An interactive science playground is opening at Cincinnati Museum Center!
Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC) is supercharging your favorite science experiments and bringing them to life in explosive fashion. The first phase of Cincinnati Museum Center’s Science Interactives Gallery will allow amateur scientists and the perpetually curious to hoist themselves up with pulleys, watch clouds form, knock down targets with concentrated walls of air and engage in a spirited game of tug-of-war. The Cincinnati Museum Center’s Science Interactives Gallery open Dec. 21.
The Science Interactives Gallery is a hands-on STEM experience powered by you, bringing physics concepts into the museum, showing just how incredible science, technology and engineering really are and how they manifest themselves in our everyday lives. Key to the gallery’s learning goals is the ability to hypothesize, test, observe and test again. Allowing a space for rapid failure and retesting, supporting a spirit of innovation and resiliency. Highlights include:
Clouds
One of the splashiest experiences is the chance to form and observe clouds. The Cloud Rings interactive uses a mist generator and a large rubber ring to create clouds. Push down on the rubber ring and watch as friction between the ring’s edge and the water vapor flowing through the hole create a cloud ring that rises up to the ceiling. Does a heftier push create a bigger ring? Test it out for yourself!
Giant tug-of-war
Next, grab some friends and challenge them to a game of tug-of-war. Stand on each side of a giant lever, grab the rope and test your might against your friends and a simple machine. But choose your side wisely. Where your rope is attached to the lever makes all the difference. Use your knowledge of fulcrums and levers to singlehandedly best an entire team and ring the victory bell.
Pulleys
Once you’ve beaten your friends, take on yourself. Have a seat in the pulley chair and pull a rope to lift your own body weight off the ground. Strap in and start pulling, using a two-, three-, or four-pulley system to lift yourself 11 feet into the air, learning how a simple pulley can create a mechanical advantage to give you super strength.
Air cannons
Finally, test your aim or join forces with a friend on CMC’s new Air Cannons that show the remarkable power of wind. Step up to one of the giant ballistics and punch the knob to force a blast of concentrated air across the gallery. Work alone or with another air cannonist to turn pinwheels, knock over targets and create the wind tunnel effect that rocks fashion runways the world over.
The Cincinnati Museum Center’s Science Interactives Gallery also features a gear and ball play wall and a spinning table to manipulate rolling objects. The Science Interactives Gallery will expand with added experiences in spring 2019.
CMC gratefully recognizes the Procter & Gamble Company as the official sponsor of the Science Interactives Gallery, with support from the State of Ohio.