The floor diagram for the exhibit is pictured to the left. You are probably wondering why it is shaped as it is. From a bird's eye view, you can see that the rooms in the exhibit are all shaped like something that is related to that energy source. For example, the solar energy room is shaped like the Sun. The wind energy room is shaped like a windmill. The biofuel energy room is shaped like a tree. The geothermal energy room is shaped like a volcano. The hydroelectric energy room is shaped like a river with a dam at the end. The tidal energy room is shaped like waves. The fossil fuel energy room is shaped like a piece of coal. Finally, the nuclear energy room is shaped like a nuclear power plant. As you can see, the rooms are shaped like objects related to the type of energy described in each. People could play a game in the exhibit, finding out the following four things about each energy source: If the source is potential or kinetic, what type of energy is the source, whether it's renewable or nonrenewable, and how it originates from the Sun. The person wins by getting most of the four things about the energy sources. The person would fill out a sheet of paper with this information on it. They'd get the piece of paper from a worker at the beginning of the exhibit. When the person finishes writing on the paper, they give it to the worker. If the person wins, they get a bouncy ball that looks like the Sun or a 20 dollar gift card for the museum gift shop, whichever the person chooses.
The way that the information in the room is displayed is simple. The descriptions of how the energy is formed and the energy transformations are on the "inside" of the walkway. The information about if the source is renewbable or nonrenewable, the description of the energy source, what type of energy the source is, and the benefits and drawbacks of using the sources are on the "outside" of the walkway. On the floor, there is a picture of each source. On the ceiling, there are machines that let the people feel the type of energy. Here are some examples:
The solar energy room will have more lights than the other rooms. The wind energy room will have machines blowing air at the museum guests. The biofuels room will smell like pine trees. The geothermal energy room will be warmer than the other rooms. The hydroelectric room and the tidal room will have machines that make the sound of rushing water. The fossil fuels room will smell like an underground mine (if people start complaining about the smell, the machines that make the room smell like that will be turned off). The ceiling of the nuclear energy room will have a screen showing a video of what happens during nuclear fission over and over again. Click here to see the video (the video is 15 seconds long).
The way that the information in the room is displayed is simple. The descriptions of how the energy is formed and the energy transformations are on the "inside" of the walkway. The information about if the source is renewbable or nonrenewable, the description of the energy source, what type of energy the source is, and the benefits and drawbacks of using the sources are on the "outside" of the walkway. On the floor, there is a picture of each source. On the ceiling, there are machines that let the people feel the type of energy. Here are some examples:
The solar energy room will have more lights than the other rooms. The wind energy room will have machines blowing air at the museum guests. The biofuels room will smell like pine trees. The geothermal energy room will be warmer than the other rooms. The hydroelectric room and the tidal room will have machines that make the sound of rushing water. The fossil fuels room will smell like an underground mine (if people start complaining about the smell, the machines that make the room smell like that will be turned off). The ceiling of the nuclear energy room will have a screen showing a video of what happens during nuclear fission over and over again. Click here to see the video (the video is 15 seconds long).