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Exhibits

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Light

A Way of Seeing as It Happens
A Way of Seeing as It Happens

A mirror and a lens mounted on top project a live image of the outside view into a darkened room.

Where:   This exhibit is not currently on view.

Anti-Gravity Mirror
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:   Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon

Aurora
Aurora

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

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Bird in a Cage
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 & Reflections

Bright Black
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 & Reflections

Christmas Tree Balls
Christmas Tree Balls

There are captivating reflections in a box of ornaments.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Chromoscope
Chromoscope

A color photo is three pictures in one.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Colored Shadows
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.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Corner Reflector
Corner Reflector

This reflector has you cornered: It always sends light back in the direction from which it came.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Countless Colors
Countless Colors

How many colors can you make by mixing red, green, and blue light?

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Cylindrical Mirror
Cylindrical Mirror

This curved mirror distorts your reflection in surprising ways.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Diffraction Shadows
Diffraction Shadows

Shadows made with laser light have light and dark bands.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Disagreeing About Color
Disagreeing About Color

Which of the outer dots best matches the center dot? Ask a few people and chances are you’ll get a few different answers.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Disappearing Glass Rods
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

Distilled Light
Distilled Light

Split light apart and put it back together again.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Drip Chamber
Drip Chamber

Liquid glycerin drips down, creating unique shapes and shadow patterns. 

Where:   This exhibit is not currently on view.

Duck Into a Kaleidoscope
Duck Into a Kaleidoscope

Step inside—and reflect.

Where:   Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon

Elastotron
Elastotron

Explore light and dimension.

Where:   This exhibit is not currently on view.

Everyone Is You and Me
Everyone Is You and Me

By adjusting the light levels on either side of this half-silvered glass, you and a friend can merge your faces into a single composite face.

Where:   This exhibit is not currently on view.

Fluorescent Tube
Fluorescent Tube

Powder inside a fluorescent tube makes invisible light visible.

Where:   This exhibit is not currently on view.

Geometron
Geometron

In conjunction with the Exploratorium’s Geometry Playground exhibition, Edmark created a polyhedral kaleidoscope, the result of rigorous mathematical precision and much collaboration. The kaleidoscope incorporates a live video feed within its mirrors to inspire and facilitate direct interaction and geometric exploration.

Where:   This exhibit is not currently on view.

Giant Lens
Giant Lens

See wonderfully warped views of the world through this colossal convex lens.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Giant Mirror
Giant Mirror

This giant mirror was originally part of a flight simulator. Its size and near-perfect smoothness makes for astonishing optical (and acoustic) effects.

Where:   Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon

Gray Step
Gray Step

With the rope hanging down, the left and right sides of the board appear identical. Lifting the rope shows the dramatic difference that your eyes missed—and continue to miss, as soon as you let the rope fall again.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Hoop Nightmares
Hoop Nightmares

Your brain adapts quickly to a warped view of the world, turning baskets into air balls.

Where:   This exhibit is not currently on view.

Hot Spot
Hot Spot

This curved mirror focuses both light and heat.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Illuminated Fog
Illuminated Fog

Swirling, drifting, billowing movements of air reveal themselves in the fog.

Where:   Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6, Mezzanine

Image Relay
Image Relay

Lenses transmit an image of your face across space.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Inverse Square Law
Inverse Square Law

Light gets dimmer the farther it travels–and a bit of simple math explains how.

Where:   Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon

Life in a Drop of Water
Life in a Drop of Water

Light projected through a drop of salt water reveals an abundance of life.

Where:   Gallery 4: Living Systems

Light Island
Light Island

Play with beams of light.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Look Into Infinity
Look Into Infinity

Reflections bounce back and forth into infinity.

Where:   This exhibit is not currently on view.

Lumen-Illusion
Lumen-Illusion

Flashing lights create the illusion of motion.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Magic Wand
Magic Wand

Wave the wand quickly and see an image appear.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Microscope Imaging Station
Microscope Imaging Station

Research-grade microscopes reveal interior worlds of living, changing cells.

Where:   Gallery 4: Living Systems

Mirrorly a Window
Mirrorly a Window

Confusing sensory information can be profoundly disturbing.

Where:   Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon

Monochromatic Room
Monochromatic Room

Things look oddly colorless in this room because they’re lit by light of only one color—a sodium vapor lamp of the type often used for streetlights. 

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Newton's Prism
Newton's Prism

Prisms separate white light into colors, then recombine these colors back into white light.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Pixel Table
Pixel Table

Create myriad colored shadows with mirrored tubes.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Rickshaw Obscura
Rickshaw Obscura

Step into this mobile camera obscura and never see the light the same way again. A small lens in the ceiling captures the scene around the visitor and projects a ghostly dreamlike movie on the table below.

Where:   This exhibit is not currently on view.

Rotating Faces
Rotating Faces

Some of these mirrors make your head spin, some don't. Can you find the pattern?

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Seeing and Listening Explainer Station
Seeing and Listening Explainer Station

Explainers do light and sound demonstrations.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Self-Centered Mirror
Self-Centered Mirror

It’s all you, and only you, in this mirror.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Self-Excluding Mirror
Self-Excluding Mirror

In this mirror, you’re nowhere to be seen.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Shadow Box
Shadow Box

A bright flash of light illuminates a phosphorescent wall—imprinting temporary shadows that capture a moment in time.

Where:   Crossroads: Getting Started

Shadow Kaleidoscope
Shadow Kaleidoscope

How many shadows can you create?

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Soap Film Painting
Soap Film Painting

Soap film hits the big time at this exhibit, featuring a giant square soap bubble the size of a picture window. The cascading colors you see here arise from overlapping light waves that reflect from the front and back surfaces of the soap film—a phenomenon called interference.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Sophisticated Shadows
Sophisticated Shadows

If you think shadows are a straightforward business, prepare for a surprise—actually, a whole bunch of surprises. Combining various light sources in various ways, you’ll quickly discover that there’s nothing simple about a simple shadow. 

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Spectral Meadow
Spectral Meadow

Watch the patterns change as the Earth turns and the Sun moves across the sky.

Where:   Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon

Sun Painting
Sun Painting

Created by artist Bob Miller, this classic Exploratorium exhibit is a “live” painting that uses light from the Sun as its palette.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

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