ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

Hi Mike

For the NSF funded "How People Make Things" exhibit at the Children's  
Museum of Pittsburgh we had a similar challenge to make the idea of  
state change concrete and tangible.  Our focus was molding -- from wax  
to plastic injection.  The exhibit team created a "molding with wax"  
exhibit that allowed kids to play with a solid to liquid state change,  
or how the viscosity changed as it cooled.  The exhibit team came up  
with a pretty neat method allowing children to play with hot viscous  
wax that cooled in a timely way into a solid.  There are some plastic  
additives candlemakers use that could give wax a more "clear"  
glasslike look but be in a workable temperature range that cools  
quickly.  It fun to play with wax and molds.

Here's an overview of the project and pictures with formative eval  
findings of this exhibit. http://informalscience.org/project/spotlight/hpmt


Good luck.

marti


  .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .
Marti Louw, Research Faculty
UPCLOSE | University of Pittsburgh
Center for Learning in Out-of-School Environments
Learning Research and Development Center
3939 O'Hara Street • Pittsburgh, PA 15260
[tel] 412 624 7477 [skype] martilouw
MartiL {at} pitt {dot} edu
http://upclose.lrdc.pitt.edu




On Jul 22, 2010, at 11:07 AM, Mike Levad wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology  
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related  
> institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
>
> Hi Everybody,
>
> I am hoping some of you might be able to help me out here.  We are  
> working
> on an exhibit about the glass industry and we have two phenomena  
> that may be
> quite difficult to demonstrate.
>
>
> #1. Coefficent of Expansion.   If the exterior of a piece of glass  
> cools
> faster than the interior it can produce compressive forces strong  
> enough to
> shatter the material. I did a great experiment with this in my buddy's
> kitchen when were in Jr. High.  We nuked some marbles in his mom's  
> 1970's
> vintage super powerful microwave and then we would drop them in ice- 
> water
> causing them to shatter.   This would not be terribly suitable for a  
> museum
> exhibit for lots of reasons, consumables, small parts, unsafe  
> temperatures,
> broken glass etc.
>
> #2 Viscosity. The viscosity of glass changes about 20 orders of  
> magnitude
> from its water like state when it is poured to its solid state at  
> room temp.
> Once again we are dealing with super high temps etc.
>
> Any ideas you might have would be much appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mike
>
> ***********************************************************************
> For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers  
> and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
>
> Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org 
> .
>
> The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L- 
> Soft. To learn more, visit
> http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.
>
> To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
> message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
> [log in to unmask]


***********************************************************************
For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To learn more, visit
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.

To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]