The Exploratorium – Exploring Science in San Francisco

Of all the museums I’ve visited, the Exploratorium in San Francisco is one that will always stick out in my mind. The Exploratorium is located inside a large warehouse at Pier 15 (along the Embarcadero) and focuses on interactivity in science. The museum contains over 600 exhibits across 6 areas, all of which encourage guests to learn by doing. Visiting the Exploratorium was a highlight of my trip to San Francisco. Its a great place to spend a few hours. You’ll learn something without even realising it.

The Basics:

• Where? Pier 15, The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94111
• When? Open Tuesday – Sunday (closed Monday) 10AM-5PM. Adults only evening sessions Thursdays 6PM-10PM.
• How much? General Admission for adults is $29.95 USD, children $19.95USD. Thursday night admission is $19.95 USD per adult.
• How to get here? The MUNI streetcar service is convenient to use in San Francisco. The F-line stops at The Embarcadero station which is a short 7 minute walk from the Exploratorium.
• Website: https://www.exploratorium.edu/

The Exploratorium was originally located near the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco’s Marina district. In 2013, it was relocated to the current spot on Pier 15 and has since expanded into a massive version of its former self. Stretching over 300,000 square feet, the Exploratorium’s exhibits sprawl both indoors and outdoors. Seeing the size of the Exploratorium was a huge surprise. Its very easy to lose track of the time here and not know where to start. In this post I’ll look at some of the highlights I encountered when exploring the Exploratorium.

Overall, I’d allocate around 2-3 hours to spend at the Exploratorium. As always, buying tickets in advance online will save you time queuing up (or buy the San Francisco CityPass if you’re planning on visiting other attractions). There’s a lot to see, so the more time you have the better. Despite the size of the place, the Exploratorium is very easy to navigate. Most of the exhibits are all located on one gigantic level and are divided up into a number of themed sections. Lets take a look at what you’ll find here.

Human Phenomena Gallery

The first gallery you enter at the Exploratorium focuses on the human psyche, exploring concepts such as thoughts, feelings and social interactions. I loved this part of the museum and I found a lot of the exhibits reminded me of the TV series Brain Games. Its that fun kind of learning that you can apply to your every day life to try to understand our daily human interactions and emotions. The majority of exhibits in this gallery will require you to work with another person, be it a friend or a random (you’re exploring human interactions after all!). The experiments that you take part in are great icebreakers to meet fellow explorers as well.

To give you an idea of the kind of experiments here, lets look at one entitled ‘Sip or Squirt’. The exhibit consists of two back to back drinking fountains. Each player stands beside their fountain and has the option of pressing a blue or red button. The blue button, marked ‘Sip’ allows the other player to take a drink from their fountain, while the red button marked ‘Squirt’ causes the other player to be squirted in the face with water. The catch however is what happens to you is based on what you and your partner have both chosen. Its bound to bring about some laughs while also illustrating the applications of game theory in practice.

What else?

Other highlights in this gallery include:

• Freeloader: a fun game that explores the concept of team work, and perhaps most interestingly, the idea of whether people will help when others are doing the work. Flashback to those university group assignments much?
• Team Snake: remember that old arcade game where you had to guide a snake around eating apples without choking on its own tail? This exhibit is just that – except you play in teams with each person controlling the ability to turn the snake in a specific direction. Its just as much (if not more) fun to watch along as it is to play.
• A sip of conflict: two drinking fountains. One regular, one mounted on a toilet seat. Both provide clean drinking water, but are you game enough to drink from the toilet bowl fountain?

The Tactile Dome

The Human Phenomena gallery also contains the impressive Tactile Dome. This immersive experience requires a separate ticket for admission (add $12 to your ticket). You’ll enter a dome structure and be surrounded by complete darkness. Your mission is to navigate your way through using only your sense of touch. Its a lot of fun as you crawl, climb and slide without knowing what lies ahead. I highly recommend having a go at it. I did it at the end of the day after seeing the other galleries. Just grab a ticket when you first arrive at the Exploratorium.

Tinkering Gallery

This next gallery focuses on the concepts of creativity and innovation. This is perhaps represented best by the Tinkering Studio, a neat space where you can create your own gadgets with the assistance of museum staff. However, my favourite display in this part of the Exploratorium was the impressive toothpick model of San Francisco entitled Rolling Through the Bay. Created by Scott Weaver, this constantly growing replica of the city is made entirely from (over 100,000) toothpicks and contains countless tracks for small balls to pass through its ‘streets’. I could have spent much more time than I did just admiring the details of this masterpiece. Its incredible what people can make, and this section of the Exploratorium showcases the great power of innovation.

Seeing and Listening Gallery

Moving deeper into the Exploratorium, you’ll reach the Seeing and Listening Gallery. This part of the museum actually holds the majority of the exhibits from its old Marina site. The emphasis here is on the way we perceive and interact with the world using our senses of sight and hearing.

One of my favourite exhibits in this section of the museum is entitled Out Quiet Yourself which shows just how noisy we can be, even when we’re trying to be quiet. To demonstrate this, participants had to walk carefully along a gravel floor, attempting to make as little noise as possible in the process. Meanwhile a sound meter indicated the level of noise being produced by the person as they snuck across. It was both fun and frustrating, with a tiny errant step causing the meter to trigger.

On the other hand, the Monochromatic Room illustrated the way in which our sense of sight could be impacted by our surroundings. In this really cool exhibit, you’ll enter a room where everything appears to be coloured golden yellow. However, if you use a torch on the surroundings to reveal their true colours, you’ll quickly realise that’s not the case. In actuality, the room had been lit up using a sodium vapour lamp which resulted in only a single wavelength of monochromatic light being reflected about the room.

Living Systems Gallery

The last of the chambers on the Exploratorium’s main floor investigates the biological world around us. This part of the museum was quite a shift from the previous three sections and I couldn’t help but feel there was a lesser degree of interactivity here due to the subject matter. Its still interesting though as you’ll be able to observe various specimens under microscopes. Don’t miss the Live Chicken Embryo exhibit to see the rapid growth of an embryo in the different stages of development. It was amazing seeing the tiny heartbeat among the otherwise gooey mess in the early stages of incubation.

Outside Exhibits and the Bay Observatory

The fun doesn’t stop when you leave the main Exploratorium building. There’s even more displays and exhibits on hand as you step out onto Pier 15. Take in the views of the beautiful San Francisco Bay while exploring its natural phenomena here. Outside you’ll find the Remote Rain umbrellas where you can stand underneath and experience various levels of rain storms. Meanwhile, the Fog Bridge is an Exploratorium highlight. San Francisco is known for its unpredictable fog, but along this walkway to the next pier, you can experience a recreated fog storm every half hour. High pressure pumps create an artificial mist out of desalinated water that shroud this section of the pier in fog. It looks really cool and is a lot of fun to walk through. I remember seeing it from inside initially wondering what was going on. Don’t miss it when you’re here.

Up above all this fun, you can head into the Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery. This part of the Exploratorium feels more like a research station than the rest of the interactive museum. While there’s exhibits exploring the natural landscapes of the Bay Area (including a really cool interactive 3D model of the area entitled Visualising the Bay), I have to admit I was a bit worn out by the rest of the museum by the time I got up here. Its a wonderful place to take in more views of the Bay however. You can even peer down into the tinkering hall and watch the experiment makers building future exhibits from above. Its also a nice place to get way from the hustle and bustle of excited museum guests elsewhere in the Exploratorium.

Closing Thoughts

There’s so much to see and do at the Exploratorium. If your visit is anything like mine, you won’t notice the time flying by as you explore this unique museum. There’s something here for everyone regardless of their interests. While I enjoyed the exhibits focusing more on human behaviour and perception, others will be drawn towards the biological exhibits at the Exploratorium’s rear or even the Observatory upstairs. I can’t emphasise enough how much fun the museum is. If you’re in San Francisco for a few days, take a couple of hours out of your time and visit the Exploratorium. Its conveniently located along the waterfront and you might pick up a fun fact that will help you in a trivia contest somewhere down the line.