Physical address:
210 Hancock St.
Ithaca, New York.
Exhiblets
Unique contraptions you can make yourself out of available materials, that evoke unusual physics phenomena, awaken the senses, stir curiosity, and promote tinkering.
These DIY projects encourage playful, hands-on learning by converting common materials into educational displays. The idea is to inspire curiosity and creativity, showing how ordinary objects can be used in imaginative ways to explore scientific concepts. By engaging in the construction and interaction with Exhiblets, learners experience the joy of discovery and develop a deeper understanding of scientific principles. The use of familiar materials makes science accessible and relatable, enhancing the overall educational experience.
Click on an Exhiblet to learn more!
BERNOULLI’S HAIRDRYER
Essential Parts:
Hair Dryer, Balloon/Similar Objects
The floating balloon is a wonderful example of Bernoulli’s Principle
This exhibit is a great one to inspire at-home copycats. The heat setting should be disabled for any extended use.
This will float balloons, most ping pong balls, and…what else?
Try moving your hand over the balloon to create a pocket of high pressure and slowly “force pushing” it downwards.
The same effect can be made on a small scale with a ping pong ball and a bendy straw. Just bend the straw upwards and blow!
ZAPPER
Essential Parts:
Synchronous Motor
Instead of electricity moving a motor, moving a motor can generate electricity! A more shocking version of a hand crank generator.
There’s rarely ever a safe opportunity in everyday life to zap yourself—especially only using your own energy.
The main ingredient is the motor that rotates the tray in a microwave. Who knew?
Like when throwing a snowball or using a water gun, only direct the energy toward willing participants. (Always start cranking slowly!)
Would it be fun to have the option to power an LED?
DRILL GENERATOR
Essential Parts:
Cordless Drill (without battery), Hobby Motor
Instead of electricity moving a motor, moving a motor can generate electricity! Spin the wheel on your own hand crank generator.
Little has been done to the drill except bypass the forward/reverse function. Could be done connecting a motor directly to the battery terminals.
This rig is super modifiable, the wheel can be a doorknob, crank, or other fun to turn object. The motor can be replaced with lights, a fan, or anything you want to get a few volts.
OSCILLISCOPE TV
Essential Parts:
CRT TV, Toy Keyboard
Seeing sounds? You can, with a CRT Oscilloscope.
DO NOT OPEN THE TV! Unless you super-duper know what you’re doing. It can give you a nasty shock. Even when it’s unplugged? Yup!
Currently, there is a keyboard attached for ease of use, but any “line level” audio input should work. The headphone jack of your phone, a frequency generator if you’re looking for a specific shape, or even a stepper motor. Microphones or guitars will need pre-amps.
What sounds make little waves? Big waves? Sharp peaks, flowing hills, what else?
LARIAT CHAIN
Essential Parts:
mixer, chain, cylinder
Explore relative motion with a mini version of a science museum classic.
One of the most fun for playing “guess that object,’ with a mixer, scooter wheel, gatorade bottle, screwdriver, mardi-gras beads, and maybe even more.
This one has a lot of variables to play with, such as chain length, mixer speed, and where to seat the beads.
We’ve left it open for experimentation, but you can restrict mixer speeds and add a guard for slipping beads if it becomes a management problem.
How can you wiggle/bump/poke the beads to get the weirdest hovering wave pattern at the bottom of the chain?
FARADAY’S TRASHCAN
Essential Parts:
wire mesh, transistor radio
It’s a mini Faraday cage!
Do you have music in your body? How did it get there, where is it coming from, and how can you hear it from a radio? The trash can is simply a conductive mesh. The radio hasn’t been modified.
This only works around strong radio stations, make something pleasant is tuned-in, and surrounding metal can affect the results.
Would it be fun to have a few “wands” nearby–to see which one can carry the signal into the trash can effectively?
FRESNEL HELMET
Essential Parts:
Fresnel Lens, Recycle/Trash Bin
Fresnel Lens + Bucket = Awesome!
Do you wish your head was bigger, but you don’t want to carry around a huge heavy glass lens? Thanks to Fresnel, the same effect can come from something that’s flat.
These lenses are part of old overhead projectors. Smaller ones can be found at Dollar Tree to help people read small print.
Be careful leaving this unattended in the sunlight–the focal point can melt or burn stuff.
What other common objects would make a good helmet to hold the lens?
RAINBOW TELEVISION
Essential Parts:
CRT Color TV, VCR or DVD that makes “blueness”, magnet
A Cathode Ray Tube and a magnet are a match made in chaos!
Kids that grew up with these type of TV’s were told not to play with magnets around them.
The magnet will naturally do its thing without any fuss. The trickiest part here is keeping the TV on, and preferably blue (it’s easier to see the field that way).
If this specific TV can’t find a channel, it should stay on a blue screen indefinitely. If it does find one and try to auto shut off after a few minutes, an internal timer can be set for one hour.
LASER SPIROGRAPH
Essential Parts:
Photoluminescent material, UV laser, motors, tiny mirrors
Light up a Lissajous figure with two spinning mirrors!
Phosphorescent vinyl plus a UV laser can bring back vintage spirograph memories.
Knobs control the speeds of two separate rotating mirrors. Knobs also take the brunt of use and will probably need to be replaced.
Alignment of mirrors is key, but should be relatively protected under the clear cover.
Anything glowy-y can work as a background. Mosaic of glow-in-the-dark stars perhaps?
POWER SUPPLY PLASMA CUTTER
Essential Parts:
laptop power supply, aluminum foil, mechanical pencil graphite
Lightning at the tip of your pencil!
More about plasma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_(physics)
More about plasma cutters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X0MQTEWWkA
Compared to solid, liquid, and gas, plasma is an excited state of matter. Lightning ionizes air with millions of volts, but this is only using 24.
The power supply is the same kind a laptop charger uses.
Drawing/cutting works best with 0.7 graphite from a mechanical pencil. The metal alligator clip gets hot, so hold the plastic part.
Could you make this at home with some 9v batteries?
FOG RING FRISBEE
Essential Parts:
ultrasonic mister (found in humidifiers), drain pan, wheelbarrow tire, frisbee
Use ultrasonic misters to create your own toroidal vortex!
Tap the top to make fog rings shoot out! Lighting from above or inside the hole will make the rings more visible.
The key ingredient is an ultrasonic mister–a ceramic disk that vibrates at over 40,000 times per second.
If kids stick their fingers into the pool of water–and particularly into the ultrasonic mister–they may get a tingling sensation. It is simply the ultrasonic vibration. It may feel like an electrical current but it’s not (the cord only carries 24 volts to the mister.)
Experiment with cavity size, hole size (hole shape?) and the speed and amplitude of the impulse.
DAN’S PHONES
Essential Parts:
Old Phone, 1.5v Battery
Named in honor of CSW* founder, Dan Sudran. Thanks to carbon microphones, you can talk to your friends through a common AA battery!
When a voltage is applied to the “carbon microphone” in the mouthpiece of an old phone, vibrations from sound cause small carbon granules to compress and decompress, changing their resistance. Changes in the electrical current travel to a coil in the earpiece, which moves in synchrony with what caused the vibration in the first place.
Old phones are getting more difficult to find…but if you come across them–don’t let them end up in the trash!
*Learn more about Community Science Workshops.
FOG RING TRASHCAN
Essential Parts:
Trash Can, Bungee Cord, Fabric
Use a trash can to create your own toroidal vortex!
Tap the top, or pull back and release to make rings shoot out! Even if you don’t have a fog generator or smoke source, invisible rings will be emitted.
Try setting up a tower of cans or other objects and see how far you can knock it down from!
Using a bungee cord we can stretch a fabric-like material to be used as a membrane for pushing air out, similar to how a drum works.
Experiment with fabric material, hole size (hole shape?) and the speed and amplitude of the tap/release.
“LIE DETECTOR”
Essential Parts:
Metal Sheet, Battery, Speaker, Transistors, Resistors, and Capacitor
The lie detector works on a principle called galvanic skin response. Basically, it detects sweat, which usually happens when someone lies. Sweat increases the conductivity of your skin.
How conductive are you? It depends on how dry or moist you are.
This contains very specific transistors, resistors, and capacitor–but everything is very inexpensive.
This shouldn’t be used for an interrogation or anything paranormal.
What else has the same resistance as you? A piece of yarn dipped in lemonade? Graphite from a mechanical pencil? Can you play a song?
STEPPER SPEAKER
Essential Parts:
Stepper Motor, Speaker
By using a stepper motor and some junk, you’ve got your own DJ setup!
A moving magnet will make electricity flow in a wire, and electricity flowing through a wire near a magnet will apply force to the wire. The movement of your twist is transferred into the movement of the speaker coil and cone.
Stepper motors are commonly found in copiers and printers, and speakers are found on either side of grandma’s desktop computer.
If rotational speed corresponds to frequency, can you rotate it steady enough to play a simple tune?