Possible Exhibits

The following are preliminary ideas about possible interactive exhibits. We are in very early planning stages about exhibits and these are shown as demonstrations of types of exhibit that might be used.

 

Demonstration of the principals behind batteries

Luigi Galvani of Italy. a physician, noticed that when a frog's leg was probed with a metallic scalpel, it jerked. Because people jerked when attached to an electrostatic generator, Galvani assumed that the frog's leg was generating "animal electricity." Alessandro Volta used the scientific method to determine that it was the metallic contact of the scalpel with the frog's leg that generated the current. He went on to construct the first battery. The battery was useful in providing early experimenters a method to investigate electrical current and the magnetic filed produced by the current. The basic principal of battery technology is still applicable today. Batteries now use more efficient materials to store and create currents.

Exhibit Suggestions

Recreate an early voltaic pile or "crown of cups" to demonstrating the electrical current created by attaching the contacts from the pile to a switch and meter which would complete a circuit when the switch is turned on with the meter showing the charge. The displays would contain a historical explanation of the role of batteries in the development of the understanding of electricity.

 

The Power of Light

Sunlight can not only provides light it can also be used to create electricity. An exhibit which would demonstrate the raw power of light as compared to power obtained by converting the light to electricity would demonstrate how the conversion to electricity results in some loss of the lighting power of sunlight. Such an exhibit could be coupled with other exhibits, such a steam and wind generators, to compare the efficiencies of different methods of creating electricity or, perhaps, with a fiber optics cable from the same light source.

Exhibit Suggestions

The Powerhouse has four "light monitors" on its roof which provide light to the building. Using one of the light monitors, mirrors could concentrate and redirect light into a light tube (also called a solar tube) which would then directed the light down to a floor exhibit which has both a flat white surface and a solar panel. Lumninosity Sensors could installed at the beginning of the light tube and on the white table top. The visitor could move the light tube over a small solar array which wpi;d be the same size as the light source. The solar array would connect to a switch which would be used by the visitor to light different electical lights, such as a standard incandescent bulb or an array of LED lights. The lights would have luminosity sensors connected no the surfaces next to the lights. In that way, the visitor would compare the diffence in the luminosity of concentrated sunlight with the redirected light onto the table and with the different electrical lights. The display would also contain an explanation about the process of how the light photons knock electrons loose in semiconductors to create a current of electrons. The display might also explain different ways of creating light from electricity.