I volunteered with COSI during the fall semester of 2016-2017. While volunteering, I would engage COSI visitors with exciting experiments. One experiment was to test the interconnection of the sense of taste and smell by having a visitor pinch their nose while chewing a gumdrop. When the visitor un-pinched their nose, they would find out that the gumdrop tasted like cinnamon! I would then explain that because our senses are too connected, they could not taste the gumdrop without also smelling it. Another experiment related to the use of vacuums. I would ask the visitor to raise a wooden stool without directly touching it, but I would allow them to use a rubber mat with a hook attached to its center. Some visitors would catch on immediately, and others took a while to figure out the trick. By placing the rubber mat on top of the stool and then pulling up on the hook, they could raise the stool! Little kids loved this experiment and parents took the opportunity to explain in more detail about what vacuums could do. One example I gave often was the use of the household vacuum and how it created a vacuum in the machine to suck up all the dirt around the house. The last experiment was my personal favorite. I would use a bike wheel and metal chain to show inertia in action. By holding the wheel vertically and then spinning it very fast, I could keep it spinning exactly as it was, even when I held the wheel by the attached metal chain. I would also have the visitors hold onto the middle bar of the wheel and try to change its motion after I had gotten it spinning. They were always surprised to see how difficult it was to move!
I really enjoyed my time at COSI. I loved both the science part of the work and the interactions I had with COSI visitors. It was amazing to see the surprise on visitor’s faces when they un-pinched their noses, lifted the stool without touching it, and saw the wheel spin. Volunteering here made me more interested in pursuing an education-based career path. I am now working towards a minor in education, along with my major in astrophysics.