CT Science Center.

On Sunday, Jesse, Sarah, and I hit up the brand new Science Center in Hartford. It was opening weekend for the museum and wow – it was crazy fun. I’m extremely impressed by Hartford. Our abandoned city really needs locations like this one to encourage more residents to visit their state capital. Now all we need is a major university plunked into the center of town and we’d be golden.

The Science Center is a beautiful building built over the I-91 corridor. If you’re driving north or south through Hartford the building’s impossible to miss. It has a beautiful wave-like roof and an overhanging diagonal glass wall that gives a glimpse into the building’s atrium.

The exhibits were a blast. First and foremost for fun was a relaxation game. Two participants would sit across from each other and put on headbands with sensors in the front. Graphs above each player indicate the brain activity of that particular player. On the table between them, is a long glass tube within which a ball is floating. The ball will move towards whichever player has more brain activity.

The goal is to keep yourself as calm as possible and get the ball to reach the other player.

HOLY FUN.

mindgame.PNG
MSPaint dramatization

This has got me thinking about how I might create one of these games for the house of rock. I can’t imagine it’d be too difficult.

Other awesome exhibits:

The Geology of CT.
Helmet Testing (a-la giant hammer)
The CT River
Erosion
EXPLORE SPACE

Well done Connecticut Science Center!!! And Hartford, I’m proud of you.

4 thoughts on “CT Science Center.

  • 6/15/2009 at 9:53 am
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    So you got to hit Jesse in the head with a hammer while he was wearing a helmet? Could we say hit me in the head with a hammer with no helmet and then with a helmet to try and determine how hard and think my skull really is? I would like to know.

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  • 6/15/2009 at 10:06 am
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    Actually, you’re not that far off. Except instead of a person wearing the helmet its a mannequin. There’s a giant hammer which you pull upwards and then smash into the head of a mannequin (up to 206kg of force). A computer displays the results on a monitor next to the testing apparatus and also describes what likely injuries would result from such an impact (ex. loss of consciousness)

    There’s protective shielding that prevents anyone from standing in front of the giant hammer. so I don’t think we could use this to test your skull thickness. We could, of course, just put a simple force feedback system into a vice and squeeze your head that way… but an xray would probably be safer.

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  • 6/19/2009 at 11:57 am
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    Great seeing you yesterday Mike D!
    :)

    Reply

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