Launch Pad!

At the science museum there is a great space where you can try tons of hands on activities and see shows. It's called the Launch Pad.

BUBBLE SHOW

First we went to the bubble show. (We have been before so this was our second show.)

Finn got to start the show by blowing the first bubble.

Then the Bubble King taught us how to waft a bubble. Patchy loved it and yelled "Waft! Waft!"

Then he showed us that bubbles are lazy so even if you use a square bubble wand they still make a sphere shape.

The only way to make a cube bubble is by tricking the bubble with a special cube shaped wand.

Then he made a bubble with carbon dioxide. At the Natural History Museum Ecology exhibit we learned that carbon dioxide is what we breathe out and what plants use. Today we learnt it's very heavy - heavier than air so bubbles that are full of carbon dioxide fall to the ground. Or you can hold them like this little girl. (When we saw this bubble show at the start of the holiday and I got to hold a bubble - it was really cool!)

Next he made a bubble with helium which is very light (lighter than air). It went up and up until it popped on the lights on the roof.

Finally he put people in a bubble. That looked like fun!

LAUNCH PAD ACTIVITIES

Arch Bridge

Last time we were at the Science Museum we went to a show called "Stronger By Design" which showed how bridges are designed to make them strong. One way is called a Roman Arch where it is an arch shape with a 'keystone' in the middle.

At the Launch Pad you could try an activity to make an arch bridge.

We had to get lots of people to help.

First we got Patchy to try because he was the lightest.

Then we could all walk over it. This arch bridge is actually strong enough to hold the weight of a Polar Bear!

Bridging the River

I did an activity where you had to build a bridge with blocks to go over the river (the blue part in this picture). It had to be high enough for the boat to sail through.

First I built a bridge to go over the little part of the river. That was pretty easy.

Then I had to build a bridge to go over the middle part. It was a lot harder....

Lots of times it didn't work. But even though I felt frustrated I kept on going....

After a few tries - I did it!

The hardest one was the widest part. Here I am balancing the blocks so it stays up. I had to put some of the weight backwards so that it stayed up. I learned this is called 'counterbalance'.

Then I had a great idea! I had seen lots of bridges with pole in the middle in the water. So I made a pole in the middle with a block to help support the weight.

It worked!!!! It took me a long time to build my bridges but it was HEAPS of FUN!!!

Later one of the demonstrators showed us some other ways to do it...

First he built it just the right size so he was able to squeeze the last block in place in the middle so the others pressing on it from the sides held it up.

We thought you couldn't make a nice strong arch from the blocks because they were straight and hard, but the demonstrator showed us that you actually could.

THE BIG MACHINE

The big was a huge machine that had lots of moving parts. So first the people on one side put these little round white seed things into a net and then there were two ropes so it went up so it went down a tube. Then all the people on my side had to pull a piece of metal so the seeds came down.

Then there was a drain like thing and we turned a wheel so this scooping thing scooped them all up. And then we could use them all over again. To make the big machine work we really had to work as a team.

The Bottle Rocket

One of the demonstrators came out and showed us a bottle rocket. First we pumped some air. Then someone pushed a button to fill the bottle with a little bit of water.

Then Finn and I got chosen to pump and pump and pump for ages until the pressure built up inside the bottle rocket. Then someone else pushed the launch button and it shot across the launch pad in a long plastic launch tube.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

There was a fun activity where you had to get the boat to different places by changing the sail position. The fans would then push it along. I could do lots of them except for one. Patchy LOVED this activity.

In this activity you spun around on this pole. If you put your body out you would go slower, but if you kept your body in close to the pole you would spin faster. Finn learnt all about this when we were in the UK last year. It's called the Principle of Angular Momentum.

Finn had fun completing some circuits. In this photo the light is shining so I know he must have made a complete circuit because if there is a gap in a circuit the electricity can't travel round to make the light light up.