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Drop by drop, closely watch North America’s largest Water Clock go through 70 gallons of liquid (made up of water, methyl alcohol and blue dye) while telling the time! The famous clock at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is ringing in 2018 early for all to enjoy at family-friendly hours of 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. More on how the clock works can be discovered below.
Countdown to Noon is an annual event at The Children’s Museum that celebrates New Year’s Eve without making the little ones stay up past their bedtimes. Join in the music, confetti, and fun on Dec. 31, 2017, for countdowns to the New Year at noon and 1 p.m. Also, enjoy one of the last few days of the museum’s traditional Jolly Days Winter Wonderland exhibit. Countdown to Noon is presented by Indiana Farm Bureau.
The activities for this year’s Countdown to Noon include:
- New Year’s Around the World - Send New Year’s greetings to friends all over the world by learning pronunciations of foreign languages and matching each greeting to its corresponding country.
- Family Paper Time-Capsule - Recount your favorite memories of 2017 by creating a time capsule. Snap a photo next to our “Happy New Year” banner to add as a finishing touch to your 2017 capsule!
- Performances by Zak Morgan - Enjoy music by Grammy-nominated Zak Morgan, and join him in counting down at noon and 1p.m.
About the largest water clock in North America:
Designed by French physicist and artist Bernard Gitton, the water clock was procured by the museum in 1989 with a contribution from Mr. and Mrs. Richard Wood.
Since then, the clock has attracted crowds of visitors who marvel at its beauty and accuracy, and learn to tell time in a whole new way. It all works through suction, vacuums and gravity. Start at the top of the clock and work your way down through the globes on the left hand side. Each globe represents an hour of the day. There’s a big tank of water at the top. Gravity pulls water into the tank through a scoop that bobs up and down and dumps water down below into big squiqqly tubes, which act as siphons. The siphons start to fill up to the top with water and it starts to overflow a bit. Gravity pulls all that water down below into the next siphon. When the siphon down at the bottom starts to overflow, it creates a huge suction power pulling the water from one place to another. That suction pulls more water out of the top of the clock and dumps it into the minute siphons on the other side. When all the discs representing minutes fill up at the end of the hour, it overflows, water drains down by gravity and dumps it over into the left side to start a new hour of the day.
The clock has a computer panel tied to it allowing staff to change the time by manually adding or subtracting water on the minutes or hour side using solenoid valves located below the floor. The clock does adjust itself every 30 minutes and 6 hours based on the computer clock, but when it’s a whole hour changing (such as daylight savings time) you have to manually add or subtract water.
So the next time you hear a drip, drip, drip, think not of the sands of an hourglass; but, the drops of liquid in the waterclock at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis.
Added bonus this year:
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is honored to welcome back Jeanne White Ginder, mother of Ryan White.
In the mid 1980’s at the young age of 13-years-old, Ryan was one of the first hemophiliacs in the United States to be diagnosed with the deadly disease, HIV/AIDS, which he contracted through a tainted blood treatment. Ryan underwent discrimination in his hometown due to fear surrounding his illness. Despite his battle, he lived with a positive attitude, and his determination inspired courage to those suffering worldwide. More than two decades later, he continues to serve as an extraordinary example of the power of children - how one child can make an impactful difference. Ms. White Ginder keep’s Ryan’s legacy alive and inspires new generations with his anti-bullying message.
Jeanne White Ginder- December 30, 2017-January 1, 2017, 11:00 a.m. - 3 p.m. (special presentation at 12:30 each day) in The Power of Children gallery.
About The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is a nonprofit institution committed to creating extraordinary learning experiences across the arts, sciences, and humanities that have the power to transform the lives of children and families. For more information about The Children's Museum, visit www.childrensmuseum.org, follow us on Twitter @TCMIndy, Instagram @childrensmuseum, YouTube.com/IndyTCM, and Facebook.
