Now Open: "Target America: Opening Eyes to the Damage Drugs Cause"

MOSI recently opened its newest exhibit, Target America: Opening Eyes to the Damage Drugs Cause. This exhibit created by the Drug Enforcement Administration has been seen by over 20 million people since it first opened in 2002 and started its national tour.

The exhibit’s main goal is to educate visitors on the dark side of drugs and their impact on the human body, families and on the world as a whole. The exhibit has also been expanded to educate visitors on Florida’s history as a drug gateway and local drug issues such as “pill mills.” As visitors enter the exhibit, the grim wreckage of a drug-related car crash greets them and immediately shows the damage drugs can cause to users and innocent bystanders. To the right of the crash wreckage is the section of the exhibit detailing the various ways drugs will damage the bodies of addicts.



Throughout the exhibit, visitors can view informative displays on topics ranging from drug production to money trafficking as well as re-creations of an Afghan heroin “factory,” a jungle cocaine lab and a methamphetamine motel cook room.




The damage to the environment caused by drugs is also featured in a section of the display which details the destruction left by drug production across the globe.



One of the most emotional sections of the Target America exhibit includes a wall of lost talent and two thick binders filled with stories of the casualties of drug use. Here, photos of celebrities and average people remind visitors that the danger of drugs does not discriminate.




The final section of the exhibit has been tailored to feature Florida’s unique history and role in the war on drugs. Displays here include a quiz game on Florida’s role as a drug gateway to the United States, a display on the warning signs of a pill mill and a replica of a police surveillance operation for a drug bust.



The Target America exhibit opened at MOSI on September 16th and will be open until September 3, 2012. This run will be the longest the exhibit has stayed at one location and serves as a reminder of Florida’s importance to the war on drugs. Previous stops for the exhibit have included: the Louisiana State Museum, the California Science Center and the Museum of Science & Industry of Chicago.

Click here for more information on Target America: Opening Eyes to the Damage Drugs Cause. For ticket information please call MOSI at (813) 987-6000.

Bernoulli Breezeball

As you can see in the video, the orange balls are being held up only by air blown out of the tubes on the Bernoulli Breezeball exhibit. By adjusting the direction of the tubes you can pass the balls from one airstream to another and eventually into the hoops at the ends of the table.

How does it work:
Moving air has less pressure (pushing power) than still air. Objects may look as if they are sucked into a stream of moving air but are actually being pushed into the stream by the stronger pressure of the air around the stream. When a ball is placed into an airstream, the air flowing upward hits the bottom of the ball and slows down, generating a region of higher pressure. This high-pressure region of air under the ball holds it up. If you try to pull the ball slowly out of the airstream, the air arcs around the ball and its pressure is decreased. The normal pressure on the other side of the ball pushes it back into the airstream.

Daniel Bernoulli:
The Bernoulli Breezeball exhibit is named for Daniel Bernoulli (1700-1782) who was a member of a Swiss family that boasted several famous mathematicians. Bernoulli applied mathematics to the fields of fluid mechanics and also pioneered mathematics work in probability and statistics. He taught at the University of St. Petersburg and later at the University of Basel where he successively chaired the departments of medicine, metaphysics and natural philosophy. Daniel Bernoulli is best known for 1738 publication Hydrodynamica and for Bernoulli's principle which describes the relationship of the speed of a fluid and its pressure.

Bernoulli's principle and aerodynamics:
Bernoulli's principle can be applied to aerodynamics. Using Bernoulli's principle you can calculate the lift force on an airfoil. Airplane wings utilize an airfoil shape that is curved on the top and flat on the bottom. In motion, air flows faster over the curved surface on the top of an airfoil than under the flat bottom. The faster moving air decreases in pressure so less pressure is being applied to the top of an airplane wing than to the bottom. This difference in pressure creates an upwards lift force. If the speed of the air over and under the wing is known, Bernoulli's equations can be used to calculate the lift force upon the airfoil.

Read more about Bernoulli's Principle applied to aerodynamics at the US Centennial of Flight Commission website.