High Flying Fluid Motion

Mid-America Science Museum


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Heightened Interactivity

Boss Display was contacted to create a truly unique water table for the Mid-America Science Museum in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The exhibit is filled with hands-on science based interactive components on two separate floors. At 30 feet in height, the unique exhibit layout was so extensive and interconnected that the only space large enough to conduct final testing was the museum itself.

 
 

The jet ball launchers are hands-on fun, inclusive of all ages.

The 18 foot ball launch encourages cooperative or parallel play between two floors.

Kids enjoy exploring the many open-ended features of the water table like the ball launcher and interactive toroid tube.

 
 
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Science-Focused Fun

To provide the open-ended science activities the museum is known for, we included several hands-on components highlighting important STEAM concepts, like the Coriolis fountain and the Bernoulli spouts. These interactive displays allow children to build confidence using the scientific method while exploring the real-world principles that control ocean currents or allow a ball to hover in midair. The largest components on the first floor, the laminar water jets, lift plastic balls an incredible 18 feet up to the second story, allowing kids to play in parallel with those above them.

 
 

The two story water table encourages creativity and social development as children interact between floors.

Visitors of all ages enjoy open-ended problem solving with the spiral ball catch, piston water cannon, and pump water cannon

Kids freely explore using trial and error with the interactive Coriolis fountain and water Bernoulli spouts.

 
 
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Creating Different Perspectives

Visitors on the second floor of the museum engage in additional hands-on activities while seeing the previous components of Fluid Motion from a new perspective. When plastic balls arrive from the laminar jets below, children on the second-floor can work with others or on their own to use one of two air cannons to launch them another 18 feet into a central spiral funnel. Engagement between the different levels becomes reciprocal as the balls return to the first floor through a whirling water vortex.

 
 

I think Boss Display was probably as excited about working on it as we were about having the exhibit.
— Niles Ellis, Director of Design, Mid-America Science Museum

 
 
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Bringing Imaginations Together

Drawing visitors in to the exhibit is the eight-foot tall vortex at the center, our largest to date. Surrounding the vortex are interactive science-based activities and mesmerizing displays like the fog-filled mushroom fountain. People of all ages can have imaginative and creative fun watching the balls make their journey high above before returning down through the swirling water whirlpool. We designed Fluid Motion to engage cognitive development in both scientific and creative thinking for everyone who encounters it.

 
 

Multiple children can play in parallel across the large water table while building confidence in scientific and social skills.

The Bernoulli spouts provide hands-on and age-inclusive fun while also promoting STEAM learning.


Features:

  • Laminar Jets and Bernoulli Spouts smoothly lift and levitate plastic balls using the force of water

  • Coriolis Fountain shows users the science underlying ocean currents

  • The Interactive Toroid Tube produces rings of air bubbles in interesting patterns

  • Eight-Foot tall water vortex draws in kids through both sights and sounds

  • Mushroom Fountain filled with fog and changing LED lights

  • Piston and Pump air cannons let visitors lift plastic balls 30 feet above the water below

 
 
 

Other Featured Work