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Science Museum

They used to have a coal mine in the lower floors, that was my favourite but that was years ago. Anything with wings is good though.

Royd Fissure;1314739 wrote: They used to have a coal mine in the lower floors, that was my favourite but that was years ago. Anything with wings is good though.


There are lots and lots of things with wings. No coal mine now AFAIK. No "Million Volt" generator crackling away, either.

There are lots of other things, too. Don't ignore the King George III collection. It's near the "Launch Pad"[1]. Most people, I think, go into the King George III collection ("Science in the 18th Century"), where there's an air of calm and stillness, turn on their heels, and exit. It's the most museum-like gallery, IMO. The (uniformed) atttendants are approachable. There are some *fantastic* things in there, from the time when there was a huge explosion of scientific advance. The S.M. recommend 5 minutes as a typical visit time. It will take that to merely glance at the exhibits!

If you enter the gallery, go straight ahead 5 yards or so, and turn 90 degrees right, and on the wall you will see a series of glass cupboards. In one, about 4' up IIRC, is a messy splodge of colour on a thing like an atrist's palette, with a shiny-ish column rising from near the middle. It's not big, about 8" high. Look through the glass at the column sides, downwards at an angle of about 45 degrees, and you will see something very interesting and surprising! I doubt many people see this! It's all a bit "dry" for some people in there, but it is fascinating. Look at the "glass globes" 2/3 way in on the LHS very carefully. Just the making of them would've been a wonder at that time, let alone what they're for.

The "medical" galleries are fascinating (also quiet), but perhaps unsuitable for impressionable children of a tender age. Not found by some people (ask for directions from an attendant if you can't find them, the way up is nearer the front of the museum).

The glass bridge! It has a nice explanation, and if you look near the ends you'll find it.

[1] Lots of hands-on interactive stuff concerned with physics and effects/principles. Excellent. There's a "Flash, Bang, Wallop" talk just off the Launch Pad every so often. Children of all ages like that. The attendants will advise when. Water rockets! Magnetic effects of eddy currents (metal disks dropped down a slot with magnets either side). Loads of things.



More, more, more - but I'd better not bash it out here.



Then, of course, there's the Museum of Natural History. And...

There's a wonderful long cabinet with a glass front full of household stuff from the 20th century, I enjoy saying "I used those... I know how to work that... golly I still have this and use it..." - the Newcomen beam engines are wonderfully maintained too. The Apollo capsule is astounding. I do miss the Van der Graff dome though, that was unique, I've no idea where I'll ever see another like that.

That million volt generator. Would that be the one were us kids turned the handle to watch our hair stand on end ? Highlight of our school trips that

The Science Museum had one thirty foot tall with a spark gap of around three feet and a bang that made everyone jump. It was immense. I expect when people started using PCs in the building it had to go, it must have made quite a splash on local radios too. Unless they'd managed to cage the room somehow, I don't recall any obvious precautions.

Went to a Kids 'hands on' museum here last summer. They had 200 science projects. I thought we'd never get finished. They had to try everything.



I think my favorite was this air canon gizmo. Looked like an upside down drum and they start the kids out sitting about 5 feet away from it. someone else taps it and you wait a second or two and then you feel it. the farther away you are the longer it takes and the kids would end up across the room over 30 feet and still feeling it!:D

flopstock;1314811 wrote: I think my favorite was this air canon gizmo. Looked like an upside down drum and they start the kids out sitting about 5 feet away from it. someone else taps it and you wait a second or two and then you feel it. the farther away you are the longer it takes and the kids would end up across the room over 30 feet and still feeling it!:D


You can make one of those with a large plant pot and a balloon[1], they can put out candles at quite a distance.



[1] well... technically any thin rubber sheet. Some people use condoms.

spot;1314816 wrote: You can make one of those with a large plant pot and a balloon[1], they can put out candles at quite a distance.







[1] well... technically any thin rubber sheet. Some people use condoms.


Not nearly enough though.

YZGI;1314836 wrote: Not nearly enough though.


Some people are lax, yes :yh_rotfl

Bill Sikes;1314803 wrote: There are lots and lots of things with wings. No coal mine now AFAIK. No "Million Volt" generator crackling away, either.

There are lots of other things, too. Don't ignore the King George III collection. It's near the "Launch Pad"[1]. Most people, I think, go into the King George III collection ("Science in the 18th Century"), where there's an air of calm and stillness, turn on their heels, and exit. It's the most museum-like gallery, IMO. The (uniformed) atttendants are approachable. There are some *fantastic* things in there, from the time when there was a huge explosion of scientific advance. The S.M. recommend 5 minutes as a typical visit time. It will take that to merely glance at the exhibits!

If you enter the gallery, go straight ahead 5 yards or so, and turn 90 degrees right, and on the wall you will see a series of glass cupboards. In one, about 4' up IIRC, is a messy splodge of colour on a thing like an atrist's palette, with a shiny-ish column rising from near the middle. It's not big, about 8" high. Look through the glass at the column sides, downwards at an angle of about 45 degrees, and you will see something very interesting and surprising! I doubt many people see this! It's all a bit "dry" for some people in there, but it is fascinating. Look at the "glass globes" 2/3 way in on the LHS very carefully. Just the making of them would've been a wonder at that time, let alone what they're for.

The "medical" galleries are fascinating (also quiet), but perhaps unsuitable for impressionable children of a tender age. Not found by some people (ask for directions from an attendant if you can't find them, the way up is nearer the front of the museum).

The glass bridge! It has a nice explanation, and if you look near the ends you'll find it.

[1] Lots of hands-on interactive stuff concerned with physics and effects/principles. Excellent. There's a "Flash, Bang, Wallop" talk just off the Launch Pad every so often. Children of all ages like that. The attendants will advise when. Water rockets! Magnetic effects of eddy currents (metal disks dropped down a slot with magnets either side). Loads of things.



More, more, more - but I'd better not bash it out here.



Then, of course, there's the Museum of Natural History. And...


Thank you again Bill!

I just had a little mental walk along Cromwell Road and Exhibition Road. Nice it was too. I got lost but never mind, always a tube station nearby

It sounds like the Science Museum has certainly undergone some changes. I think I remember also seeing a reconstruction of Faraday's laboratory. The real museum-y stuff will be good, I think I'll see many things differently from when I was a kid eager to push those brass buttons.

We had tons of fun

Attached files

Royd Fissure;1314937 wrote: I just had a little mental walk along Cromwell Road and Exhibition Road.


Stick "SW7 2DD" into a Google Maps search, and use "Streetview"!

Bill Sikes;1315011 wrote: Stick "SW7 2DD" into a Google Maps search, and use "Streetview"!


thank you yet again!