Introduction

Last Friday, my classmates and I had a chance to visit Museum of Science in Boston, where we did not go any time in 5 years since I came here. It is big and wonderful place where you should bring your kids and lead them learn more about science. The design of museum is suitable for kids because it does not look fancy as any art museums. Even though I am a college student, I am still bewitched by everything at this place. The professor asked us to visit Energized!, Catching the Wind, Conserve@Home, and Investigate because those places are relate to what we have learned in class. I looked at all of this, but there were so many kids so I could not have experience with some technologies. Nevertheless, there are three interesting places as three topics that I want to discuss about in this blog.

 

Catching The Wind Exhibit

 

 

This exhibit focuses about wind energy and how it works. On the wall, there are so many information about power of the wind, turning wind into electricity or wind power in Massachusetts. Also, learned where the wind come from and how it measure by pictures and information on the wall. Wind id a form of solar energy when sunlight hitting the Earth heats the air unevenly. Moreover, wind power is measured in units called kilowatts (kW) which equal to one thousand watts, or in megawatts (mW) which equal to one million watts. It is measured by the total energy generated for one hour, as in a kilowatt-hour (kWh), or megawatts-hour (mWh). Also, I saw how a turbine is built a specific information and images. The picture below shows different parts of a turbine and their own job in producing wind power.

 

 

Make Choices About Energy Source

 

 

It takes a mix of energy sources to power our city, and each source has advantages and drawbacks. This place is where I could measure how much energy supplied and impact on environment. It is fun and easy experiment where I only need to mix any energy sources that I want and see how it can light up the skyline above. There are 4 steps:

• I place a puck down a slot to make an energy choice.
• Check the meters to see the effects of my choices.
• Experiment with different energy combinations
• Then, find an energy mix that makes the skyline above light up

Because I did not look at the guideline at the beginning so I only did a test on fossil fuels. I tool three bucks and the result was above the average. It means that fossil fuels has a high major contributor to air pollution and environmental impact. The picture below shows the similarities and differences of fossil fuels, hydropower, nuclear, solar, and wind which are based on 5 main factors: time to replenish, cost, amount of energy available, environment impacts, and limits. It is a great model for kids to learn how energy sources affect on environment, and know how to manage usage in their life.

 

 

Solar Collector

Solar collector is a model showing how we use solar to produce energy. As what you can see in a video above, I was testing to see how gears could run when a mirror getting a light. There is a light on the top and three mirrors on a table which I could use my hand to control them. Also, there is a small mirror on the top of a gear machine which is used to collect light from opposite mirrors. When I move the big mirror, a small light will appear. Then, I moved the big mirror until the light is on the small mirror. Finally, gear machine would start to run. When I moved the light away, it will stop. It is interesting that I could experience with what I learned in class to understand deeply how the energy is produced by solar.

 

 

Outside the Course

 

 

There is one thing that I was excited to see even though it does not relate to this course. It is dinosaur. Since I was born, I did not have any chance to see the real bonds of dinosaurs. Before the trip, I spent a little bit time to search about this museum, and I was really excited when I saw the bonds of dinosaurs in the review pictures. I learned about many different kind of dinosaurs such as Triceratops, Tyrannosaurs rex, or its footprint. Also, there is a picture that shows grouping of dinosaurs by shared traits. I am always curious about natural world and what happens around us. In some day, I will come back to Washington DC to visit the National Museum of Natural History.

 

 

Conclusion

I am thankful with my professor who gave me a chance to explore what I did not know in science field. It was a wonderful experience that I will never forget in my life. Even though I am not good at science at all, I still want to learn more about natural history and space. It will be easy to understand a lesson if you have a chance to experience with it in your real life. Hopefully, when my have kids, I can bring them there and tell them what I learned in the past.