Adler Members Night

Location: Adler Planetarium

Date: Thursday, June 12, 2014; 5:00-9:00 pm

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This program would be similar to the ‘After Dark’ event, except that it was only open to the museum member’s, which meant there would be kids in attendance and thus possibly less drinking.  Michael had sent over write-ups of two possible experiments that we would be doing this evening – “Spectroscopy” and “Wireless Communication”.  As soon as I had checked-in at the volunteer station, he grabbed hold of me for an impromptu training session.  First, he gave me a tube with a grating at the end and asked me to look at the light.  The grating split it into a spectrum which was visible on the side of the tube.  The idea was to get the guests to look at tubes of different gases and the based on the spectra, identify it through the material sheets that would be provided.  Then, he showed me a small ‘mp3’ player that was attached to the back of a picture of the ‘Mars Rover’.  We pressed play and the through a laser pointer directed at photovoltaic driven portable speakers, were able to hear Elton John’s “Rocket Man”. The idea with this experiment was to demonstrate how we can communicate with distant objects.  In fact the simplest example of this would be the way our cell phones work.

After having some pizza, Michael assembled me and two other volunteers to allocate duties.  Besides the two experiments that he had shown me, there was another one called ‘Mars Explorers’ where the idea was to get the kids to build a habitat on Mars.  It had to fulfil certain criteria like fit in a given area and weigh a certain amount since more weight meant more fuel being required to lift off and thus more cost.  Then there were other things such as the structure had to withstand wind forces etc.  I choose the “Wireless Communication” to begin with and since it was a “pocket science” experiment, I took all the materials and set up shop near the main gallery. 

A few guys were walking about and I asked if they would like to do an experiment.  They were excited and so I went through my spiel of how we were going to demonstrate communication over great distances such as Earth and Mars.  I asked that if the two planets were not in alignment, how the signal would get through.  I said that we use satellites to bounce the signal, but in this case we would be utilizing mirrors.  I gave them a couple of mirrors and positioned them as a triangle to deflect the laser signal and it actually worked!  They were impressed and before leaving they expressed their regret that Pluto was no longer a planet.  This always seems to be a recurring theme over here.  I don’t think its necessarily because Pluto is everyone’s favorite planet, but rather because people have sympathy for anything that is abandoned.  Next, I found 3 girls and a lady near the Moon exhibit and asked them that if the girls were on Mars and the lady back on Earth, how they would call each other.  This time the music did not play and perhaps it was the lack of lighting that was the problem since the photovoltaic devices were driving the speakers.  I told them to imagine it in any case and then did a simple relay of laser using the mirrors. 

I went back outside to get a better signal and Michael introduced me to one of the other ‘After Dark’ volunteers Bob, who was visiting as a member.  Bob is a veteran volunteer and so Michael asked him to go easy on me, which was good since try as I may, the thing did not work.  Bob knew the perils of an experiment not going according to plan and was quite sympathetic.  I changed my location once again and met a lady with 2 kids.  I asked the kids if they knew Elton John and looking at their age, of course they didn’t.  I asked the boy the same question as before, which was that if he was on Mars how would he communicate with Earth.  Without hesitation he said, “Snapchat”!  Well, that would be one way I guess.  I continued engaging visitors and everyone seemed to like this demonstration.  At 7 pm Michael relieved me with another volunteer and I moved on to “Spectroscopy”. 

I was paired with 2 other volunteers and in front of us were 3 lighted tubes with mystery gases.  Upon looking at them through a grating, one could see spectroscopic patterns emerging and then using reference cards that had been provided; the visitors were asked to identify the gas.  The first tube was filled with “Krypton” and it showed predominant green and blue colors, but no red.  The second was “Neon” which had almost all colors and the last was “Helium”, which was predominantly yellow.  The problem was the ambient light that was interfering and thus making other colors appear.  I tried to mitigate that by putting some cards around the tube so as to block other light sources.  Like moths to a flame, people would get attracted to the colored lights and come inquire what we were doing.  I would ask them, “How would you like to be an astronomer” and then go over how astronomers can observe the spectra of distant stars and determine their composition and through that, their age.  Many people were competing to get the right answer from the various spectra in front of each of the lights.  Since I knew, I was guiding them to get the right answer by asking pointed questions to drive them towards the color we wanted them to observe.  I would joke with them that the way to identify “Neon” was that it looked like a cheap bar sign and that “Krypton” would be green, since it was “Superman’s nemesis”!  Kids and adults alike enjoyed this one and many got all 3 right. 

  

My next task was “Vacuum Chamber” cart and I had requested Michael to help me since I had never done this before.  We got the cart out from the storage area behind “Planet Explorers” and it was an extreme tight fit to get it out from there.  We took it to the lower level and parked it in the corner by the staircase.  Just as we had plugged it into the wall, a kid came over with his mom and started asking questions.  Michael is fantastic at engaging audiences and he asked the kid a lot of questions in return and based on the responses, I found the kid to be precociously smart.  Michael did the experiment with water where it boils when placed in vacuum.  Other people had gathered around as well and he was asking the kid pointed questions.  I asked him if we could cook an egg in the water and the answer of course is no, since there is no heat source to provide energy.  Even though the water was boiling, it was in fact cold. 

The crowd was enjoying the demonstration and if anyone asked a question, he would say, “there’s only one way to find out”, following which we would run the experiment.  We did the experiment with the marshmallows, where it expands under vacuum and then collapses; and  the same with shaving cream.  We did the experiment with the alarm clock, which you can see vibrating, but cannot hear since sound needs a medium to travel.  Thus the expression, “In space no one can hear you scream”.  Michael even asked the kid to design his own experiment, something that he hadn't seen before.  The kid put a marshmallow in the water and put it into the vacuum chamber.  As expected, the water started boiling while the marshmallow expanded and shrunk.  There was a mason jar similar to the ones used for pickling and the kid put the marshmallow in the jar and that went into the chamber.  As we pulled vacuum, the air got sucked out of the jar and while the marshmallow expanded, now the jar was sealed and so it did not contract.  In fact we couldn't get the jar opened with our hands.  I asked the kid what he wanted to be when he grew up and he responded that he wanted to be a theoretical physicist.  So he wanted to design equations and let someone else do the experiments.  He responded in the affirmative.  Well, he had been brilliant and I said that I looked forward to reading his papers, as his mom looked on proudly. 

It was 9 pm and the museum was about to close.  I took the cart back and parked it in the storage area and walked back to the volunteer’s area with Tom, a telescope expert.  I told him that one of these days I wanted to stop by for a look and he said that Montrose Harbor was having a ‘Chicago Astronomer’s Club’ telescope viewing party tomorrow and I was welcome to attend.  Well, that may not happen, but I do hope I get to see through the telescopes soon.  Michael apologized for “taking over” the vacuum experiment, but in fact he had helped me see how to engage the audiences and keep them entertained, while educating as well.  That in a nutshell is what I am supposed to do in my role.  I took the bus back after an enjoyable evening and look forward to coming back soon for the next event.