Experimentarium: Construction Site

At the Construction Site, you play together and discover the laws of Physics that makes everything at a construction site turn and move.

At Experimentarium’s Construction Site, children and the young at heart can embark on a journey of discovery by making the crane swing into action, pedalling the hoist cycle, using the ball run and trying out many other activities.

The Construction Site is especially suitable for younger children and their adults and includes a dress-up game with hard hats, reflective vests and children’s size wheel barrows for transporting the rubber balls.

As you turn, pull and work to lift the rubber balls up to the ball run – and feel the force of gravity in your stomach, as you follow the descent of the balls you get a fun and intuitive understanding of Mechanics, the area of Physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects.

Grapple with gravity in the Crane

In the Crane, you apply the principles of mechanics to overcome gravity and lift the ball. The force you apply starts a movement that turns the handle and pulls the rope. The force is transmitted via the pulley, lifting the basket with the ball towards the ball run.

Byggepladsens kran. Foto: David Trood.

Hoist cycle sends ball skywards

What causes what to move? On the Hoist cycle, you apply the principles of mechanics to overcome gravity and lift the balls. The force you apply to the pedals starts a movement in chain, it is then transmitted via the cogs which agin makes the conveyor belt move lifting the balls up to the ball run.

Ball runs

The Construction Site have several types of ball run. Balls roll downwards along the ball runs because, like everything else on Earth, they are subject to the force of gravity.

However, the ball runs slope and twist in different ways. The flatter and more twisted the run, the greater the resistance for the balls. And you also have to factor in the resistance from the friction created as the ball continuously rubs against the ball run tracks. Conduct your experiments and see what makes the balls run faster or slower.