The wonder of water is at the centre of a new all-ages exhibit on now at the Britannia Mine Museum.
The Mine’s Water: Beneath the Surface exhibit, on until September, is divided into three zones that span the museum’s massive presentation floor in the Machine Shop.
Each zone aims to teach people about and entertain them with water. The zones include Hidden Talents, which explores the strange and amazing things water can do that people may not think about, such as floating when frozen as ice.
Zone two, On the Surface, delves into how water shapes so much of the landscape around us. At one time Squamish was the site of a giant glacier, for example.
Zone three, Deep Ocean, as its name suggests, explores the ocean floor. The museum’s marketing coordinator Laura Melvin said she was especially excited about the “Black Smokers’” on display –hydrothermal vents deep on the ocean floor.
Science of Water: Labs, six experiment stations, complements the exhibit. At each station, visitors can get their hands, and even mouths wet with various experiments. At one station, for example, participants can sample different glasses of water to guess what mineral is present. Another station will feature a laser that shoots a beam that gets trapped inside a stream of water.
Though at first blush a science exhibit about H20 may seem an odd fit for a former industrial site, water has always been part of mining, for better or for worse, acknowledged Melvin.
“Not only does water play a role in creating and shaping minerals on Earth, it’s important to the mining process, whether it’s being used to separate mineral from rock, cleaning the final product, transporting the mineral.”
On the other hand, Britannia Mine, which closed in 1972, did horrible damage to Howe Sound, Britannia Creek and other area waterways. But the damage has been reversed, Melvin said, “to the point you would never even know it was a problem.”
Modern mining is much more respectful of water, according to Melvin.
“A little knowledge goes a long way,” she said. “That is part of what we wanted to do with the exhibit – expanding people’s knowledge of water.”
For more on the exhibits go to www.britanniaminemuseum.ca/events.
