Size and Scale and…. S P A C E !

by Ann Bartkowski

As a former Explainer slash current first year science teacher, I have lots of awesome kids to share all of my love and inquiry for science with. I also have lots of science questions that I can no longer just ask Paul D when I see him, especially awesomely creative questions that kids come up with during class! So now I go to the internet.

The question, “How big is space?” randomly came up this week, and “really big” didn’t seem like a good enough answer. Luckily, my googling turned up THIS SITE. It reminds me a lot of this size and scale prezi-esque visualization that’s already in the depths of our blog. It even tells you how long you’ve been scrolling down through it to help you get a handle on spacetime! It has sooo much cool mind-blowing information that you probably should just stop reading this and start scrolling through it right now.

Happy Vernal Equinox!

by Chas

March 20th, the first day of spring, and the day when the sun should rise exactly between two column of the rotunda when viewed from the center of the dome. even though clouds were forecast, Anne, Khamara, and I headed out to see what we could see. I arrived a bit before 7 am. the lights were still on, and bats were flying about.

the cloud cover continued all morning but we could see a bright spot rising between the columns.

although we didn’t get to see the sun, it was still a magical morning. there is something special about watching the world wake up in such a beautiful location.

It’s Pi Day (and it’s Einstein’s Birthday too)!

by Sylvia

Happy Pi Day, everyone! On March 14th, we celebrated the 24th annual Pi Day at the Exploratorium. The Field Trip Explainers joined in the festivities by writing and performing a Pi Day song. The core band is called Buffon’s Needle (a nod to the mathematician that came up with a probability problem as a method to estimate pi, check out the Pi Toss exhibit). So proud to be a part of a celebration so joyous and geeky! Still find myself humming 3.141 592 653 589…