Search: Cart demonstration

“Magic Sand” is a cart demo that demonstrates how changing nanoscale changes in a material can affect how that material behaves at the macroscale. Visitors learn that hydrophobic surfaces repel water and that “magic” sand repels water because of a nanoscale hydrophobic coating on the grains of sand. During the program, compare how magic sand and regular sand interact with water.

Through hands-on activities, visitors learn how inkjet printers produce tiny, precise drops of ink. They examine printed paper with magnifying glasses, see a few demonstrations of how liquids behave differently at the small scale, and see an explosive demonstration of how ink is forced out of an ink cartridge.

"Mysterious Soap Bubbles" is a hands-on activity to make soap bubbles of varying thickness and colors. It includes an explanation of how the color of a soap bubble depends on the interference of different wavelengths of light. Different thicknesses of the bubble causes different interference patterns of light.

This is a card game which can be played with museum visitors. Visitors will learn the relative sizes of various objects. They compete against each other (or you) to organize their hand of cards into lists of objects from largest to smallest.

This is a cart demo about how nanoparticles behave differently, in part because they have a high surface area:volume ratio. Visitors learn that smaller particles have a much higher proportion of their atoms on the surface. Visitors unfold paper cubes, drop alka-seltzer in water, turn potatoes black with iodine, and see fireballs to understand how surface area changes as you get small.

“Nanoparticle Stained Glass” is a cart demonstration that introduces the connection between medieval stained glass artisans and nanotechnology. Visitors learn that the red and yellow colors in stained glass windows come from nanoparticles of gold and silver embedded in the glass. During the program, visitors listen to a short presentation, and then have the opportunity to participate in two hands-on activities: making a collaborative stained glass window with pre-made nanoparticle solutions containing silver or gold and making a take-away card that contains a small piece of nanoparticle stained “glass”.

"Lotus Leaf Effect” is a cart demo that demonstrates how nature inspires nanotechnology by sharing how nanoscale features on a surface can influence how a material behaves at the macroscale. Visitors learn that lotus leaves (and many other plant leaves) are self cleaning and repel water, due to nanoscale features on the leaves. During the program, visitors compare how water interacts with regular lettuce and leaves that exhibit the lotus effect by dropping water onto the different types of leaves.

“Forms of Carbon” is a cart demo that demonstrates how the nanoscale arrangement of atoms dramatically impacts a material’s macroscale behavior. Visitors learn about the structure and properties of four different forms of carbon. During the program, visitors interact with models of four different forms of carbon. Visitors also observe the conductivity of graphite (using a simple circuit and an everyday pencil) and the hardness of diamond (using a diamond scribe to cut glass).

“DNA Nanotechnology” is a facilitated, hands-on activity exploring deoxyribonucleic acid, a nanoscale structure that occurs in nature. Visitors extract a sample of DNA from split peas and put it in an Eppendorf tube to take home. They learn that nanoscientists study DNA to understand its biological function, and that they also use it to make other nanoscale materials and devices.

This cart demo is about Biobarcodes, a nanomedical technology that allows for massively parallel testing for disease diagnosis. Visitors learn about antibodies, how each antibody binds to a unique protein, and how biobarcoding uses nanoparticles, antibodies, DNA and magnetism to detect diseases earlier than we could detect before. Visitors assemble a jigsaw puzzle that models how Biobarcodes™ work.