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"Nuts and bolts":
interactive exibits
Exhibit
development & fabrication
Designs
& performance specifications
Discovery
Disks: mobile mini-interactives
'Beam Cam' projecting video microscope
Underwater
Street Discovery Centre
Moscow
Planetarium
Sellafield
Visitor Centre
'Alternative
energy'
Earth
Science
Fixed
Discovery Disks, Glasgow
Air-table,
telescope, moon-phases
Astronomy
exhibits for Valencia
Biometrics
Magnetic
field exhibit for CERN, Geneva
Tabletop
Discovery Disks: magnetism
Tabletop
Discovery Disks: Light
More
Light interactives
"Academic"
interactives: The Energy Enzyme
"Academic
interactives": Electron beams
"Academic
interactives": Mantle geology
Working
canal-lock model
Virtual
exhibit: Ich bin einmalig
Chemistry
interactives: Chirality
Video
microscopes: Melting crystal
Push-button
quiz: Breath of life
Environmental
& biological
Cookbook
outlines of my 1992 "classical" Great Explorations interactives
Talk to me!
UK phone/fax
+44 (0) 1663 743794
Email ian@interactives.co.uk
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Moscow
Planetarium
Six specially-designed
interactives completed June 2006.
This rendered CAD design drawing shows my Phases of the Moon
exhibit on its base. The bases were designed and produced by Kurt Hüttinger
GmbH, Germany.
 
How
to weigh a galaxy
Swing the ball round the pole, then pull it inwards using the cord. The
ball's speed increases. The existence of Dark Matter in distant galaxies
is suspected because they are rotating faster than the speed calculated
from their calculated mass. Astrophysicists and seven-year-olds seem to
find this exhibit equally stimulating...
Newton's
Laws
A hexagonal, low-friction surface on which a gleaming, rainbow-coloured
CD glides on a cushion of air blowing out from numerous small holes.
Elastic rubber runs round the sides, concealed beneath the overhanging
rim. The gliding discs rebound up to thirty times from the sides. This
is a truly beautiful exhibit, capturing and holding people's attention
for a long time.
It is an excellent example of a truly exploratory exhibit. It
instantly produces investigative, collaborative behaviour, motivated by
pure curiosity.
Electricity
A remarkably
effective hand-cranked 'heat pump'. Your hand feels one Peltier cell become
hot and the other cold. Then you turn the handle the other way and the
effect reverses...
A hand-cranked
generator. While cranking the handle, four separate push-to-make buttons
can be pressed with the fingers of the other hand. These switch on four
lamps of different wattages, including a high-efficiency LED. The increase
in "load" felt on the crank-handle is very impressive. It is
easy to light the smaller lamps, but extremely difficult to light all
three lamps together. Yet a set of high-intensity LED lamps are dazzling,
yet easy to power. An ammeter shows current and all the circuitry
is clearly visible, for conceptual clarity.
Plus a simple exhibit: is it a conductor? With dummy batteries,
visible wiring and loose test-probes.
Atmospheric
Circulation
The suspended particles in a "flow-tracing fluid" reveal every
detail of the turbulent patterns when you grab the rim of the table and
spin it round. Three hemispheres in different sizes and colours, all mounted
on one table-top. Extremely appealing and beautiful. Based on an original
idea by Techniquest Cardiff.
Phases
of the Moon
We keep receiving
repeat orders for this simple exhibit. I do like simple exhibits! This
works best in a dimly lit area.
 
What
colour is it inside?
Looking through
the hole in the lid, the box seems dark-black inside. Pushing down the
lide to open it, people are surprised to dicover that the inside of the
box is actually white. This exhibit is superbly crafted in smooth black
Corian. I am especially proud of my design for the opening lid, which
swings closed because of a simple counterweight inside. This took a
long time to figure out!
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