A Constantly Changing Educational Forum
Phoenix area residents are fortunate to have a facility such as the Arizona Science Center. The icing on the cake is the proximity to the light rail transit station. Myself, my wife and my son and his friend parked at the Sycamore & Main park and ride in Mesa and boarded the light rail and rode into Phoenix and got off 1 block from the center. An all day light rail adult ticket was $3.50, and for children $1.75. My only regret was that we arrived so late in the afternoon that we could not take advantage of all the attractions. Fry’s was sponsoring the entire weekend so admission was free. Thank you, Fry’s.
Educational and Hands On Exhibits Keep You There For Hours
One room was devoted to making physics simple. At least that’s how I would explain it. A live tug of war exhibit showed interactively how levers work. The bed of nails is always scary until you actually try it. Other hands on exhibits demonstrated how pulleys work as kids elevated themselves in a chair by pulling on a rope that was threaded through one or more pulleys. Or you could experience rotational momentum and inertia as you were spun around so fast that you could 
hardly stand up. And that’s just one room. Funny thing is, the parents were enjoying it as much as their children.
Small Beginnings
The Science Center opened in 1984 in a small 10,000 sq.ft. storefront exhibition. In 1997, the Center opened with 120,000 sq.ft after significant fund raising and contributions. After another fund raising campaign and renovation that lasted into 2008, the Arizona Science Center now 
features a Planetarium, a 5 story IMAX Theatre, and more than 300 hands on exhibits. The Dorrance Planetarium is the first science center in the world to showcase a state-of-the-art NanoSeam dome.
Other Attractions To Be Enjoyed
We did have enough time to visit the Forces of Nature exhibit where we watched a video depicting extreme weather conditions at the same time being rained upon, blown upon and exposed to heat lamps in order to make the experience more realistic. We also stood upon a movable platform so the earthquake effects were more believable.
My Digital World was the last one we visited that explained about digital technology and how information is shared. Of course, there is an explanation of how the internet works. For a more complete description of the activities, click on Science Center activities. Here is the link for Pricing and Hours.
The Arizona Science Center is impressive and deserving of at least one visit to check it out. You may even decide to become a member so you an return many times per year as the exhibits change and new ones are added.
