Science Storms: Lightning
It's a spark of wonder
A lightning strike can inspire emotional reactions like few other phenomena in nature. While we've learned much since the earliest lightning experiments, there's still plenty to discover about electrical charges and magnetism. Witness dramatic, high-voltage lightning as you sit below a large Tesla Coil. Use electromagnetism to launch a ring 30 feet in the air, and build and propel a maglev train car that floats over the track, thanks to magnetism.
Tesla Coil
The spectacle and science of indoor lightning is provided by the 20-foot Tesla Coil suspended overhead. Observe from reclined benches as the coil puts on a 1.5-million-volt show of electrical discharge, with arcs jumping up to 10 feet from the center coil to the grounding rings. Explore the properties of electrical charge and magnetism as you learn how the Tesla Coil builds up and releases such massive amounts of energy.
MagLev
If you're familiar with magnetic levitation (maglev) trains, you probably equate them with speed. Here's your chance to harness the force of magnetism and race a model maglev train against another train on a parallel track. Whether or not your train will float depends on correctly arranging the polarity of your train's magnets.
Explore more of Science Storms
Wonder is all natural
Plan your visit to observe and experiment with seven natural phenomena.