New educational activity about CMS air pads for education labs at CERN Science Gateway

CERN is currently preparing Science Gateway, a new facility for scientific education and outreach that will open in summer 2023. Besides inspirational exhibition spaces, science shows and online education activities, Science Gateway will feature educational labs for hands-on scientific experiments for diverse audiences from 5 years old. We provide an overview of the educational offer foreseen at Science Gateway including the hands-on labs, science shows and online education content. In the context of the new educational labs, a “Power of Air” hands-on activity involving 3D-printed hovercraft and toy balloons will be presented. This activity is designed to raise awareness of how engineers at CERN exploit the power of air to move 1000+ tonne detector slices by means of an air pad system.