Jerusalem’s Bloomfield Science Museum lights up during Hanukka

Ten inventions relating to the theme of light and Hanukka were conceived and developed by “makers” and put on display at the museum.

Adults play with a hanukkia that lights up when limbs used to make an electrical circuit.  (photo credit: JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH)
Adults play with a hanukkia that lights up when limbs used to make an electrical circuit.
(photo credit: JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH)
Some 10,000 children and adults are expected to visit the “Touching the Light” exhibition that opened late Thursday night by the time it closes on Tuesday at Jerusalem’s Bloomfield Science Museum.
Ten inventions relating to the theme of light and Hanukka were conceived and developed by “makers” and put on display at the museum, along with giant interactive musical light displays, the light-and-shadow exhibition, scientific demonstrations and building workshops for the whole family.
Among the works on display are a hanukkia that lights up when visitors place their hands, feet and even heads on circles that form an electric circuit; images of Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe and others made from pins positioned exactly to create shadows and light; a light grinder made from a spice grinder that seems to manipulate light; two balls hanging on cords that illuminate one of them when they are knocked together; and an interactive display of fluctuations in the weather, made of LED lights and aluminum; their shapes change as sensors measure differences in temperature, pressure and humidity.
In another exhibit, psychedelic colors made from liquids that don’t blend are screened on the wall; in another display, 1,800 lights on metal “stems” are controlled by a laptop computer and periodically turn on and off in response to classical and other pieces of music and movement in the room.
A round-bottomed object on which children – including physically disabled youngsters – stand to try to try to keep their balance reacts by lighting electric Hanukka candles one by one. Created by occupational therapists at Jerusalem’s Alyn Orthopedic Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, the exhibit deals with the importance of the “core line” in our bodies for every aspect of our lives – both the emotional and the sensomotoric.
As part of the arts and crafts section, one can make a greeting card out of cardboard, LED sparkles, a battery and conductive glue.
In the mini-amphitheater, science students mix fire and chemicals and even succeed in lighting fireworks under water and a tornado out of fire.
Although the first night was free because it was part of the Hamshushalayim program around the city, from then on and until December 23, tickets cost NIS 45 for adults or NIS 60 for a child over five and an adult, and free for children under the age of five.