Report from the Festival

This past Saturday I went to Expo Day for the San Diego Science Festival. There was a big turn out for the event at Petco Park. Science organizations set up booths to share information through activities and demos, mostly geared towards kids.

I like the idea of the festival: represent science in San Diego and involve the public for free.

Most of the booths had very simple activities for the kids. That didn't stop me and my friend from participating, though (c'mon, the flier says the festival is for kids ages 3 – 93). We poked sticks through balloons without popping them, made DNA necklaces, looked at amphibians and reptiles, and solved a math problem for good measure.

The booths made a complete loop around the stadium. Because there were so many booths and people, you could only spend a short time at each one. While the festival promises to “excite your mind”, the crowds and the short activities didn't provide enough oomph to "excite my mind". Even if you gear it towards kids, you can still make something intellectually engaging for adults, too. But there was some exciting eye candy, like robots, can launchers, and plasma tubes.

Some people were great at explaining their demo to you, and others were...not so great. At science museums I always see the bicycle wheel gyroscope demo. A person stands on a turning platform and holds an upright, spinning bicycle wheel. When she tilts the wheel to the right, she and the platform turn to the right (and vice versa to the left). I had never actually done it, so I hopped on the platform and took the wheel. A couple middle school students were in charge of the demo, so I asked one of the girls why I can use the wheel to turn myself. She knew that it had something to do with spinning the wheel, but she admitted she didn't know what happens when you tilt the wheel. (What happens: conservation of angular momentum. When you tilt the wheel, you change the direction of its angular momentum. The wheel correspondingly exerts a force on you and you begin to turn in the direction that conserves angular momentum.)

If there's anything to be improved: maybe they could offer free workshops to provide something more in depth. Also, the booths were poorly organized. If they were organized by category (i.e. physics and astronomy, the environment, health, biotech...), it would be much easier to pinpoint what interests you and go there. The booths were scattered all over the place, but if they were also physically organized by category, you could find what interests you and hit up the booths that way.

That said, there was great representation and turn out. Just having all of these organizations readily available is a good start. I had a good time. This year my friend and I just volunteered at the information booth, but next year it would be fun to be at one of the actual booths interacting with everyone.