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>> FUN, FACTS MERGE AT THE SCIENCE MUSEUM OF VIRGINIA BUILDING BRIDGES TO THE STARS

August 7, 2008 12:15 am

BY COLLETTE CAPRARA

FOR THE FREE LANCE-STAR

Getting ready for back-to-school days entails buying supplies and backpacks--but it should also include dusting off and sharpening the most important tool: the old brain.

And there's no better place to do that than at the Science Museum of Virginia, with its two mind-expanding exhibits, "Science Unplugged" and "The Hubble Telescope: New Views of the Future."

"Science Unplugged" features 30 interactive, challenging exhibits that allow visitors to experiment with the laws of physics and their application in designing buildings and bridges.

The exhibit was 18 months in the making and was conceptualized and designed by Eugene Maurakis, director of science education, and David Hagan, the museum's scientist for physical sciences.

Using tabletop models, as well as foam construction blocks, children and families can try their hand at building structures that incorporate different types of arches.

The challenges include constructing a catenary arch (a form exemplified by the St. Louis landmark) and building a series of different kinds of bridges, including a cantilever bridge.

"It's amazing to watch people's faces because, at first, they don't think it can be done," said Maurakis. "But once they see the illustration and read the explanation, they say, 'Wait, yes it can!'--and they do it!"

Other stations in the exhibit feature experiments with electricity (moving a wooden beam with a static-charged plastic rod), designing and building models of hurricane-proof and earthquake-proof buildings and then testing them against the elements, and creating a giant square-shaped bubble.

In addition, the exhibit will feature the 1940's film clip of the famous--to all engineering students--Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which collapsed when wind generated "aeroelastic flutter."

In the companion exhibit, "The Hubble Telescope: New Views of the Universe," guests will be enthralled with huge backlit images from the space satellite, ranging from our nearest neighbors in the solar system to black holes and distant galaxies.

The 24,000-pound, solar-powered telescope orbits the earth every 97 minutes, above any atmospheric distortions, allowing us to view 13 billion years back in time, and witness the birth and death of stars.

At computer stations in the Hubble exhibit, visitors can match before and after images of colliding galaxies and witness the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet smashing into Jupiter with the force of millions of nuclear bombs, blasting a crater the size of the earth.

"It's wonderful to present the two exhibits together," said Hagan. "One is a very hands-on interactive exploration of the wonder of simple things, while the other presents the awe-inspiring wonder of the universe on a cosmic scale."

As a companion to these exhibits, the museum's giant IMAX theater will feature a related film, "Roving Mars," based on images sent back from robots Spirit and Opportunity as they roam the Red Planet.

Collette Caprara is a local artist and freelance writer.