The Kansas Children’s Discovery Center’s Amazing Air exhibit is reopening to the public better than ever!
The air exhibit features three separate machines that use the power of wind to push objects and defy gravity, creating a fun and educational station for children to learn about a force of nature that isn’t visible to the naked eye.
One of the features is a new, bigger Bernoulli Blower, which was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services*. This machine showcases Bernoulli’s Principle, which states that fast-moving fluids or air, such as strong winds, have lower pressure than slow-moving air. Using this principle, blowers on the machine keep beach balls aloft against the pull of gravity. This is similar to how airplanes create lift, with the faster-moving air above the wing creating lower pressure than the slower-moving air below the wing, pushing the aircraft up.
The Air Maze uses the power of air to push objects through a labyrinth of tubes. The direction the object travels is directed by flipping switches along the maze that divert the airflow in different directions. The objects then fly out of one of three openings, depending on how the switches are configured.
The Tornado Tube creates a vortex of wind and allows children to see the spinning motion of the wind by placing objects inside and seeing how they move within the tube. This is similar to the type of vortex that you see when tornadoes or hurricanes occur in nature. A vortex is a physics phenomenon that occurs when a gas or a liquid moves in circles. At the center is a vortex line that the matter swirls around.
The Kansas Children’s Discovery Center is a hands-on children’s museum with a mission to enhance the lives of children and enrich the communities it serves. Since opening in 2011 in Topeka, Kansas, the Discovery Center has become a special place where children can explore, create, discover and learn through play. The museum features more than 15,000 square feet of indoor exhibits and a 4.5-acre certified Nature Explore Outdoor Classroom. Outreach programs bring quality, hands-on experiences into our community to inspire a lifelong love of learning for every child. More than 600,000 visitors from 23 countries have visited The Kansas Children’s Discovery Center.
*The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s libraries and museums. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
