Science shows


	Science shows are a great way to learn some science and have fun taking part. The idea is to have the audience do as many of the demonstrations as possible so that they are fully involved in the show and interest is maintained.

This aerial view was taken from a balcony in Newcastle Discovery Museum at a yearly science week event in which school groups take part in lots of different workshops and activities.

That’s me bottom centre in front of the tables with a group from Saint John Boste RC Primary School in Washington doing a show about ‘motive power’.

The ship in the picture is the World famous ‘Turbinia’, the first steam turbine powered ship and the fastest ship in the world in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. It was designed and built by Sir Charles Parsons on the River Tyne.

Doing a science show right next to such an amazing invention was really exciting.

Following are some pictures of the equipment used in the various science show demonstrations at Discovery museum over the years.

Behind the demonstration tables you can see a large green machine.

It is a steam turbine electricity generator which was once generating power in a local power station.

It too was designed and built by Sir Charles Parsons.

I like to find amusing ways to illustrate and explain how things work. In this demonstration one of the pupils is wearing a crash helmet fitted with an air operated fly swatter! The idea is to show how a compressed gas acts like a store of energy which can be used to make things move when we allow it to expand into a ‘cylinder’.

The rest of the children are focused on a rather large toy fly hanging from a fishing line which is about to be swatted if the aim is accurate!

Other toys and equipment used in the show include:

Helium gas

Rocket launcher made from a garden water spray

Air powered engine

Solar powered vehicle

Solar powered TV

Air cannon

Musical instruments

Wind up toys


	The Stephenson Railway Museum

How does a steam engine work?

That was the topic of the science shows at The Stephenson Railway Museum in North Tyneside. The museum have some amazing trains that really work! Visiting school groups were taken for rides on the train and took part in a science show about Steam Power.

Here is a video of one of the demonstrations which shows how a jet of steam from a nozzle can move a ‘turbine’ as it expands and spreads out into the air. The steam gives up its energy as it expands and the energy is converted into mechanical motion.


	Cragside Hall in Rothbury, home of Lord William Armstrong


	[Technology Tom] [Boxed Kits for sale] [Resources for sale] [INSET] [Science Investigations] [D and T Projects] [New Projects] [Try this] [Basic vehicle assembly] [MPD Diploma] [Science shows]