Conan Isitt delights in playing with the speed of sound, listening to his voice, delayed by traveling through 1,500 feet of plastic tubing.
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IF YOU GO
Dates: May 31 to Sept. 1, 2008.
Location: Pacific Science Center at Seattle Center
Admission: $11 for adults, $8 for juniors 6 to 12, $6 for kids age 3 to 5, and $9.50 for seniors age 65 or older. FREE for children under 3. Admission includes all exhibits and a planetarium show. Tickets to the IMAX film Super Speedway: Racing with the Andrettis are $8 for adults, $7.50 for seniors, $7 for juniors, and $6 for kids age 3 to 5.
Summer combo deal: From June 21 to Sept. 1, admission plus an IMAX film or a laser show costs $15 for adults, $13.50 for seniors, $12 for juniors, $10 for kids.
Speed – a topic our own perpetual motion machine, 6-year-old Conan, was definitely interested in.
Mom and Dad: “What was your favorite part?” Conan: "Everything." The Pacific Science Center's new exhibit is all about speed – machine-made, human, and even how to stop. Most of the activities are hands-on and address various scientific concepts.
Our son loved the activity that tests reaction time. It has lights that flash when you press a button, although we’re not sure he really knew what was being measured. A fun challenge: Who can press a button the most times in five seconds? In our family, Mama won with 57.
There is a “penny shooter” that uses compressed air to shoot a penny into a solid wall, as part of an exhibit that shows the effects of what physics-savvy adults call “deceleration trauma.” We thought it was pretty cool, and we got a mangled penny souvenir, too.
The bike-like horsepower generator makes a loud growly mechanical noise and was quite difficult to pedal. Younger kids will need a parent or teenage sibling to help.
In an activity designed to demonstrate viscosity, toy Powerpuff Girls sink through different liquids at different speeds. The Powerpuff Girls are also featured in a nearby stop-motion animation cutting board, where you can make your own Powerpuff cartoon – if you have the time required to set up enough frames.
One of the more popular activities is a tracked drag race contest which illustrates the importance of friction in acceleration: If you try to accelerate your car too fast, the tires can’t hold the road, and you’ll spin out and stop moving. There was a line for this exhibit, and only two cars at a time were available to race, but it was fun enough to be worth the wait.
Another hit is the toy marble-rollercoaster exhibit that challenges you to arrange tracks and then roll a marble down them to see how well your design works (if at all). Many children and their parents also beamed with excitement about building Lego cars to race down a small slope.
Older kids and adults will benefit from the numerous signs explaining the mathematical equations that demonstrate the physical principles of acceleration, horsepower, and friction at work, while younger kids will have fun playing with the toys and pressing buttons.
The one experience missing from the exhibit is the actual feeling of speed. There's no NASCAR simulator or wind tunnel to stand in.
The timeless question to our child – “Are you done or do you want to look at more things?” – elicited our son's seal of approval: “More things!” All in all, this is a fine exhibit, but not as a stand-alone. Apply the concepts to the courtyard water cannons as well, or take it in along with the IMAX movie to make it a full trip to the Pacific Science Center.
Machelle Allman, Kenan Isitt and their son, Conan, live in Seattle and enjoy hiking, camping and soccer – any activity that involves lots of moving around.
