Experience the Exploratorium at Pier 15
Climate Science. Sign up for our e-newsletters. The Exploratorium is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization. Our tax ID #: 94-1696494. Experience the Exploratorium. Let your curiosity roam free through hundreds of exhibits in our six spacious indoor and outdoor galleries at …
Secret Language: Cryptography & Secret Codes | Exploratorium
The algorithm or method used to encipher the original message (known as the plaintext). The key used with the algorithm to allow the plaintext to be both enciphered and deciphered. The period or time during which the key is valid. By way of analogy, to get into your home you would put a key in a lock to open the door.
Your Weight on Other Worlds - Exploratorium
Scales measure the force of attraction between you and the Earth. This force of attraction between you and the Earth (or any other planet) is called your weight. If you are in a spaceship far between the stars and you put a scale underneath you, the scale would read zero. Your weight is zero. You are weightless.
Anatomy of an Egg - Exploratorium
Bumpy and grainy in texture, an eggshell is covered with as many as 17,000 tiny pores. Eggshell is made almost entirely of calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) crystals. It is a semipermeable membrane, which means that air and moisture can pass through its pores. The shell also has a thin outermost coating called the bloom or cuticle that helps keep out ...
A Brief History of Pi (π) - Exploratorium
Here’s a brief history of finding π. The ancient Babylonians calculated the area of a circle by taking 3 times the square of its radius, which gave a value of pi = 3. One Babylonian tablet (ca. 1900–1680 BC) indicates a value of 3.125 for π, which is a closer approximation. The Rhind Papyrus (ca.1650 BC) gives us insight into the ...
Cow's Eye Dissection - Exploratorium
Step 3: Fat cushions the eye. If you reach up and feel around your eye, you’ll feel the bone of your skull. There’s fat surrounding your eyeball to keep it from bumping up against the bone and getting bruised. In the cow’s eye dissection, we cut away all the fat …
Visit the Exploratorium at Pier 15
The Exploratorium is more than a museum—it’s a gateway to exploring science, art, and human perception with every visit. Let your curiosity roam through more than 700 interactive exhibits in six spacious indoor and outdoor galleries.
Build a Solar System Model | Exploratorium
If you build your solar system on a roll of toilet paper, you can make the Sun about .4 inches (10 mm) across and still fit the entire solar system on the roll. A standard roll of toilet paper has about 450 sheets that are about 4.375 inches long, hence the roll is about 164 feet long. You should check your toilet paper for length.
Naked Egg: Biology & Chemistry Science Activity | Exploratorium
Add vinegar to cover the eggs (see photo below), and cover the container. Allow the eggs to sit for 24 to 48 hours at room temperature. Note: Changing out the vinegar halfway through and replacing it with fresh vinegar will speed up the process. The eggshells will leave residue in the vinegar bath (see photo below).
Science of Eggs: Egg Science | Exploratorium
Egg proteins change when you heat them, beat them, or mix them with other ingredients. Understanding these changes can help you understand the roles that eggs play in cooking. Proteins are made of long chains of amino acids. The proteins in an egg white are globular proteins, which means that the long protein molecule is twisted and folded and curled up into a more or less spherical shape.