Exhibits at Pacific Science Center
View Our Science Exhibits
Ignite your curiosity with our new and favorite exhibits and experiences. Launch rockets and create electric circuits in Tinker Tank. Immerse yourself in our warm and sunny lush Tropical Butterfly House full of hundreds of beautiful, free-flying tropical butterflies. Explore questions about the nature of reality with a series of rotating and experimental experiences featuring emerging technology from local scientists, engineers and artists.
Featured Exhibits and Experiences
Portal to Current Research
Wildfire
Now Open
Learn about wildfire’s important role in the ecology of some forests. See how these natural processes and the smoke they produce are affecting Seattle as well as other areas.
Tinker Tank
Test your hypotheses and create your own innovations in our hands-on tinkering space that offers daily engineering and design challenges.
VR Experiences
Try an awe-inspiring collection of immersive, virtual reality experiences you’ll have to see, feel and even smell (yes, smell) to believe.
Living Exhibits
From Naked Mole Rats to Civilized Seeds, our collection of living exhibits allows guests to explore rare animals and plants and their amazing features.
The Studio: Science in Action
We hear about data, but where does it come from, what does it look like, and what happens after it’s collected? Check out Science in Action created with the University of Washington’s Institute of Learning and Brain Sciences (I-LAB).
Science On a Sphere
This astonishing piece of technology displays dynamic, animated images of the atmosphere, oceans and land on an illuminated sphere six ft in diameter.
What is Reality
A new set of evolving experiences that focus on bringing technology innovators face-to-face with an audience interested in the process of creativity and innovation.
Tropical Butterfly House
Enjoy year-round sunshine and hundreds of butterflies from the tropics. With new butterflies released weekly, discover something new during each visit.
Wellbody Academy
Discover how personal choices affect health and well being through inventions and activities that present the lifelong process of balancing exercise, diet, proper rest and hygiene.
More Exhibits
Body Works
Test your reaction time. See how much energy you produce on the Calorie Bicycles. Play games in the Nutrition Cafe and other interactive exhibits. Body Works is all about you.
Just for Tots
An area for the smallest scientists! Experiment with water at the stream table and more.
Sonic Bloom
Just outside the Boeing IMAX Theater, Sonic Bloom is a solar-powered art installation created in collaboration with Seattle City Light. Sonic Bloom is accessible 24 hours a day, no ticket required.
Pollinator Garden
Look for local hummingbirds, butterflies, beetles, and bumblebees while learning about pollination. More than 50 species of Washington-native plants provide food and habitat for pollinators that visit Pacific Science Center’s grounds.
Civilized Seeds: A History of People and Plants
Meet plants that produce apples, hops, tea, spices, blue dye, aspirin, paper, and other useful products. Discover how people have chosen plant traits throughout history.
Puget Sound Model
Explore the science of northwest Washington’s largest and ecologically diverse estuary, the Puget Sound. See real tides and currents in action at the 100 sq. ft. scale model of the sound.
Science Playground
How does an electric motor work? What does a gyroscope do? Who wins the bubble race? Find the answers to these questions and more in the Science Playground.
Outdoor Exhibits
Spin a two-ton granite ball with your bare hands, play with water cannons or walk in the giant water wheel in Water Works. Nearby, ride the High Rail Bicycle 15 ft. above the ground — on a rail only one inch wide! Open seasonally, weather permitting.
Insect Village
Giant robotic insects, interactive exhibits and live animal displays give you a close-up look at the world of insects and other arthropods.
Saltwater Tide Pool
See and touch live Puget Sound animals in the saltwater tide pool.
Dinosaurs: A Journey Through Time
Travel back to in time to meet dinosaurs from the Mesozoic Era, stand in the footprint of a giant duckbill dinosaur and take control of the Pneumoferrosaurus to see how animatronic dinosaurs work.