Before we begin, let’s wish a happy 85th birthday to the Adler Planetarium. It’s hard to imagine that they’ve been surveying the outer reaches of space for such a long time.
We recently stopped by the city’s fascinating space museum to see just how they planned to celebrate the big eight-five, and we came away fairly impressed.
The Adler is launching its Community Design Lab (or CDL) this Sunday, June 7th, and if there was ever a creative way to celebrate, this is it. The CDL is a flexible, creative space that allows the public to be a part of the Adler’s future by solving problems on our terms. Among other options, visitors are given a choice of materials to run experiments in a vacuum chamber, simulating space.
You read that correctly. You get to build something in the lab and then see what would happen to it if it were exposed to outer space conditions.
Being the adventurous soul that I am, I decided to give this a try. My supplies consisted of a plastic jar, a small sheet of bubble wrap, five rubber bands, a toilet paper roll, three marshmallows, and a generous dash of shaving cream.
Here’s a pic:
Beautiful, isn’t she?
After placing my wonderful creation in the vacuum chamber, I took a step back and looked on. Very slowly, the shaving cream and marshmallows started expanding until they filled the jar. You could see the pressure begin to rise as the bubble wrap lid started to puff outwards. It was cool to see, and after about 20 seconds I was ready to remove my experiment from the vacuum and place it on a shelf in the Design Showcase area. It just so happened that at this exact moment the rubber band supports couldn’t contain the mounting pressure inside the jar any longer.
BLAM!
I jumped like a frightened kitten. You would have thought the jar’s contents were shot out of a cannon. Shaving cream and marshmallows coated the vacuum chamber’s insides. Overstretched bubble wrap and rubber bands lay sprawled across one side while the jar itself sat on the other.
And it was awesome.
Obviously the point isn’t to blow things up, but if it happens, it happens. The Adler is celebrating their birthday the right way, by allowing regular ol’ schmucks like us to take a stab at our very own hands-on experiments. It’s educational, it’s fun, it’s family-friendly, and it doesn’t cost you a dime more than the usual price of admission.
The Community Design Lab runs from June 7th to September 8th. Here you can test out the vacuum chamber, toss your handiwork in the concrete mixer, or build an iPhone case to take pictures through a telescope.
Here’s a sneak peek at what you can expect:
You can find additional info here.