Electricity and Electronics

• Bottle Lightning
• Diodes
• Electronic Gates
• Frozen Shadows
• Hand Battery
• Inductors
• Integrated Circuits
• Laser Spirograph
• Resistors
• Talking Rock Case
• Trace the Star
• Transforers
• Transformers
• Transistors
• Van De Graff Static Electricity Generator
• Wind Tunnel

Bottle Lightning
Your family will experiment with a huge glass sphere filled with electricity and plasma. During the sphere's creation, nearly all of the air was sucked out, leaving only a few low pressure gasses. The sphere and the gasses inside are continually bombarded by lots of high voltage electricity. When you put your hands on the sphere, large bolts of gaseous plasma provide are instantly drawn to them. While you don't feel a thing, the result is visually fascinating.

Diodes
Your family can see how diodes work in their plasma televisions and portable musical appliances. This exhibit shows how diodes can accomplish two jobs in electronic circuits. First they can act as a one way street in all circuits. No traffic is permitted from the opposite direction. Secondly, they can change alternating (AC) current into direct (DC) current.

Electronic Gates
Gates are like little switches that are really neither open nor closed. Your family can see how gates operate to certain combinations of electronic signals. For example, some gates can be temporarily closed and these are called Logic Zero. Similarly, one that is open is Logic 1.

Frozen Shadows
This exhibit uses electric strobe lighting and sensitive photosensitive plates to create a actual shadow of visitors. While the strobe lights flash, the visitor's body blocks the light from the photosensitive plates, creating a shadow, much the way negatives are produced in digital photographs.

Hand Battery
Most kids have no idea what causes the electricity to flow in a common battery. This exhibit will show them how that happens. All they need to do is put one hand on a copper plate and the other on a zinc plate. The potential difference in changes between both hands causes an electric charge to actually flow through the body from one plate to the other. The actual current flow is measured by a meter in front of the visitor.

Inductors
Visitors can see how inductors, working with capacitors can cause circuits to generate different kinds of sounds. Inductors play a major role in all of the electric devices that your kids use every day, particularly ones that produce music.

Integrated Circuits
Learn how manufacturers speed up the flow of electronic products to consumers by placing customized integrated circuits into electronic chips.

Laser Spirograph
Visitors can generate patterns of laser light which are in turn reflected off of two mirrors that scan quickly back and forth. You can create unique laser patterns by adjusting the knobs on the exhibit, which, in turn, determine how fast the mirrors move.

Resistors
Your kids can see how resistors work in electronic circuits. Circuit resistance is measured in Ohms. This exhibit shows what happens when a light bulb encounters no resistance between it and its power source and the gradually encounters more and more resistance in the form of electronic resistors that visitors can manipulate.

Talking Rock Case
This exhibit contains a number of different kinds of rocks including metamorphic rocks, igneous rocks and sedimentary rocks. When visitors push an electric button, a voice within the case takes visitors through a tour of each selected rock.

Trace The Star
This exhibit will clearly demonstrate that hand-eye coordination is a learned ability. It takes doing something again and again till the circuits of the brain are wired to allow the needed coordination.

Transforers
See what happens to electric current when a switch is held down, generating a 100 volt household current between two metal rods. The current will travel from the bottom of the rods, where 15,000 volts of electricity are produced. This amount of energy creates a tremendous column of hot air which moves the electric arc up the rods where they are much wider apart, thus lowering the voltage dramatically.

Transformers
This exhibit demonstrates in a number of ways how electric transformers change voltages coming through wires. Visitors can see how the following transformers work (1) Step up transformers (2) Step down transformers (3) Automobile spark plugs.

Transistors
The key to all modern electronics are made possible by transistors of all kinds, yet very few Americans understand how they work. This exhibit shows in very simple terms how transistors work by simply amplifying signals coming into it or by switching currents off and on.

Van De Graff Static Electricity Generator
This is a real fun exhibit that creates an electrostatic charge by picking up loose electrons and building a huge negative charge with nowhere to go. Visitors can see how static electricity is discharged in the form of sparks and even lightning by moving non-grounded positively charged objects, such as your arm, nearby.

Wind Tunnel
You and your family will get to actually fly a model aircraft inside a wind tunnel especially constructed by the Air Force Association. You will see how movements of the control stick and throttle can cause the model aircraft to climb, turn or dive. The throttle controls the speed of a propeller, which in turn provides he wind.