Some might get a queasy feeling looking over the railing at the top of the 28-foot-high slide that anchors a new exhibit at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry
Others will begin thinking “Wheeeeee!” before even entering the mouth of the snaking steel tube.
It takes about ten seconds to reach the bottom, enough time to sing “Happy Birthday” on the way down.
“It’s huge, huge, huge — what is there to say? I mean, it’s incredible,” said Patricia Ward, the museum’s head scientist. “We’ve been testing it, and it really is kind of thrilling.”
The slide is part of ‘Powering the Future,’ a new permanent exhibit opening May 8 at the South Side museum. The exhibit is included in the price of general admission.
The exhibit explores the different forms of energy that power our lives. Kids move through the slide as if they are electrons moving through the power grid, Ward said.
There are circular windows on the ceiling of the tube and snaking lights on its exterior that light up as kids descend.
Children must be at least 44 inches tall and at least six years old to go down the slide, which must be taken feet first.
“It provides a visceral sense that energy is in everything and is everywhere, including you,” said Ward, who says she has gone down the slide herself.
A handle bar above the mouth of the slide gives kids something to hold on to as they lower themselves into the tube, or it can be used to fling oneself into the ride.
“I would make sure that you grab the handles and you pull yourself and you go really fast,” said Hannah Holt, 13, whose family bid at a charity auction to be the first to go down the slide before it opens to the public.
A spiral staircase that follows the path of the slide is available for anyone who doesn’t want to cruise down on their backside.
“I can say that I don’t really like heights, but it was very fun,” Ward said.
She concedes many kids will rush past other cool stuff in the exhibit — like an electric car from 1923 and a nuclear fuel rod assembly — to get in line for the slide.
“But that’s OK. That’s OK,” she said with a smile during a recent tour.
The slide is definitely worth a try but don’t miss the opportunity to touch the Ice Wall — yes, a wall of ice — as an infrared camera captures your thermal footprint and projects the real-time image on a nearby monitor. It’s cool.