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7 exhibitsCourses

Walking tour: from a cell to the solar system

Life-size places you can walk through, visited in order of size.

Each stop is bigger than the one before, starting inside a cell grown a million times and ending on a path that holds the whole solar system.

These are the walk-through exhibits, and you move through them on foot with the arrow keys or a thumb. Every stop is bigger than the last: a cell grown a million times, a reef and the deep sea, a park of dinosaurs at real size, the Moon and Mars at the scale of a person, and finally a path that holds the whole solar system.

A person-sized figure stands in most scenes so you always have something to measure against. Look for the hidden finds in each walk; they are small things that are easy to miss, each with a short note on why it is there.

  1. 01
    FIG. 54 · Walk-throughs

    Walk inside a cell: animal, plant and bacterium

    Grown a million times, a mitochondrion is about the size of a sofa, a whole E. coli is 2 m long, and the kinesin towing a vesicle past you walks at 0.8 metres per second.

    Walk next to a mitochondrion the size of a sofa and time a kinesin motor carrying its load past you.

  2. 02
    FIG. 70 · Walk-throughs

    Coral bleaching causes: why warmer water turns reefs white

    Corals get most of their food from algae living in their tissue, and when the sea stays more than 1 °C above its usual summer high for weeks, they lose those algae and turn white.

    Raise the sea temperature and watch which corals lose their colour first.

  3. 03
    FIG. 53 · Walk-throughs

    Swim to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in a 3D ocean

    By 20 m down, almost all the red in sunlight has gone, and the Challenger Deep is another 10,900 m below that.

    Go down past 200 m and switch the lamp on and off to see how dark the water already is.

  4. 04
    FIG. 52 · Walk-throughs

    Dinosaur size comparison to humans: 172 life-size animals

    A 600 m park of 172 prehistoric animals at their real size, from the first dinosaurs to T. rex, laid out by age.

    Stand your own height next to a sauropod's leg, then walk forward in time to the late Cretaceous.

  5. 05
    FIG. 64 · Walk-throughs

    Walk the Apollo landing sites

    Standing on the Moon with your eyes 1.6 m up, the horizon is only about 2.4 km away. All six Apollo landing sites are here, from Tranquility Base to Taurus-Littrow.

    Look for the horizon at each landing site; on the Moon it is only about 2.4 km away.

  6. 06
    FIG. 75 · Walk-throughs

    Walk around a Mars base

    On Mars an eye 1.6 m up sees the horizon 3.3 km away. Walk ten areas of a concept base and stand beside every lander and rover that has worked there, at full size.

    Stand beside each rover at full size and compare their wheels.

  7. 07
    FIG. 81 · Walk-throughs

    Solar system scale model measurements along a park walk

    Shrink the Sun to a ball 1.39 m wide and Earth becomes a 1.27 cm marble 150 m down the path, Neptune is 4.5 km away and Voyager 1 would be 25.7 km.

    Walk from the Sun to Earth, 150 m on this scale, and count your steps.

Courses

7 exhibits

Questions from an ordinary day

Things you meet on a normal day, from the colour of the sky to a game-show puzzle, each opened up as a working model.

Why the sky is blue and sunsets are redHow GPS works: why your phone needs four satellitesHow does an elevator work? Counterweight and safety brakeHow does a vinyl record work? Grooves, stereo and RIAAHeart beating: interactive model of the heart, step by stepHow to fold a paper crane and read its crease patternWhy should you switch doors in the Monty Hall problem?7 exhibits

Engines: from steam to rockets

How the heat of burning fuel becomes motion, from the steam engine to the engine that lifts a rocket.

How does the Watt steam engine work? A working 3D modelHow a four-stroke engine works: two crank turns per cycleTurbocharger: interactive model, take it apartHow a manual gearbox worksHow does a differential work in a car? A 3D gear modelHow a jet engine works: where an airliner’s thrust comes fromLiquid rocket engine: interactive model, how it works8 exhibits

Space: from your window to a black hole

Start with the sky you can see from home and move outwards, as far as the edge of a black hole.

Why we have seasons: tilted Earth, changing daylightMoon phases: why a crescent is not Earth’s shadowSolar system scale model measurements along a park walkYour weight and jump height on other planets and moonsWalk the Apollo landing sitesHow big a crater would an asteroid make, and how craters formWalk around a Mars baseWhat you would see falling into a black hole8 exhibits

The body: from heartbeat to DNA

Your own body, from the organs you can feel down to the molecules inside each cell.

Heart beating: interactive model of the heart, step by stepHow nerve signals travelHow does the eye focus on near and far objects? Try it in 3DReaction time test: how many milliseconds do you take?Walk inside a cell: animal, plant and bacteriumHow ATP synthase worksHow DNA replication works, step by step: Okazaki fragments in 3DHow CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing works8 exhibits

Light and sound

What a sound wave and a light wave are, and what ears, eyes and machines do with them.

What sound looks like: sound waves, frequency and decibelsHow a piano works: the grand action and equal temperamentHow does a vinyl record work? Grooves, stereo and RIAAHow do bats see with sound? Echolocation explainedLight and colour, from prisms to polarisersWhy the sky is blue and sunsets are redAnimal vision: see the world through 69 animals’ eyesOptical illusions: why equal grey tiles look different8 exhibits

Old machines, oldest first

Machines that kept time, played music, calculated and carried messages before electronics took over.

How the Jagyeokru water clock worksSlide rule: how to use one, with an interactive modelHow a pendulum clock works, and why its length sets the timeHow a music box worksMorse telegraph: key it yourself, step by stepHow a typewriter works: inside a manual typewriterHow a rotary phone works: the dial, its pulses and the exchangeHow the Enigma machine worked: rotors, reflector and plugboard8 exhibits

Electricity: from turbine to chip

Follow electric power from where it is made to where it turns a motor or adds two numbers.

How a wind turbine works: why the blades twist in strong windHow a solar panel worksHow electricity gets to your homeWhat is under the streetHow a lithium-ion battery works: where the ions go on chargeElectric motor simulator: how it works, step by stepHow a transistor works as a switch: the MOSFET gateHow logic gates add numbers: sum bits and carry bits8 exhibits

The Earth: from the core to the sky

The planet under your feet, from the iron core through the oceans to the air above.

Layers of the Earth: depth and density, interactive modelWhere volcanoes and earthquakes happenHow buildings resist earthquakesHow tides workSwim to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in a 3D oceanCoral bleaching causes: why warmer water turns reefs whiteSnowflake growth simulator: grow your own crystalWhy the sky is blue and sunsets are red8 exhibits

Buildings and the city

How structures stand up, and how a city keeps water and power moving underneath them.

Stone arch bridge: load it and watch how it carries weightGothic cathedral: flying buttresses, interactive modelHow a hanok is put together and heated by ondolWhy a tower crane doesn't tip overHow does an elevator work? Counterweight and safety brakeHow buildings resist earthquakesWhat is under the streetHow a water treatment plant turns muddy water clear