I really enjoyed this opportunity to visit the Museum of Science as a hands-on learning experience for our class. For me it is a great learning experience to step outside the classroom and apply what we learned with visuals and hands-on exhibits. Bryan and I had a great time not only viewing the exhibits required for the class, but exploring the museum on our own as well.

The first exhibit we visited was called “Catching the Wind” – this exhibit was all about wind energy. The first thing that caught my eye when we got there was the hand blower. If you placed your hand over the blower you could feel how strong wind needs to blow in order to turn most wind turbines. It was shocking to me to read feel that wind speed only breeds to be between 5 mph and 12 mph to function. I always thought wind speed had to be much faster because of the size of the wind turbines. Below is a picture of this interactive tool.

Another thing I learned from this exhibit was that wind is actually a form of solar energy. From reading the information at the exhibit, I learned that sunlight hitting the Earth heats the air evenly. This temperature difference starts moving the air, as warmer air rises and cooler air moves in to take its place. I never really knew that was how wind worked. This exhibit had many interactive components which made this one of my favorites. There were gears that you could spin using a dial attached to magnets to generate electricity. It made it obvious how easy it is to generate electricity with gears. The slow rotation of the large gears spin the small gears faster. The model they had at the museum showed how gears fit together to form part of the gearbox inside the nacelle of a wind turbine. I learned that the nacelle is the part that holds the turbine’s machinery on top of the tower. It sits on yaw motors that turn the turbine to face into the wind.

This exhibit also showed how much wind and renewable energy used in Massachusetts alone which I found very interesting and shocking because there was so much used!

The next exhibit we visited was “Energize!” This exhibit focused on solar energy. Like the pervious one, this exhibit was very hands-on and had a variety of interactive tools to understand solar energy. One of these tools that I found interesting was called make choices about energy sources.” Here, you could power the city using different amounts of energy sources. You had to do so to balance the amount of environmental destruction and the amount of energy produced. The blocks would fall down if the model was not balanced. It took us a few tries to figure out but we soon balanced the model and powered the city! Below is a picture of Bryan with this tool.

There was also a wall that displayed different types of solar collector shapes. I found this interesting because most of the models I found during my research for previous blogs were flat panels. It was interesting to see that there are other model types. Below is a picture of this different models.

The next exhibit we visited was Nanotechnology. Here, it showed the progress we had in using atoms as a resource to produce goods. I learned that nanotechnology could be used to various things such as cancer treatments, foo production, processing and packaging, Super-fine water filters, and new solar cells. Before visiting this exhibit I never knew what nanotechnology meant or was. The exhibit emphasized that nanotechnology will affect our economy, environment, and personal lives.  I also learned that nano is all around us, in nature and in technology. Nanotechnology is in products we used all the time such as computer chips and sunblock. Nature on the other hand provides many examples of nano phenomena. The iridescent color of some butterflies and the feet of geckos are both caused by tiny nano structures. The exhibit had a butterfly in a case where you could turn a light on to see the iridescent color. It was very interesting to see the glow of the butterfly’s winds under the light.

Lastly, we visited the “Conserve at home” exhibit. This exhibit showed how much energy is wasted on a daily basis in our homes, and how to help conserve energy. One of the tools in the exhibit showed how much power a hair dryer uses which was a very shocking 1,000 watts. I use a hairdryer everyday which I now feel bad about! Also, a hair dryer uses more power than a kitchen mixer (250 watts)!

There were recommendations in the exhibit of how to conserve energy. One suggestion was using rechargeable batteries. One rechargeable batter can save about 800 disposable batteries. Another suggestion was to use reusable bags – the average American uses about 500 plastic bags every year! I felt a little better about the hairdryer because I do use reusable bags! Another thing I found interesting in this exhibit was what can be made out of recycled daily items.  Milk bottles and other high0density polyethylene plastics can be recycled into plastic decking and furniture! Aluminum cans can be recoiled into window frames and rain gutters! Glass bottles can be recoiled into counter tops, and steel cans can be recoiled into steel bicycles! I never knew items were recycled for those purposes, I always thought they were just reused for the same purpose.

Overall, I really enjoyed the trip to the science museum. It allowed us to step away from the classroom and learn more about what we talked about in class, but through a hands-on experience. I hadn’t been to the science museum in a long time so it was a great experience to go back as an adult and learn valuable information!