Energy Quest

Energy is one of the greatest concerns facing humanity today. Where will it come from in the future, and what will it do to our planet? Can we balance our ever-growing need for energy with its impact on the environment? Energy Quest – the only exhibition held over from our former building – takes you on an unprecedented journey through the five major sources of Earth’s energy in search of the answers.

You’ll learn about the many methods that humans have used to explore and harness these energy sources at five hands-on stations. Join the exploration and experiment as a geologist, oceanographer, chemical and nuclear engineer, and more.

Energy Quest's five energy stations are:

• Surface (wind, solar, hydro)
• Bio-Stored (oil, coal, natural gas, bio-mass)
• Nuclear (fission, fusion)
• Ocean (waves, tidal, ocean-thermal)
• Geo-Thermal (hydro-thermal, hot dry rock, magma)

Exhibition Highlights

Magma chamber
In a six-foot tall cylindrical tank of water, globs of viscous liquid slowly rise and sink as, illustrating the movement of heated magma in the Earth’s crust. Learn how such movements are thought to unleash volcanoes and power plate tectonics, which causes the continents to drift across the Earth’s surface (over millennia, of course).

Gushing geyser
Unleash the power of a geyser or bubbling hot spring by controlling the flow of water in an underground reservoir. The 10-foot geyser is created by a sudden introduction of air.

Plasma chamber
Created by the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab! See how plasma – the superheated ionized gas found on the sun – is shaped as it flows through a vacuum, and learn about research into nuclear fusion, which is designed to generate nuclear energy without creating radioactive waste.