Masks and vaccinations are recommended. Plan your visit
Seeing the Light
Seeing the Light was a participatory science laboratory that invited visitors to experiment with interference patterns and optics, resonances and reflections, lasers and illusions. IBM commissioned the Exploratorium to create the exhibit in 1984. It was originally shown in the IBM Gallery of Science and Art in Manhattan and the collection was then given to the New York Hall of Science.
Anti-Gravity Mirror
Here’s an exhibit where watching is at least half the fun. You can create any number of gravity-defying illusions that will amaze you and your friends: Levitate, fly, swim though the air, grow limbs (and dissolve them), crawl straight up the wall like a lizard—the sky’s the limit.
Benham's Disk
When the disk is spun, the colors you see are illusions. This effect was popularized in 1894 by toymaker C. E. Benham, who called his spinning disk an “artificial spectrum top."
Where: Crossroads: Getting Started
Bird in a Cage
Stare at a bird’s eye for 30 seconds, then look into the empty cage. You’ll see a ghostly bird—of a very different color—inside the cage
Blood Cells in Your Eye
Gaze into the eyepiece at the blue light, looking for bright specks moving in short bursts against the background, and feeling your pulse as you watch them.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Catch the Sound Waves
These simple glass tubes separate the sounds of the Exploratorium into distinct tones.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Cheshire Cat
Make your partner's face disappear, leaving only a smile.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Christmas Tree Balls
There are captivating reflections in a box of ornaments.
Colored Shadows
Step in front of this wall, and you’ll make shadows of various colors—yellow, magenta, cyan, red, green, blue, and yes, even black—that wiggle, jump, and dance along with you.
Diffraction Shadows
Shadows made with laser light have light and dark bands.
Disappearing Glass Rods
When light passes from one clear medium into another, it (usually) bends—a phenomenon called refraction. Distortions caused by refraction are part of why you can see objects that are clear.
Where: Crossroads: Getting Started
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