SCIENCE · MECHANISMS · EXHIBIT IDEAS
Start with a question. Watch a demonstration, understand the principle and explore how the idea can become an exhibit.
Explore 21 articles & guides ↓
FEATURED EXPLANATIONAdditive Color Mixing: Why Red and Green Light Can Look Yellow LIGHT & VISION · 5 MIN READ
Trace what light reaches the eye, compare overlapping beams and colored shadows, and ask which museum observations demonstrate mixing and which show a color response.
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LIFE SCIENCE · 5 MIN READ
Understanding a body system means asking what moves, what changes and how organs cooperate. Use a gallery of anatomy stations to build connections between structures and functions.
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EARTH & ENGINEERING · 5 MIN READ
An earthquake simulator might estimate a fault event, plot earthquake data, shake a model building or create an immersive experience. Identify what it represents before judging its result.
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WATER & FLUIDS · 5 MIN READ
Explore rotation, gravity and the shape of a liquid surface. Compare a museum cylinder with a draining bottle, then separate a visible pattern from the measurements needed to explain it.
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ELECTRICITY & MAGNETISM · 6 MIN READ
What supports a floating object's weight, and what keeps it stable? Compare magnetic approaches and use a related bulb demonstration to distinguish a visible effect from an unverified mechanism.
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AIR & FLIGHT · 6 MIN READ
Connect wing pressure with the changing momentum of surrounding air, then examine what a real wing demonstrator reveals without treating it as a calibrated wind tunnel.
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MOTION & MECHANISMS · 6 MIN READ
A ramp, jar lid and lever each changes how force is applied. Explore six machine types, then use an unusual lever to separate visible movement from measured mechanical advantage.
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ASTRONOMY & SPACE · 5 MIN READ
Orbit shape, changing speed and the length of a year answer different questions. Use Kepler’s three laws to connect them while distinguishing a mathematical model from a museum design preview.
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ASTRONOMY & SPACE · 5 MIN READ
An orrery makes planetary relationships visible through moving models. Learn to read its mechanism, separate size from distance and ask whether an observed motion represents real orbital timing.
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ASTRONOMY & SPACE · 5 MIN READ
A swinging bob and a fixed floor reference can reveal a much slower motion. Explore Earth’s rotation, the role of latitude and the observations needed to distinguish a demonstration from a measurement.
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MOTION & MECHANISMS · 6 MIN READ
A pendulum wave turns individual swings into a changing group pattern. Follow one bob, compare neighboring rhythms and discover how different periods can produce apparent waves without passing energy along the row.
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AIR & FLUIDS · 6 MIN READ
Airflow demonstrations invite a deceptively simple explanation. Learn how Bernoulli's principle relates pressure and speed, why its assumptions matter, and how to distinguish pressure forces, drag and entrainment when interpreting an exhibit.
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