Masks and vaccinations are recommended. Plan your visit
Perception
Sensitive Plants
Gently touch these plants and see how they respond.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Shhhh . . . Quiet
Sometimes no sound is what you want. At this exhibit, try to walk as quietly as possible across a bed of gravel. The gravel is studded with sound sensors, and each crunch adds unwanted points to your score on the monitor. Watch others, then see if you can beat their score.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Silage Beach
Are the stripes spinning . . . or are you?
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.
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.
Sound Bite
Bite down on a straw and listen to music that only you can hear, as sound travels to your inner ear via your teeth and bones.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Sun Painting
Created by artist Bob Miller, this classic Exploratorium exhibit is a “live” painting that uses light from the Sun as its palette.
Tactile Dome
Learn about the history of the Tactile Dome, our largest interactive exhibit.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Touch the Spring
Light from a real spring bounces off the mirror to form the image you see.
Where: Crossroads: Getting Started
Triple-Aye Lightstick
A sweeping glance creates images that appear and disappear in the blink of an eye. This phenomenon, called persistence of vision, is also at work in videos and movie projections, which also flash on and off rapidly.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Velvet Hands
A surprising—and as yet unexplained—tactile illusion can occur when you slowly rub your palms across this mesh. You may feel a strange, slippery sensation, as if there’s a thin film of velvet between your hands.
Watch Water Freeze
Ordinarily, water freezes too slowly to be appreciated. Here, polarized light and an ultra cold slab let you watch water crystalize rapidly in real time. The colorful mosaic of ice that forms is different every time.
Your Father’s Nose
How does it feel to mix your face with someone else’s?
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
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