Key Stage 3: Materials
Hands-on galleries
Launchpad - the Science Museum's most popular gallery - has been relocated and reinvented. Explore science and technology first-hand with 50 hands-on exhibits and shows. See yourself on the heat camera or listen to your voice echo down a 30 metre tube.
Object-rich galleries
Explore the world of materials, from the leading edge of scientific innovation to new insights into everyday objects. Walk on a glass bridge; see a steel wedding dress or visit the atomic disco with its giant molecular models.
The ingenious use of steam to generate power helped Britain become the world’s first industrial nation. The steam engines in this gallery range from the earliest type used to the turbines that still generate power today.
Share the dreams of the flight pioneers: see the development of aviation from its tentative beginnings to the modern era of mass air travel. Displays include Amy Johnson's Gipsy Moth, the first British jet and a unique collection of aero engines.
The Mathematics Gallery exhibits mathematical instruments and models from the seventeenth century to present day, including mechanical calculators, slide-rules, drawing instruments and polyhedra.
See the extraordinary range of labour-saving devices in this intriguing technological guide to the development of the modern home. Look at the array of gizmos and gadgets, test your skill at identifying mystery objects and attempt to outwit the burglar alarm.
Trace the story of the space rocket. Learn about the satellites orbiting Earth. Find out how we are probing the rest of the Solar System and beyond. In this gallery you too will be exploring space.
Trace the development of long-distance communications from submarine cables to satellites. This history of the telegraph, telephone and radio is illustrated with many original objects and hands-on displays.
Marvel at the elegance and ingenuity of timekeeping instruments in this rich collection of more than 500 timepieces, including hourglasses, sundials, water clocks and pendulum clocks.