New Exhibit Storms Into the MSI
By Prescott Carlson in News on Mar 20, 2010 5:00PM
Chicagoist was invited to a reception at the Museum of Science and Industry a few nights ago for the premiere of their new permanent exhibit, Science Storms, and if you think we're going to pass on an opportunity to nerd out while sipping free wine, think again. Admittedly having done little research on the exhibit before showing up, we were blown away by the enormity of it. Taking over a part of the main hall that used to house temporary exhibits as well as the upper level that used to be part of the Grainger Hall of Basic Science, Science Storms is a whopping 26,000 square feet that explores all sorts of natural phenomena, upping the ante from its impressive You!: The Experience which opened last fall.
When first entering the exhibit space, your eye is immediately drawn to the 40-foot-high illuminated "tornado" to the right. Visitors can affect the flow of the vortex by adjusting various fan speeds with levers that surround it. To the left is a massive rotating disk filled with glass beads and garnet sand that demonstrates the motion of snow in an avalanche -- we found ourselves slipping into a meditative state while staring at the disk from the balcony. Other main exhibits include a 30-foot-long wave tank that shows the transfer of energy in a tsunami, giant optical prisms that create 30-foot-tall rainbows from natural sunlight through a 10-by-10 foot skylight (artificial light automatically turns on if the weather is cloudy), a 20-foot-diameter Tesla coil that surges with 1.2 million volts every 30 minutes, and a live-fire experiment that combines the two most awesome things on the planet, fire and lasers.
And like most areas throughout the MSI, Science Storms has plenty of interactive exhibits. One features Chicago Bull Derrick Rose, with visitors trying to set the correct angle and speed to create the right parabola to launch a tennis ball from one side of the hall to the other. While the kids in attendance were all crowding around it and having a great time, we're still trying to figure out what the arc of Rose's jump shot has to do with nature and weather.
Entrance to Science Storms is included in Museum general admission. Museum of Science and Industry, 57th St. and Lake Shore Drive. Hours are 9:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. on Sunday.