Adler After Dark

Location: Adler Planetarium

Date: Thursday, February 19, 2015; 5:00-10:00 pm

Today’s theme was called “Geek Chic” and Michael sent us bunch of reading material and links to ‘Youtube’ videos of ‘Big Bang Theory’, a show I have never watched and have no intention of doing so.  I did look at the videos and it seemed like something that I could pull off.  On a freezing evening I took a cab, and on arrival went straight to the volunteer area.  After putting my stuff in the locker, I picked up my new t-shirt.  We were moving to a different attire with a more casual approach.  On the front was the saying, “Relax, it’s just Rocket Science”.  I grabbed some pizza and sat amongst the volunteers waiting for our shift to start.  Michael was assigning people and he came over to ask what I would be interested in doing.  I immediately said, ‘Smelly Space”.  He asked when and I said at 9 pm, after everyone had a chance to sample the drinks!  Eventually I had that for two shifts, from 6-7 pm and 9-10 pm.  At 7pm I would be helping with some trivia in ‘Johnson Theater’ and at 8 pm I would be doing something called “Electric Lemon”.

"Electric Lemon"

I collected the squeeze bottles for “Smelly Space” and I chose those which had the most distinct smells – ‘Moon’, ‘Titan’, ‘Sagittarius’ and ‘IRAS 24’…something.  I asked others what that was and no one knew.  A quick ‘Google’ search revealed it to be a star cluster.  We assembled in ‘Planet Explorers’ classroom and there was a setup there for 2 demonstrations.  One was a “Non-Newtonian fluid” which would be placed on a speaker and depending on the vibration frequencies would take different shapes.  The second demonstration was two-fold.  An “endothermic reaction” where a staff member would dip bananas in ‘Liquid Nitrogen’ and freeze it, and an “exothermic reaction” called “Elephant’s Toothpaste”, where mixing two chemicals would create a giant foam like thing.  We continued the tour to our next stop, which was a classroom where the “Electric Lemon” experiment was being staged.  We were essentially asking people to use Lemons, Limes, Potatoes, Cucumbers and Apples as batteries, which would eventually light up a ‘LED’.  Some of the multimeters didn’t seem to be working and I said that I would cross that bridge when I came to it. 

It was time for our shift and I took my “Smelly Space” things and joined the gathering.  The first thing that I noticed was how people had dressed up as “Fantasy” characters.  Some of them were “COS Players”, attending as invitees for guests to take pictures with them.  The guests themselves were doing quite well as far as costumes were concerned.  I saw everyone ranging from ‘Dr. Who’, ‘Storm Troopers’, ‘Jedi’s’, ‘Marvel’, ‘Video Game’ characters, ‘Sauron’, and even someone dressed as a ‘Tardis’.  It was fantastic and I felt like I was at the’ C2E2 Expo’.

I found a couple looking at the model of ‘Saturn’ and asked if that was their favorite planet.  Then I said that we should do an experiment together and presented them with the squeeze bottles.  It’s always fun to watch people try to smell and not be able to, especially since they always feel it’s a test and put pressure on themselves.  After the smell I would ask questions on how we knew and get responses like, “someone went there”, “we sent probes” or I even heard that someone “opened and closed a jar”!  Then I would get the tube with grating and ask them to look at the light.  Almost always people would not see it but would eventually spot it when I asked them to observe their peripheral vision.  Then I would explain ‘Spectroscopy’ and how we can create the chemical constituents in the lab.  Then I would say that replace the light with a star and the tube with a telescope. 

I talked to couple of ladies who were dressed as some characters and I asked who they were.  They were both from different video games, one a “Space Marshal” and the other was someone called the “Cube”.  A girl and 2 guys were standing next to ‘Jupiter’ and I went over just as the girl got impatient and started looking for her phone frantically.  As she went to look for it, I told the guys I would entertain them till she returned.  I chatted with many people and everyone had a different experience.  A band was playing today and it was getting loud upstairs.  So I went downstairs and stood next to the picture of the galaxy, which was perfect since it has filters and I could incorporate that discussion in my performance.  I chatted with a few more people over there and then it was time for my next task.

As I walked into the ‘Johnson Theater’, I saw that a group was doing a “light-saber” demonstration and it seems that they have classes that they conduct for people who really want to learn how to fight using “light-sabers”.  I mean, they haven’t been invented yet, but why not get a head start!  Once they were done, we went towards the stage area for the trivia game, which was on movies, shows, books, games and anything “pop culture”.  There were two “gamekeepers” and our job was to hand the ‘iclicker’ to the team captain.  The teams were comprised of 3-6 people and we were to also tell them not to click any buttons yet.  Once the quiz started, we were to walk about and ensure that no one was “cheating” by using a phone or other mobile device.  I walked about and handed clickers and also encouraged people to make friends if they were just a 2 member team.  In fact 2 couples came in and I encouraged them to pair up, which they did.

Just as we were about to start, one volunteer came in and said that Michael wanted me to continue with “pocket science” and that she would be replacing me.  So I picked up my “Smelly Space” stuff and went back to engage the visitors.  Outside the ‘Atwood Sphere’ was a great location since many people were waiting for their turn and had nothing better to do anyways.  I did the experiment with 3 girls and they were impressed.  One of them asked me how God would smell.  I said I don’t know about God, but if any of them were born under ‘Sagittarius’, they should smell like raspberries!  A group of 3 guys came and I started chatting with them.  They liked the experiment and in the end I told them to find 3 ladies and form a team of 6 for the trivia.  Just doing my part to bring everyone together!

At 8 pm it was my turn to go help out with the “Electric Lemon” activity, which was being staged in a classroom.  On tables, there were all the fruits and vegetables.  Also available were copper wires and Zinc nails, wires and alligator clips and multimeters and tiny LED's and batteries.  Folks were trying various combinations of vegetables and fruits and trying to “squeeze” - get it - current out of them.  I was encouraging the people to move things around, and try various combinations in series.  The idea was to get people to figure out by themselves, but we were to give them all the tools and let them be hands on.  Some people gave up easily and some stuck with it.  One couple was persistent and got an LED to light up, though the guy said that everyone should avoid the Apples since they “sucked”! 

Another couple very really determined and tried for 40 minutes before they finally got it to work.  The girl was insisting on using a Cucumber and the guy did not want to.  Later we learnt that the problem was with the LED and so when we connected a new one to the Cucumber, it worked. I said to him, “I told you she was right”!  Two guys came and they seemed well versed in the sciences.  They gave it a fair shot, and while they managed to get some voltage out of the system, but could not get the LED to work.  I was encouraging the folks to first check if multimeters were working and would say that there was just one thing on the table that could be used to check if multimeters would work and that was batteries.  Our job is to get people to intuitively solve problems.  Two ladies came and were doing their best.  In chatting I learned that they both worked for the ‘Art Institute’ – a place I visit regularly.  At one stage the fire alarm went off and when we started to leave, it switched off.  We returned back and since I had the “Smelly Space” equipment still with me, I did the experiment for them and mentioned how a “visual sense” was being converted to an “olfactory sense”.  I said to them that just like the art they were surrounded with every day, science is an art form as well. 

I continued with “Smelly Space” for my last shift and roamed about the lower level since the band was in full swing upstairs.  While I chatted with a few people, the evening was dying down and so went back to the office at 9:50 pm and chatted with my fellow volunteers.  Michael talked about some of the upcoming events for which I have signed up including “Astro Overnight”, with kids and “Pie Day”, where he said we would be throwing pies at astronomers….whatever that means.  It had been another interesting evening and a satisfying one as well.