Temporary Exhibitions

Two of the galleries house temporary exhibitions which are changed throughout the year giving the visitor a different experience.

Availability of the Temporary Exhibitions during 2013

Shocking Electricity (January - End of April)

The Senses (January - End of April)

The Mechanicals (May - End of August)

Puzzles (May - End of August)

Good Vibrations (September - End of Year)

Ancient Wisdom (September - End of Year)

Please note that the temporary exhibitions are subject to change at short notice.

You can download a complete list of all the temporary exhibitions from the general exhibits page or download the individual lists from this page. 

Shocking Electricity (January until end April)

Sparks will fly in this exhibition of weird and wonderful experiments for all ages. All the key elements for a Frankenstein laboratory and more! Make an explosion using just water, experiment with batteries and generators, magnets and plasma globes, and see if you dare touch the electric fence.

The Senses (January until end of April)

This exhibition gives you a chance to find out more about your senses. Test your reactions and your memory, learn about your eye and find out how your sense of touch can be so important. You can also test your sense of smell and hearing too. There are 16 hands-on exhibits for you to try.

Puzzles and Illusions (May until end August)

To complete some of these puzzles you have to think about shapes and the way different parts fit together. Engineers and designers have to be good at this sort of thinking too. Scientists learn about the brain by studying ‘illusions' - the way our senses play tricks onus.

The Mechanicals (May until end August)

A collaboration between Science Projects Ltd and Cabaret Mechanical Theatre, The Mechanicals is a joyful interactive exhibition of comical, beautifully made automata that will give fun and knowledge to old and young alike.

The aim of this witty combination of art and science is to inspire visitors to help them understand the basic mechanisms involved in how the automata work. The figures are each busy with a zany activity, enhanced by a funny title and underpinned by an interactive board allowing you to play and understand the relevant mechanical principle involved. Drives, pulleys, ratchets and levers that make these machines work, underpin our lives in so many ways.

Exhibits include: The Sheep Shearing Man by Ron Fuller: based on the principle of levers, a luckless man rises and falls, on every tenth turn of the handle the vindictive sheep appears to chop off his head with shears.

The Barecats by Paul Spooner and Matt Smith: as the little cat points, the big cat looks up, so who is driving whom? Enjoy the man wearing striped trunks and white cap learning How to Swim - not in a pool but on a high stool.

For the contemporary The Birth of Fast Food by Keith Newstead uses a crank slider to move the gallant steed while linkages of strings and wires move levers to make the wings and legs go up and down.

Good Vibrations - the science of sound (September until End of Year)

We're surrounded by sound and our ears are bombarded by noise but do you know how sound is made and how it travels? It's all to do with vibrations of course. Experiment with odd musical instruments, find out how your vocal cords work, puzzle your brain with sound illusions and watch your voice on a computer screen.

Ancient Wisdom (September until end of year)

Find out what the ancients did for us. Shoot down a castle wall with a Roman catapult and see how the Egyptians locked their doors. Build an aqueduct to guide water to a village and try the Greek way of using the Sun to burn the enemy's ships.  There is art and music as well and you can even write your name in hieroglyphics.