You can't see it, and you can't always feel it, but air, and the way it moves, affects us and our surroundings all the time. AirPlay is a set of highly interactive exhibits which allows visitors to develop an intuitive understanding of how air moves, how moving air affects objects in its path, and how, in return, objects affect the movement of air. The exhibition is specifically designed to foster interaction among family members and groups of peers, and to allow visitors to make discoveries about air both in very active and in subtle ways.
Aeolian Landscape
Designed by Ned Kahn during his time at the Exploratorium, Aeolian
Landscape is a 24-hour a day swirling sandstorm. Visitors can
adjust the airflow which causes the turbulence inside the exhibit,
but most prefer simply to watch as moving air builds and alters
and rebuilds its landscape over time.
The exhibit contains a fan and a 45 watt floodlight bulb inside
the anodized aluminum chamber; it uses 150 watts of 120v AC power.
It runs constantly when gallery power is on (it is best connected
to the gallery lighting circuit).
Air Cannon
No, not an air-powered cannon, but a cannon which can shoot a
puff of air all the way across a room. A short length of pipe
has one clear end with a fist-sized hole in it, and one end with
rubber stretched over it. A slap on the rubber end compresses
the air inside the pipe, and forces it out the end hole, projecting
a puff of air all the way across the room towards a flutter-disk
target. A rubber mat with highlighted footprints encourages visitors
to stand in the path of the air puff to see what it feels like
to be hit with a cannonball made of air.
No power requirements.
Air In, Air Out
Where does the air in a vacuum cleaner go? it doesn't stay in
the bag, as it turns out. Clear construction, a huge vacuum hose,
and a mega-blower allow visitors to pick up foam objects while
discovering exactly where that moving air ends up.
The exhibit employs a fan using 75 watts of 120 v AC power, and
operates on a timer switch.
Air Maze
Air powers a ball through a maze with multiple exit doors and
multiple paths. Visitors discover that moving air needs a place
to go, and that an airstream loses energy when it is divided.
This exhibit is four-sided, and inspires lots of interaction and
co-operation.
The exhibit has 2 blowers using a total of 250 watts of 120v AC
power, and operates on a timer switch.
Air Race
Demonstrating the loss of energy from turbulence, Air Race allows
visitors to race balls through two equal-length paths pushed by
equal streams of air. One ball travels much more slowly than the
other because one path is smooth, and one has wiggles in it. More
energy is lost from the air in the wiggly path because of the
turbulence caused by the wiggles.
The exhibit has 2 blowers using a total of 250 watts of 120v AC
power, and operates on a timer switch.
Ball Floaters
This is a module consisting of 4 exhibit stations with a central
bench. Ballfloaters is extraordinarily simple in concept; a blower
moves air through a pipe and out through two or three clear tubes
connected with Ts. Small foam balls can be balanced on the airstream
coming out of the tubes, so that they float in air. With some
experimentation, visitors can discover how to get the balls to
drop down into one tube and pop out of another, to balance more
than one on a stream of air, and to balance halfway up the clear
tube. The exhibit is fun, and visitors leave with a sense of how
air can be directed and manipulated, and the effect of that manipulation
on objects in the path of the moving air.
The exhibit has 4 blowers using a total of 500 watts of 120v AC
power, and each module operates on its own timer switch.
Fluid Flow
Visitors can aim a hose attached to a blower towards a wall of
flutter-disks, which react to the moving air in waves and ripples.
Another exhibit which inspires quiet contemplation of air movement.
The flutter-disks sound like the fluttering of leaves in a tree.
The exhibit has 1 blower and 1 fan which use a maximum of 125
watts of 120v AC power, and operates on a timer switch which selects
either the blower or the fan.
Fluttering Fabric
This is the entrance piece to the exhibit, and is a set of fabric
panels which flutter and flap as air blows upwards from their
base. A mesmerizing effect.
There are two units, each of which uses (9) 20 watt blowers (total
250 watts). It runs constantly when gallery power is on (it is
best connected to the gallery lighting circuit)
Sailboats
With this exhibit we demonstrate how the wind can move a sailboat
in several different directions, including towards the wind, depending
upon the angle of the sail. A sailboat floats on the surface of
the table, held up by jets of air. This offers an almost frictionless
surface for the boat to travel on. A bank of fans opposite the
visitor supplies the wind power. The sail is adjustable, so that
visitors can experiment with changing the angle of the sail.
The exhibit has 12 fans and one blower using a total of 480 watts
of 120v AC power, and operates on a timer switch.
Tube Tunnels
"Air-hydrants" supply the power, and visitors can create their
own maze of tubes and Ts and corners, and then discover how the
air moves a foam ball through their contraption. Often, large
groups of visitors will work together creating a complicated maze
to deliver balls from one end of the exhibit floor to the other.
Visitors discover that the longer the tube, the more the turbulence,
and find ways to compensate for the loss of speed.
The exhibit has 2 blowers using a total of 250 watts of 120v AC
power, and operates on a timer switch.
