Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening

Experiment with light and vision, sound, and hearing.

Our eyes and ears respond to light and sound waves, but these are just the first steps in perceiving the world. Playing with light and sound is the best way to learn how they work. Investigating real phenomena can also give you a deeper understanding of the scientific process.

Adapting to Color

Change your perception of color by flooding your eyes with colored light.

Where: Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening

Ames Chairs

What we see can depend on what we expect to see.

Where: Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening

Animation Tower

Quick-changing views create the illusion of motion.

Where: Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening

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.

Where: Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening

Aurora

A reflector stretches light from colored tiles into long bright ribbons.

Where: Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening

Benham's Disk

The colors you see here are all in your head.

Where: Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening

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

Where: Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening

Bright Black

At this exhibit, find out how subjective brightness can be as you struggle—and fail—to correctly decide whether the squares you see are black or white.

Where: Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Listening