High Flying Fluid Motion
Mid-America Science Museum
Heightened Interactivity
Boss Display was contacted to create a truly unique water table for the Mid-America Science Museum in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The exhibit is filled with hands-on science based interactive components on two separate floors. At 30 feet in height, the unique exhibit layout was so extensive and interconnected that the only space large enough to conduct final testing was the museum itself.
Science-Focused Fun
To provide the open-ended science activities the museum is known for, we included several hands-on components highlighting important STEAM concepts, like the Coriolis fountain and the Bernoulli spouts. These interactive displays allow children to build confidence using the scientific method while exploring the real-world principles that control ocean currents or allow a ball to hover in midair. The largest components on the first floor, the laminar water jets, lift plastic balls an incredible 18 feet up to the second story, allowing kids to play in parallel with those above them.
Creating Different Perspectives
Visitors on the second floor of the museum engage in additional hands-on activities while seeing the previous components of Fluid Motion from a new perspective. When plastic balls arrive from the laminar jets below, children on the second-floor can work with others or on their own to use one of two air cannons to launch them another 18 feet into a central spiral funnel. Engagement between the different levels becomes reciprocal as the balls return to the first floor through a whirling water vortex.
“I think Boss Display was probably as excited about working on it as we were about having the exhibit.”
Bringing Imaginations Together
Drawing visitors in to the exhibit is the eight-foot tall vortex at the center, our largest to date. Surrounding the vortex are interactive science-based activities and mesmerizing displays like the fog-filled mushroom fountain. People of all ages can have imaginative and creative fun watching the balls make their journey high above before returning down through the swirling water whirlpool. We designed Fluid Motion to engage cognitive development in both scientific and creative thinking for everyone who encounters it.
Features:
Laminar Jets and Bernoulli Spouts smoothly lift and levitate plastic balls using the force of water
Coriolis Fountain shows users the science underlying ocean currents
The Interactive Toroid Tube produces rings of air bubbles in interesting patterns
Eight-Foot tall water vortex draws in kids through both sights and sounds
Mushroom Fountain filled with fog and changing LED lights
Piston and Pump air cannons let visitors lift plastic balls 30 feet above the water below
Other Featured Work
