Dancing scarves

How does the exhibit work?

Take a scarf and throw it in the air between the yellow blocks. The scarf moves through the airflow.

What is the science behind it?

Have you heard of Isaac Newton? As you can tell from his beautiful - ahem - wig, he lived about 300 years ago. He discovered that objects only move when a force is applied to them. The heavier the object, the more force is needed. He wrote a law about that. We now call this law Newton's second law (yes, this clever man has several).

That is how we know how those scarves fly in the air; because the air current pushes them upwards with force. Of course, there is another very important force called gravity. When the scarves are high enough, the airflow is no longer strong enough and gravity pulls them down.

That scarf ballet is worth a TikTok dance!

Newton's second law in windsurfing

Quiz question: What do you need to go windsurfing?

A surfboard with a sail on it. Is there anything missing? Right, water and wind of course! Lots of wind. If you turn your sail in the right direction, the wind pushes forcefully on your sail. This is how you move forward on the waves and do fun tricks.

Newton's second law in football

Want to get that ball moving? You do that by kicking it with a lot of force. GOAAAAL!