Create soaring rainbows, trigger a 20-foot avalanche or unleash a tsunami with 30-foot waves-all in one day. Science Storms, the Museum of Science and Industry’s new permanent exhibit, reveals the science behind some of nature’s most powerful phenomena.
“Science Storms is about tapping into people’s sense of wonder,” says senior exhibit developer Olivia Castellini. “It’s about asking questions, digging deeper and understanding how this stuff works.”
The 24,000-square-foot exhibit, which opens March 18, is full of hands-on experiments.
Guests weave through rooms centered on the iconic experiences-tornadoes, lightning, fire, tsunamis, sunlight, avalanches and atoms in motion-which represent different areas of physics or chemistry.
“It opens up the conversation about forces in motion, and the exhibits around that pick up off of that,” Castellini says.
Important artifacts and media from leading researchers and scientists intersperse the exhibit.
The family-friendly exhibit is geared toward kids age 10-14, but the interactive aspect means a “5-year-old can have as much fun as their parent or older sibling,” says Castellini, whose personal favorite is the 40-foot tornado. “It’s just a showstopper.”
The museum will be free on the exhibit’s opening day. Science Storms is included in general admission.
