Learn with us online while the Exploratorium is temporarily closed. You can help us reopen—donate today.
After Dark
Thursday, December 15, 2016 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.
Everything Matters: Chlorine
Black Field by Zachary James Watkins
Tinkering Social Club: Circuit Classics with Star Simpson
Buy Tickets$15 General
$10 Members; Free for Lab Members
$10 Add-On Ticket for the Tactile Dome Available for Purchase Onsite
Adults Only (18+)
Note: Some programs have limited seating and will be made available to visitors on a first-come, first-served basis.
Join composer Zachary James Watkins as he performs alongside lluminatoria, a kinetic light sculpture by the artist duo Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder. At Everything Matters: Chlorine, learn how the lethal element leads to lifesaving sanitation, and meet with Pauli Gray and Emily Newman of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation to hear the science behind using chlorine bleach to clean needles and syringes. And play around with circuitry, electronics, and breadboarding with designer and engineer Star Simpson in the Tinkering Studio.
Featured Programs
Everything Matters: Chlorine
8:00 p.m.
Phyllis C. Wattis Webcast Studio
From the moment of its discovery, each element embarks on a journey into our culture.
—Hugh Aldersey-Williams, Periodic Tales
Come be in your elements with Exploratorium host and scientific raconteur Ron Hipschman. Follow tales of intrigue and invention, join in dynamic demonstrations, and uncover fascinating connections between individual elements and our collective human experience.
Learn more about the series, Everything Matters: Tales from the Periodic Table.
Learn how lethal chlorine leads to lifesaving sanitation. Pauli Gray and Emily Newman of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation will share the science behind using chlorine bleach to clean needles and syringes, and discuss the larger landscape of needle exchange and distribution in San Francisco and across the United States.
Pauli Gray has been a harm reduction worker and activist since 1997. He has worked full-time at San Francisco AIDS Foundation since 1998 and part-time for the DOPE Project/Harm Reduction Coalition since 2004, focusing on Hepatitis C counseling and treatment access, needle exchanges, and overdose prevention. Gray runs harm reduction groups and Hepatitis C groups and gives individual counseling as well.
Emily Newman, MA, is a social scientist, writer, and editor of BETA, an HIV and AIDS treatment, prevention and care publication established in 1988. She has worked at San Francisco AIDS Foundation for the past two years, is a regular volunteer for a women’s healthcare organization, and has worked in clinical research, HIV prevention, and social science research for over ten years.
Chlorine
Corrosive chlorine is an element of extremes: a deadly poisonous gas with powerfully disinfectant properties. Discovered by Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1774, it was confirmed as an element by Humphry Davy in 1810, who named it chlorine (Greek, chlôros) for its yellow-green color. Extremely reactive, chlorine is naturally found only in compounds such as salt (NaCl) and stomach acid, and is necessary for metabolism.
Chlorine gas is produced from the electrolysis of salt water. Lethal, strong-smelling, and heavier than air, it was an infamous chemical weapon introduced in WWI. While used to process pharmaceuticals and make PVC (and several now banned chemicals such as DDT), chlorine was first recognized as a bleaching agent, then later as an antiseptic and disinfectant, leading to its widespread use in water purification.
Black Field by Zachary James Watkins
Note: Capacity is extremely limited; please arrive early to guarantee a seat.7:30 and 8:30 p.m.
Osher West Gallery, Black Box
Join musician Zachary James Watkins in a performance of serendipitously paired light and sound. A celebrated composer and innovator, Watkins crafts complex performances that fuse electronic instruments and tone-generators with a radical approach to guitar. His performance will be paired with Illuminatoria, a commissioned kinetic light sculpture by the artist duo Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder, which will illuminate and shape shift throughout his performance.
Zachary James Watkins studied composition at Cornish College and Electronic Music and Recording Media at Mills College. He has received commissions from Cornish College of The Arts, The Microscores Project, the Beam Foundation, Somnubutone Radio Series, sfsound and the Seattle Chamber Players. Zachary has performed in numerous festivals across the United States, Mexico, and Europe and his band Black Spirituals opened for pioneering drone metal band Earth during their 2015 European tour. Zachary releases music on the labels Sige, Cassauna, Confront (UK), The Tapeworm, and Touch (UK). Novembre Magazine (DE), ITCH (SA), Walrus Press and the New York Miniature Ensemble have published his writings and scores. Zachary has been an artist in residence at the Espy Foundation, Djerassi, and the Headlands Center for The Arts.
Tinkering Social Club: Circuit Classics with Star Simpson
7:00–9:30 p.m.
South Gallery, Tinkering Studio
Join us for an evening of drop-in investigations, conversation, and collaboration with designer and engineer Star Simpson. We’ll play around with circuitry, electronics, and breadboarding.
Star just released a set of beautiful boards called Circuit Classics, which bring to life the designs of Forest M. Mims III, who introduced a generation to electronics through his Getting Started in Engineering series.
We’ll mess around with Star’s Circuit Classic boards, learn how to solder components, and experiment in a friendly and fun environment. This is your chance to find out everything you ever wanted to know about circuits but were afraid to ask.*
*Actually, we may not know the answers to all of your questions about circuits!
Tactile Dome
$10; purchase tickets onsite at the Information Desk6:15–10:00 p.m.
Bernard and Barbro Osher West Gallery
Take an excursion through total darkness in our Tactile Dome. Crawl, slide, and bump your way through the pitch-dark Dome using your sense of touch as your only guide through its chambers and mazes.
Please Note: Due to the nature of this experience, certain restrictions apply. Guests who are afraid of the dark; claustrophobic; have back, neck, or knee injuries; or are in their third trimester of pregnancy should not participate. Guests wearing casts are prohibited. Also, please wear comfortable clothes.
Learn more about the Tactile Dome.
Explainer Demonstrations
6:00–9:45 unless noted
Various locations throughout the museum
Drawing Board
Ticketing at 6:00 p.m., first come, first served
Bernard and Barbro Osher West Gallery
Draw hypnotically flowing patterns with a swinging table, and watch friction cause the patterns to slowly shrink along a spiral path. Pick up a ticket to reserve your spot in line for this popular activity.
Speaker Dissection
Bechtel Central Gallery
Tune in to surrounding sounds by experimenting with strings and vibrations, and use electromagnets to build a basic speaker. Learn how to listen with your bones, and explore the workings of the inner ear.
Cow Eye or Flower Dissection (alternating)
East Gallery
Do cows see color? How does a lens work? Examine the intricate structure of a cow eye to learn about similar structures in our own eyes, as well as some key differences.
Stigma, stamen, pistil, anther, style: Uncover the beautiful architecture of flower anatomy, and gather some surprising strategies that plants use to reproduce.
Magic Demonstration
Bernard and Barbro Osher West Gallery
Everything is not as it seems—at first. Pick a card, any card, and watch the Explainers reveal some surprising aspects of human perception.
