Science Museum At West End Live

An Imperial Stormtrooper stands outside the Science Museum stall – science fiction or science fact?

That sets the scene for this year’s West End Live in Trafalgar Square, a free entertainment extravaganza featuring the best that Theatreland has to offer, and of course the Science Museum learning team was there! (The Stormtrooper came from the Forbidden planet stall next to ours by the way).

There we were armed with our Alka-Seltzer rockets, cornflour slime and carbon dioxide bubbles to protect ourselves from dark forces and of course to educate and entertain the masses in the backdrop to West End productions.

One of our tables focused on the topic of forces and motion. The Alka-Seltzer rockets experiment introduces the idea of pressure and the ‘egg trick’ helps demonstrate gravity and friction.

Another table demonstrated the property of different materials. The cornflour slime is an example of a non-newtonian fluid, which can behave like a liquid and a solid depending on the amount of force applied. We also trapped gaseous carbon dioxide, which we sublimed from solid carbon dioxide (dry ice), in bubbles and engulfed adults in our large bubble ring. Just because we can.

There were plenty of acts on show on the main stage, so we enjoyed performances by the cast of Billy Elliot and Chicago, just to name a few. The weather (us Brits are obsessed with the weather) was so predictably unpredictable. One moment there was a torrential downpour. The next, as if by magic, Bob the Builder came on stage and brought with him some loving sunshine. Can he fix? YES he can!

The Science Museum learning team will be present at two further festivals this summer: LolliBop (Regent’s Park) 5th – 7th August and at Jolly Day Out (Hampton Court Palace) 26th – 28th August.