Learn with us online while the Exploratorium is temporarily closed. You can help us reopen—donate today.
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: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Ames Chairs
What we see can depend on what we expect to see.
Animation Tower
Quick-changing views create the illusion of motion.
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.
Aurora
A reflector stretches light from colored tiles into long bright ribbons.
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."
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
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.
Catch the Sound Waves
These simple glass tubes separate the sounds of the Exploratorium into distinct tones.
Cheshire Cat
Make your partner's face disappear, leaving only a smile.
Pages
