Animal race

How does the exhibit work?

Press the button next to the animal you want to race against. Get ready at the starting line. The screen in front of you shows a countdown. When the screen says start, do your best to run as fast as possible.

On the screen, you can see how fast you ran compared to the animal you chose.

What is the science behind it?

Do you want to know how fast you can run? Then you have to divide the distance you run (in metres or kilometres) by the time you took (in seconds or hours). Or get our computer to calculate it.

To reach your top speed, it helps if you don't start from a standstill at the start line. You need time to accelerate. Choose an animal to race against, step back a bit and take a run-up. 3…2…1… GO!

This is how fast the animals you're racing against go:

Leopard tortoise (fastest tortoise on land) Top speed 1.01 km/h Runs 10 meters in 35.7 seconds

Missouri tarantula Top speed 1.92 km/h Runs 10 meters in 18.8 seconds

Brown rat Top speed 9.7 km/h Runs 10 meters in 3.71 seconds

Black Mamba (fastest snake on land) Top speed 16 km/h Runs 10 meters in 2.25 seconds

Australian Crocodile (fastest crocodile on land) Top speed 17 km/h Runs 10 meters in 2.12 seconds

Usain Bolt (fastest human on land) Top speed 44.7 km/h Runs 10 meters in 0.81 seconds

Cheetah (fastest mammal on land) Top speed 98 km/h Runs 10 meters in 0.37 seconds

Speed of rollercoasters

The Formula Rossa rollercoaster in Abu Dhabi is the fastest in the world. In such a carriage you whizz along the rails at up to 240 km per hour.

Speed of light

300 000 kilometres per second: imagine going so fast. Then you’d get round the world 7.5 times in one second.

That's the incredible speed of light. Nothing in our universe can travel faster than light.