Gravity Discovery Centre facts for kids
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The Gravity Discovery Centre and Observatory is a fun, hands-on place. It teaches about science, space, and Aboriginal culture. You can find it in the bushland near Gingin, north of Perth, Western Australia.
This centre is a not-for-profit group. It helps people learn about science in an interactive way. In 2005, Professor John Robert de Laeter won an award. He was recognized for creating the Gravity Discovery Centre.
Contents
Explore the Exhibits
The Discovery Centre
This part of the centre has many cool displays. They help you understand how science works.
Magnetic Cart
You can roll this cart down a ramp. It has strong magnets on it. Watch how it slows down over metal plates. These plates are made of copper or aluminium. They are good at carrying electricity. The moving magnet creates electricity in the plates. This changes the cart's movement into electrical energy.
OzGrav Model
OzGrav is short for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery. This display helps explain their work.
Bernoulli Ball
This display shows Bernoulli's principle. It says that faster air means lower pressure. When the ball moves to the side, air pushes it back. The air flowing upwards keeps the ball floating. It looks like it's defying gravity!
Space Capsule
This spinning display teaches about gravity. It shows how forces work when things spin.
The Cosmology Gallery
This gallery has a huge dome roof. It is 20-metre (66 ft) wide.
NIOBE: The Gravitational Wave Detector
The search for gravitational waves started in the 1990s. NIOBE was one of five detectors built worldwide. It used a special bar made of niobium. Professor David Blair helped create it. It began working in 1993. This experiment helped scientists learn about gravitational waves. It also led to new research. Gravitational waves are like ripples in space. They are caused by huge events. Think of the Big Bang or black holes crashing together.
Timeline of the Universe
This timeline tells the story of the universe. It goes from the Big Bang to today. You can see how Earth developed. There are stories and real fossils to look at. This display makes you think about your place in the universe.
Penrose Floor
This floor shows a special pattern. It uses shapes like stars, boats, and diamonds. A mathematician named Roger Penrose found this way to tile a floor. The pattern never repeats itself.
Astrophotography and Indigenous Art
You can see amazing pictures of space here. There is also the Australian Shaman Exhibition. It shows how Indigenous Australians understand the night sky. Many artworks tell stories about what they saw.
Other Displays
- Coherence to Chaos Exhibition
- Multicultural artwork
- Southern Cross Cosmos Centre, which has the GDC Observatory
- The Zadko Telescope, a robot telescope.
The Solar System Walk
The Solar System Walk is a 1km long model. It shows our Solar System to scale. The walk starts at the Sun. It goes along a path through the bush. Model planets are placed at the right distances. Each planet has an information sign. The walk ends at Pluto. Pluto is now called a dwarf planet.
On this model, Earth would be the size of a peppercorn. Saturn would be like a peanut. Mercury would be a tiny cake freckle. Jupiter would be almost a golf ball. Pluto would be a pinhead. But the centre made the models 200 times bigger. This makes them easier to see. The walk helps you understand how big space is. It also shows the huge distances between planets.
While you walk, you might see kangaroos. In late winter and spring, many wildflowers bloom. Since Pluto is now a dwarf planet, you can find a replica of Pluto. It's in a special coffin inside the main centre.
Biodiversity Gallery
The Biodiversity Gallery shows local plants and animals. South-west Australia has many unique species. Some of these are rare or endangered. The gallery celebrates the rich variety of life here. You can see insect specimens, like a native bee. They are in resin to view under a microscope. Samples of local wildflowers are also on display.
Biodiversity Walks
You can take walks around the site. Guides often lead these walks. They help you see many different plants. Some ancient paperbark trees are here. They are 800 to 1000 years old! They grow near the Leaning Tower.
The Gravity Discovery Centre is on government land. The bushland around it is natural. It has been unchanged for thousands of years. Wildflowers make a colourful show every spring. The bright orange-yellow Morrison shrubs bloom from November to January. Many other plants and animals can be seen all year.
The Leaning Tower of Gingin
The Leaning Tower of Gingin is a 45-metre (148 ft) tall steel tower. It was built for experiments. You can do what Galileo Galilei did! There are 222 steps to the top. From there, you can drop water balloons through chutes. The tower leans at a 15-degree angle. It is held in place by 180 tons of concrete. The YouTube channel "How Ridiculous" also uses the tower for drop tests.
Images for kids
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A view across the site
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A twisted Marri tree (Corymbia calophylla)
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Wildflowers at site: Stylidium sp. or Trigger Plant (foreground) and Hibbertia sp. (background)
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Verticordia nitens (Morrison)
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Demonstrating the Bernoulli effect
