Scienceworks is a

science museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. It is a venue of

Museums Victoria Museums Victoria is an organisation which operates three major state-owned museums in Melbourne, Victoria: the Melbourne Museum, the Immigration Museum and Scienceworks Museum. It also manages the Royal Exhibition Building and a storage faci ...

which administers the cultural and scientific collections of the State of Victoria. It is located in the suburb of Spotswood. Opened on 28 March 1992, Scienceworks is housed in a purpose-built building "styled along industrial lines" near the historic Spotswood Pumping Station, constructed in 1897, whose steam engines form an associated exhibit. Displays and activities offered by the museum include hands-on experiments, demonstrations, and tours. The "lightning room" is a 120-seat auditorium that presents demonstrations about

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describe ...

, featuring a giant

Tesla Coil A Tesla coil is an electrical resonant transformer circuit designed by inventor Nikola Tesla in 1891. It is used to produce high-voltage, low- current, high-frequency alternating-current electricity. Tesla experimented with a number of differen ...

, capable of generating two million volts of electricity, producing three metre

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an average ...

bolts. Melbourne Planetarium is housed on site. Until late 2013, the 1883 clock tower from

Flinders Street station Flinders Street railway station is a train station located on the corner of Flinders Street, Melbourne, Flinders and Swanston Street, Swanston streets in the Melbourne city centre, central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria (Austral ...

was also located at the museum. The clock had been moved to Princes Bridge station in 1905 and Spencer Street station in 1911, where it remained until sold into private ownership after the station redevelopment of 1967. The clock restored with an electric movement is now located at the

Southern Cross station Southern Cross railway station (until 2005 known as Spencer Street station) is a major railway station in Docklands, Victoria, Docklands, Melbourne. It is on Spencer Street, Melbourne, Spencer Street, between Collins Street, Melbourne, Collins ...

Gallery

File:Steam engine, Scienceworks, Melbourne.jpg, Steam-driven pump engine File:CSIRAC at Scienceworks, Melbourne.jpg, CSIRAC computer display

References

External links

Scienceworks website
Museums in Melbourne Technology museums in Australia Science museums in Australia Museums established in 1992 1992 establishments in Australia Science and technology in Melbourne Tourist attractions in Victoria (Australia) Buildings and structures in the City of Hobsons Bay {{VictoriaAU-struct-stub