Magna Science Adventure Centre, UK--Part II

Continuing our visit to Magna Science Adventure Centre, we went down the main walkway to the Fire Pavilion, with various displays and interactive exhibits about fire and energy. The favorite by far for the kids was the flame tornado, seen below.

J in flames!

L in the firefighter display

From the Fire Pavilion, we retraced our steps down the long walkway and saw the Big Melt show, which demonstrated how steel was made in electric arc furnaces. None of those pictures turned out, except for this shot of the plant floor.

More of the steel works

We went on to the Air Pavilion, housed in what looked like a dirigible. The exhibits there were especially fun, including an air cannon.

Back of the dirigible

L mans the air cannon

Firing at a flexible wall

Classic communication tubes

J uses air pressure to play music on water jugs

The smoke tornado was interesting but not impressive compared to the fire tornado

From the Air Pavilion, we proceeded to the Water Pavilion. The path had a bit of rain which L and I ran through.

Wet way to Water Pavilion

The water exhibits

The water cycle

J loved the water wheels, which came in three varieties--undershot, breastshot, and topshot. The names indicate where the water is striking the wheel. Topshots are the most efficient energy users, though setting them up really depends on where the water source is.

Various water wheels

More cannons were available and used in the Water Pavilion.

Water cannons and targets

L mans the water cannon

The final visit was to the Earth Pavilion, where the children learned about rocks and sand and mining and such.

I, J, and a big tire

The examples of mining tunnels were a little too little for me but J found them fascinating. By "fascinating," I mean "echo-producing."

A sample mining tunnel

Always popular--the sand table

The industrial area of the Earth Pavilion has plenty of levers, pulleys, and inclined planes for use by children. L found a spot where a video showed quarrying with dynamite. The explosion would happen on the video and then foam rocks would fall from behind the screen. Those rocks could be taken in little wheelbarrows to a conveyor belt, which took the rocks up to a hole in the ceiling, where presumably they restocked the dynamite video display.

The kids took the work quite seriously.

Hard working blokes

We finished our visit with some lunch and a brief look at the gift shop. Nothing struck our fancy so we headed home.