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Body Carnival: The Science and Fun of Being You

Created by Catawba Science Center, Hickory, NC, and The Health Adventure, Asheville, NC

explores the physical science of the human body. The concepts of force and pressure, the properties of light and sound, mathematics concepts, and the laws of motion are all a part of how our bodies interact with the world. Through a variety of exciting interactives, people will better understand the science of how their body works and interacts with the world.

Please Note: The exhibits in Body Carnival were designed to be accessible to as many visitors as possible. There will be a full audio description accompanying the exhibit. The audio description will be available on individual hand held audio units. We expect the hand held units may be checked out at the front desk of each hosting museum. To access the audio description for an individual exhibit, the visitor will find a 3" x 3" black plaque with a 2" raised white number located at the bottom right corner of each text panel. The number is entered into the hand held unit and the audio referencing that particular exhibit begins.

Entrance: Two columns with a tent covering welcome visitors with exhibit name and description on the right column, and donors and NSF logo on the left column. "Fun house" mirrors located on the back of the columns provide an interactive element.

Balancing Act: Visitors can work at a table with 4 different sides to explore how the center of gravity and the base of an object affect stability. Each side will have one 15" doll and a collection of metal rings. One doll will have small feet, the 2nd and 3rd doll will have larger feet, and the 4th doll will have feet that you can spread apart to get a wider base. The arms on the dolls will be stretched out to the sides of the dolls (like a T). Visitors can place rings to the left and/or right of the outstretched arms to try to balance the doll.

Walk the Plank: A 12-foot long balance beam going from a 4" beam, to a 2" beam and then to a wire. There will be a pirate character stanchion located at the front of the beam that has weights in a box at his feet. Visitors can try "Walking the Plank" with or without using weights from the box. The beam can be set up to be a straight 12 feet long run or shaped like a Z.

Dizzy Tunnel - Visitors walk through a rotating star field and try to maintain their balance. The walk is 10 feet long and 3 feet wide. Ramps will be available to be added by those museums that desire to make this exhibit wheelchair accessible.

Goofy Goggles: Visitors put on a pair of goggles with vision-distorting lenses and attempt to follow a zigzag yellow line on the floor.

Wacky Wall: Visitors stand in front of a striped wall. They pull a rope to make the wall move side to side, at the same time, they will try to stand on one foot to see if they can maintain their balance while looking at the wall move.

Get a Grip: A 3-sided table. Two sides will be equipped with hand models which demonstrate how tendons make our hands function. One hand will be available to "string" your own tendons, and the other hand will come equipped with tendons in place. The 3rd side will have 3 differing length arms, so that the visitor may experience how the length of the arm affects its leverage.

House of Color: Visitors enter a small room that will have a flap at the entrance to keep extraneous light out of the room. They will then experiment with different sources of lights to see the effects of varying light wavelengths on the colors of various objects. There will be a control panel located on a shelf right inside of the entrance. There will be switches on this control panel to turn certain lights on or off. Lights available for experimentation include: White light, monochromatic light (from a Sodium), red light, blue light and green light.

Pressure Vessel: One part of this exhibit encourages visitors to feel streams of water from 3 spouts located at different depths. The visitor will be able to feel the different water pressures from the differing depths of spouts. The second part of this exhibit encourages you to take your blood pressure with your hand held at head height or at waist level to see the difference that depth of fluid makes in your own blood pressure.

Go With the Flow: Two spouts offer the visitor a chance to apply their own "clogged arteries" to the spouts. The extra clogged spouts will be located on a shelf at table height for the visitors to experiment.

Tunnel of Blood: Visitors crawl through a giant coronary artery with realistically sculpted walls simulating the build-up of arterial plaque. Visitors see and hear the effects of blood flow as it is decreased by plaque build up. The inside of the tunnel will narrow from 3' at the entrance to 2' at the exit as the visitor crawls through the artery. There are 3 view ports located along the right side of the artery so that visitors can see the inside of the tunnel if they do not want to crawl through the tunnel.

Calculation Station: There are 3 different sides to this module.

H2O: Visitors calculate how much water they need to drink daily. A weight scale and calculator are available for visitors to work a formula to see how much water they should drink daily depending on how much they weigh.

Target Heart Rate: Visitors calculate their target heart rate. A calculator and heart rate monitor are available for the visitor to work a formula that will help them find their individual target heart rate.

The Human Yardstick: Visitors determine the mathematical relationship between their arm span and their height. Visitors will be able to get their height from a height slider located at the exhibit. They will then measure their outreached arm span fingertip to fingertip using a retractable tape.

Clown figures There will be 2 freestanding clowns stanchions with "flat" balloons. Each clown will have 3 balloons in their hand. Each balloon will have a fact about the human body. Some of the facts are comparisons with everyday objects or activities and curious body facts.

Feel Music: Visitors cover their ears and lean back against sound cushions to "hear" through their bones and muscles. Those in wheelchairs can use a portable sound cushion that is attached to the left side of the exhibit. There will be a freestanding stanchion located beside the exhibit that will hold the text panel.

Body Challenge: The visitor will have 3 opportunities to compare their physical and neural activities with others.

Hang Time: Visitors can measure their extended and flexed arm hang times. A timing device with audible beep will tell them how long their feet are off the ground. Text panel will have comparisons with others of their gender and age. They will also be challenged to hold their hands in different locations on the bar to determine what's the easiest position to hold.

Think Fast!: Visitors will have 2 opportunities to test their neural reaction time. One is a simple one light reaction time. The second is a more complex task of reacting to 2 different lights and choosing which button to press.

Sit and Reach: From a seated position visitors will attempt to measure how flexible they are, with and without warming up their muscles. The slider located on the Flexibility unit will have an audible click at each one-inch increment. Text panel will have comparisons with others of their gender and age.