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How Things Work
How do rockets reach space?
Look inside a rocket and follow its launch stages. Watch exhaust leave as the rocket accelerates, then experiment with thrust and cargo weight.
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How Things Work
How does a space station support astronauts?
Explore air, water, food, power, exercise, and waste systems. Manage a small station and discover how astronauts live and work in orbit.
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How Things Work
How do parking garages identify empty spaces?
Move cars between bays and watch sensors update guidance signs.
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How Things Work
How do greenhouse gases warm the planet?
Compare incoming sunlight and outgoing heat in a simplified atmospheric model.
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How Things Work
How do spacesuits support astronauts?
Explore pressure, oxygen, cooling, communication, and protective layers inside a suit.
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How Things Work
How do spacecraft return through the atmosphere?
Follow heating, shielding, slowing, and landing during a simulated return.
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How Things Work
How do satellites stay in orbit?
Explore gravity and sideways motion in a simplified orbital simulation. Adjust a satellite's starting speed and height to compare its path.
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How Things Work
How do supermarkets keep shelves stocked?
Balance sales, inventory, reorder points, deliveries, and shelf space in a model store.
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How Things Work
How do earthworms change the ground?
Follow tunnels and compare their effects on air spaces and organic material.
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How Things Work
Why do the seasons change?
Move a tilted Earth around the Sun. Compare sunlight angle and day length in both hemispheres and follow a location through the year.
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How Things Work
Why do we have day and night?
Spin a globe beside the Sun and place characters around Earth. Watch sunrise, midday, sunset, and night from different locations.
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How Things Work
How does the Sun produce energy?
Explore a simplified fusion model and follow energy from the Sun toward Earth.
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How Things Work
How do auroras appear in the sky?
Follow charged particles, Earth's magnetic field, and light emitted high in the atmosphere.
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How Things Work
How do reusable rockets land upright?
Adjust a model rocket's thrust and orientation to control its descent.
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How Things Work
How do solar and lunar eclipses happen?
Align the Sun, Earth, and Moon. Compare the shadows in solar and lunar eclipses and investigate why an eclipse does not happen every month.
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How Things Work
Why does the Moon seem to change shape?
Move the Moon around Earth and compare its sunlit half with the portion visible from the ground. Match positions to lunar phases.
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How Things Work
How do weather satellites observe Earth?
Compare visible and infrared views and track clouds across successive images.
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How Things Work
How do communication satellites relay signals?
Route a message through ground stations and a satellite to a distant receiver.