Masks and vaccinations are recommended. Plan your visit
Sound
Aeolian Harp
An eerie orchestral chord floats on the breeze; it’s the shimmering sound of a 27-foot tall harp being strummed by the wind.
Where: Gallery 5: Outdoor Exhibits
Archimedes
Archimedes is comprised of two 8-foot diameter dish-like chairs placed 80 feet apart. Each dish’s parabolic curve collects and focuses sound waves and reflects them to participants seated within them. Even whispers uttered from one dish can be clearly heard by the surprised listener seated in the opposite dish.
Where: Plaza
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.
Chladni Singing
Sand scattered on a large metal square vibrates and jumps in response to the sound of your voice. When you hit just the right note(s), the sand spontaneously migrates into elegant geometrical patterns.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Echo Tube
Make a sound into the echo tube and listen for it to reflect back from the far end. You’ll hear a half-second delay, and strange distortions created by the journey.
Where: Gallery 5: Outdoor Exhibits
Echo Tubes
Experiment with echoes with these three long tubes. Why does a clap come back as a ping? What does it take to make a good echo?
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Focused Conversation
This giant balloon bends sound waves just as a lens bends light.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Humming Plates
Sand reveals vibrations that are normally invisible.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Listening Vessels
Enormous parabolic sculptures transmit a conversation—or even a whisper—from one person to another across a great distance.
Oscylinderscope
A piece consisting of a cylinder and guitar strings, that when plucked, demonstrate how strings behave when they vibrate to produce sound. Both the tension and the length of a string effect the frequency of vibration (pitch of the sound).
Pentaphone
Combine beats and melodies in a musical conversation.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Pitch Slider
The length of this vibrating rod affects the sound it makes.
Seeing and Listening Explainer Station
Explainers do light and sound demonstrations.
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.
Wave Organ
Sound at this wave-activated acoustic sculpture is created by the impact of waves against the pipe ends and the subsequent movement of the water in and out of the pipes. The sound heard at the site is subtle, requiring visitors to become sensitized to its music, and at the same time to the music of the environment.
Where: San Francisco Marina jetty
Zephyr Trio
In the parking lot outside the former Exploratorium building stood three steel poles with mounted weather vanes and vertical hollow tubes that turned depending on the wind direction. When the wind was just right, mysterious organ tones could be heard from the tubes of this exhibit.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
