Exhibition Highlights

Uncover the surprising science behind everyday stuff and explore the fascinating and sometimes bizarre world of materials science in this interactive exhibition. Strange Matter features more than a dozen incredible hands-on experiences that will give you a close encounter with the amazing world of modern materials and materials science:

Amorphous Metal
Meet the future of metals! The unusual structure of amorphous metals makes them incredibly hard. Drop one ball bearing on a platform made of amorphous metal and another on a platform made of metal with a normal crystalline atomic structure. The result is astounding: watch as one bounces for an impossibly long time.

Amazing Magnetic Liquids
Want to feel something really weird? Swish your gloved hand around in a vat of magneto-rheological fluid and feel it morph from fluid to solid at the touch of a button. Make a pool of magnetic ferrofluid "dance" and manipulate blobs of ferrofluid with rare-earth magnets. Explore the surprising properties of these materials and discover how their unusual micro-structure makes them useful in all kinds of places.

Smash the Glass
Crank up a bowling ball and let it fly - you'll find out if heat-tempered glass has the strength to withstand the shock or if the pane of glass will shatter. A counter will keep track of how many times the glass has been hit. Will the glass shatter in 10 minutes, 10 hours, 10 days... 10 months?


Touch Tables
Use hands-on experimentation to explore texture, color and other properties of materials. The Touch Tables area provides numerous opportunities for scientific discovery.





Foam
Watch a dramatic column of foam reach for the ceiling. Feel the form and learn the functions of a variety of foam samples. Marvel at the lightest material ever made -aerogel - and see its weight balanced by grains of rice.




Crystals
Crystal growth occurs in many types of materials. This exhibit provides the compelling opportunity to watch the beautiful, real-time growth of a crystal's intricate patterns. See a sample of one of the world's largest crystals, along with a dizzying array of smaller crystal examples.


Demo Theater
Through the use of multimedia and live demonstrations, this unique demonstration/lab space brings together many elements of the exhibition. Take part in a facilitated lab experiment and learn about the materials scientist in you.



Materials Evolution
Could a strand of spider silk actually stop a 747 in flight? What do modern firefighters and medieval knights have in common? Trace the fascinating and often unexpected development of materials throughout history, while discovering which materials have played a key role in human civilization.


Memory Metals
Bend and twist a Nitinol metal ribbon, a startling example of a metal with a memory, and see it return to its original shape with a little bit of hot air. Learn why this metal is different from many others and what it can be used for.



Zoom!
Some things seem smooth to the naked eye, but what if you could get a much closer look? Zoom from the macro to the nano scale and find out how scientists "feel atoms" using Atomic Force Microscopes.








Structure and Defects
Play with a sheet of ball bearings and discover how this simple model can be used to investigate the secret structures, strengths and weaknesses of metals.



Sand to Supercomputers
Touch the top of a giant, shining column of silicon grown from a "seed" in a lab, follow the painstaking process through which sand is transformed into microchips and learn why there's a lot more to silicon than Silicon Valley.

Materials Science Overview Video
How does materials science use atoms and molecules to design the "stuff" of our everyday lives? How has it changed human history and how does the performance of materials grow from their structure, properties and processing? In this video, you'll meet materials scientists who bring it all together.


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