Welcome to Fun, 2, 3, 4! Pass underneath the 8' tall wooden parabolic arch to enter the exhibition. The cabinet on the left has slots for tri-fold family guides that visitors may take with them. Masters of the 8 _ x 11" family guide provided for double-sided copying.

Have you ever noticed how useful graphing is? Ms. Measurooni asks you to measure yourself by finding your height, weight, and grip strength. When you're all finished, compare yourself on the graphs, then be sure to print your own Measurement Factory certificate to take home.

Custom program guides visitors to measure themselves, enter their data (including gender, first name, and month and year of birth), and look at graphs to see how they compare with other people.

--uses keyboard and mouse with computer
--digital weight scale (commercial $300 load cell scale with readout attached via microphone cable); 120volt AC
--mechanical sliding height scale
--digital readout dynamometer (commercial $200 grip strength tester) attached to the kiosk; battery powered
--HP inkjet printer, mounted on sliding drawer for service
--tower for computer mounted on sliding drawer, and back panel can be removed for access as well
--monitor can be accessed from front
--overhead parabolic speaker

Planets orbit the sun in an oval shape called an ellipse. Water from a fountain forms an arch called a parabola. "Cool Curves" is a computer game that allows you to identify common shapes and curves, like the ellipse and parabola, that appear in nature.

Various curves are displayed on a screen; visitor tries to match shown curve to the six types of curves on a button board

--uses Vetra programmable keyboard encoder to communicate with computer (no keyboard or mouse necessary); visitors use any of seven 1” HAPP standard buttons; buttons connected to Vetra encoder which sends appropriate sequence of keystrokes to the computer corresponding to the chosen curve for that button
--overhead parabolic speaker

How special are you? Three out of four people can curl their tongue, can you? This computer exhibit has you examine six simple genetic features, then tells you how many people are like you!!

--uses mouse with computer.
--overhead parabolic speaker.

The goal of "How many is a million?" is to teach the concept of large numbers. You can turn a wheel to continue the Sciencenter's ongoing quest to reach one million. On the one millionth turn, a glass goblet located in the exhibit will smash.

Entirely mechanical exhibit consisting of 7 12” diameter gears and 7 1.2” diameter gears; pair of gears attached to each of seven 5/8” diameter axles; each axle goes through a pair of pillow block bearings behind the gears. Gears are held snug with a locknut, which can be removed to reset the gears to start at zero again. Wooden wheel attached to first axle drives the nested set of gears. A glass water goblet rests on a pedestal in front of the last gear, and falls over when the wooden wheel has turned a million turns.

Millions prop is a tube of a million candy decorations (Becker bottle available commercially for $32, placed in a stronger tube). Spin the tube to look for the one black bead amongst the million beads.

Grab a partner. Measure the height of the horse using your hands. Now compare your answer to your partner's. Are they different? Think of the confusion if everyone measured with a different "hand." That is why many countries have agreed to use one set of measures called the Metric System.

Painted life-size mural of a horse on one side; visitors use the width of their hand to see how many of their hands it takes to go from the bottom of the horse to a line along the horse’s back.

At what age do people grow fastest? At what age do people stop growing taller? You can help to answer these questions. First, find your age and height on the graph. Place a dot where the two meet. Now step back and look at the giant graph. What assumptions can you make?

Visitors stand at the line corresponding to their age, and a partner puts a sticker at their height.

--Two 3 1/2’ x 8’ panels consist of 3/4” Norcore plastic interior, with layer of painted 1/4” plywood on each side; maple trim on all four sides of assembled pair of panels; benches at each end are bolted to maple trim to hold unit upright. Assembly easily bolts together.

--Graph on one side of panel is covered with low-glare 1/8” plexi. New sheets, precut and drilled, ships with exhibition for each venue.

-- Horse is custom painted and coated with acrylic polyurethane.

Poster stands have no moving parts. Posters covered with 1/8” lowglare plexiglass.

Math around the World posters purchased commercially; eight included demonstrate how other cultures counted and used numbers in many different ways. Mis-used math posters custom made, showing real examples of misleading or incorrect math.

We can feel tiny differences. Did you know that you may actually be able to guess the height of a peg within 0.1 millimeter or the thickness of a piece of paper? To test this, pick a partner and have them turn the wheel on the exhibit to a set number. Using your finger, can you guess the height of the peg? How close did you come?

Visitors feel a metal post that sticks up above a metal plate. They can turn a wheel to make the post rise and fall (maximum 1 millimeter). By feeling the thickness of real materials, they can estimate how high up the post extends.

Mechanical exhibit consisting of a 2’ diameter aluminum wheel that visitors can turn; wheel slightly offset so turning it (on a roller bearing underneath the wheel) drives metal lever arm up and down slightly, causing the 1/2” diameter post to extend up by varying amounts.

Stand on one side of the exhibit and choose the button closest to you. Grab a partner and have him/her stand by the other button. Ready, Go! Push the buttons down. As a team, your goal is to count 15 seconds. When you release the button, the time appears. How close did you come? Try again, it gets easier.

Exhibit consists of two independent timer units, controlled by separate buttons. Pairs of visitors try and hold down their button for 15 seconds, and see how close they each come.

Electrical exhibit consisting of custom printed circuit board, power supply (included), and pair of 4” LED readouts. Needs 120v AC

Can you double the length, width and height of the doggie? Using a model made of 13 cubes, it would actually take 104 cubes to "Double the Doggie." Try for yourself!

Visitors use unit cubes and try to make a “doggie” that is twice as tall, wide and thick as the model “doggie” made of 13 cubes. No moving or electrical parts; based on commercial plastic unit cubes.

You've measured the height of the horse with your hands. Now, measure the length of the dino using your feet. Grab a partner and count the number of feet it takes you to walk from the head of the dino to the tail. Were your answers the same? Think of the confusion if everything was measured with a different "foot." This is another reason why we use the Metric System.

No mechanical or electrical parts. Painted dinosaur is a single unit bolted permanently together; it bolts onto a 3/4” thick wooden base; adjoining floor board for visitors to walk across painted and then protected with floor (gymseal) coating.

This game allows you to make a graph. Roll a tennis ball down the lane aiming for the center of the backboard. Did you hit the center mark? How close did you come? Watch the pattern of lights that forms, showing you where your balls hit.

Above each slot is a display with 16 LEDs; inside the cabinet are the electronics for counting “hits” of HAPP pinball switches; each slot has a printed circuit board that can be independently removed for service; needs 120V AC.

Can you tell the difference in weight of these wooden pegs? First, line up the pegs from lightest to heaviest. Place them in the holder and lift the handle. Did the colors match up? If so, you were right. Now try the second set of pegs. Was it easier or harder? (The round pegs are 10 grams apart and the square pegs weigh 15 grams apart. Therefore, it should be easier to arrange the square pegs.)

No electrical or mechanical parts.

If you had a choice, would you choose to receive a dollar a week (100 pennies) or one penny that doubles each week? One hundred pennies may seem like more, but you'll be surprised when you see how big your allowance could be after 12 weeks.

Exhibit consists of two side-by-side rows of 12 hidden clear tubes holding varying number of pennies. Visitors can choose to receive $1/week for an allowance, or 1 penny the first week which then doubles each succeeding week. For each of the 12 weeks they can lift hidden tubes to see how many pennies they get for an allowance with each scheme.

Exhibit consists of 24 lexan tubes with pennies inside. No power or moving parts except for visitors lifting up tubes by handles; threaded 3/8” rod and commercial handles from McMasterCarr hold tubes and end caps together. All tubes land on 1/2” thick soft neoprene for soft landings. Heaviest tubes have springs underneath them as well for extra cushioning (weeks 10-11-12 on doubling side have 512, 1024, and 2048 pennies respectively). Tube bottom caps are constrained inside 5” PVC tubing. All bottom caps have kite-fabric skirts for piston (air cushioning) action between bottom of tube and PVC.

We use place values like ones, tens, hundreds to represent numbers. The Aztecs of Mexico used a combination of symbols and counted in base 20. The one unit looks like a finger, the twenty unit looks like a flag and the 400 unit looks like a feather. Can you translate your age by using Aztec symbols? Try another number.

Visitors can make rubbings of the symbols using paper and pencil. Can your friend guess your number?

Casting made of two part plastic, bolted to kiosk.