At a conference to develop the Exploratorium’s electricity section, the question was put to the attenders, “What turned you onto the phenomenon of electricity?” Many remembered being given model train sets at Christmas and having fun vaporizing the tinsel from the tree across the electrified tracks! People also described heating up paper clips across the terminals of ignition cell batteries. As a child, Frank Oppenheimer, the Exploratorium’s founding director, connected insulated rods to the current in his house and drew long electric arcs which eventually burned his parent’s oriental rug. At this point we decided that everyone should have a similar opportunity. The result was this exhibit, Short Circuit, which dispenses a short piece of thin wire which is then placed across the terminals of a battery. The wire heats up red-hot and then burns through. It’s not quite as exciting as the original model railroad, or frying rugs, but at least it’s safe!.