Supercomputers
Touch the top of a giant, shining column of silicon grown from a "seed" in
a lab, follow the painstaking process through which sand is transformed into
microchips, and learn why there's a lot more to silicon than Silicon Valley.
Smash the Glass
Crank up a bowling ball and let it fly - you'll find out if heat-tempered glass
has the strength to withstand the shock or if the pane of glass will shatter.
A counter will allow visitors to keep track of how many times the glass has
been hit. Will the glass shatter in 10 minutes, 10 hours, 10 days... 10 months?
Structure and Defects
Play with a sheet of ball bearings and discover how this simple model can be
used to investigate the secret structures, strengths and weaknesses of metals.
Touch Tables
At our touch tables you can join curious children of all ages in discovering
materials through hands-on experimentation. This area offers a variety of experiences
involving texture, color, and other properties of materials, and provides an
array of instruments to facilitate exploration. "Tumble tubes" offer
children the chance to invert columns containing various mixtures, helping
them learn about the nature of granular and liquid behavior.
Zoom!
Some things seem smooth to the naked eye, but what if you could get a much closer
look? Zoom from the macro to the nano scale and find out how scientists "feel
atoms" using Atomic Force Microscopes.
* Large exhibition only
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