MythBusters at Space Center Houston
If you’ve ever wondered whether you could walk like a shadow through the rain and not get a drop on you the MythBusters exhibit at Space Center Houston has something to offer.
MythBusters, a popular show on the Discovery Channel that concluded its final season earlier this year, seeks to dispel commonly held beliefs or legends. For instance, how long can you breath in a coffin that has been buried. The coffin in question used in the show sits on display along with a couple of tables containing fourteen years of props from the series.
One by one you can take part in interactive versions of different episodes of the show. For the aforementioned rain rumor, you walk or run side-by-side with a partner through an alley of rain. Then you stroll around the corner and look at yourself in front of mirrors that are bathed in infrared light that intensifies any water on your clothing. Who got wetter, the person that ran or the person that walked?
Another set-up allows you to toss cards and record with precision how hard and fast you tossed said card. Yet another booth has two monitors and one steering wheel. The person behind the wheel blindfolds himself or herself and then drives through an obstacle course while their counterpart describes the landscape. The wheel and accelerator pedal react in accordance to the hurdles.
One experiment lets you spin a piece of toast off a table only to see how it lands on the floor. Butter side up or down?
You get the picture. There’s plenty to stimulate the mind. Most of the exhibit is geared towards kids. Building a house out of wood blocks and then placing it inside a wind tunnel. Or setting a time clock and seeing how fast you can change in a phone booth into a super hero. Accouterments and capes are provided for the small fry.
Yet another part of the exhibit records how long you can hang by your fingertips on a cliff. And perhaps the most realistic tableau asks you to dodge a bullet. A strobe light goes off and a digital clock registers how many split seconds it took you to move. You cannot dodge a bullet.
MythBusters: The Explosive Exhibition is available for your perusal through September 5 at Space Center Houston (1601 NASA Parkway).
