To view video of model rocket launches click here and here

To view video of watermelons fallling from the tower click here

The Leaning Tower of Gingin

Wow! Your own leaning tower right here in WA, at the GDC! The Leaning Tower is a massive 45 meter tall steel structure, which is about the height of a 13 story building. For those of you who are not scared of heights, you can climb all 222 steps right to the very top. It gets a bit windy up there and sometimes it seems like the Tower is moving, but the feeling is just rad. Take some water- filled balloons up with you and drop them through the chutes. Watch them fall and land with a big splat in the drop zone below. This experiment is the same one Galileo Galilei did some 440 years ago by dropping objects from the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy.  He wanted to prove that objects of different weights fall at the same speed. Do they? You tell us!

Sometimes Galileo drops in at the GDC to see how the experiments are going – you might just be lucky enough to meet him.

Walk the Solar System

It is your mission to travel through the solar system! On this 1km walk, each of your footsteps represents about 6 million kilometers in reality. You will find all the distances exactly to scale, as if you were travelling in your own space ship through space. Beware, space travellers, as you reach the outer limits of our solar system, there is lots of empty space. This activity is a fantastic family learning experience, and includes life like models of planets and moons along the way.

Take a clipboard, pencil and a copy of the Solar System Walk Quiz (from reception) for an extra family challenge!

Awesome Science Exhibits

The GDC has so many cool hands-on science experiments and displays for you to get involved in. Test your strength on the magnetic pole. listen to your own drum through the sound coil. Test your weight on different planets. Watch how your own tennis ball is sucked into the giant black hole. Are you brave? Stand on the edge of the magnetic pendulum. And lots more….

And if you are anything like us up here, then you will have lots of questions on how the universe works.

Why don’t we fall off the Earth (especially here in Australia) ? 

What does gravity do and what’s a gravity wave all about?

When was our Universe born?

Who is this Einstein guy everyone talks about?

How old is our planet earth and will it last forever?

Are we really made out of Stardust?

What is a Zygomaturus Trilobus and is he still around today…    and what does Spaghettify mean??

We have all the answers to these questions and squillions more right here for you at the GDC. It’s cool to want to know stuff.

check out the NASA website for other space stuff!! http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/ligo/index.shtml