Fermi National Laboratory in Batavia will hold its annual open from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 31.

Chronicle Media

Fermi National Laboratory’s free family open house is more than just an annual tradition. It’s a chance for the whole family to spend an afternoon learning about science in a hands-on way and have fun doing it.

The open house is will be from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 31.

This year’s event will include activities for the whole family, from hands-on science exhibits to tours of some of the lab’s attractions. There will be a series of performances by Jerry Zimmerman, the ever-popular “Mr. Freeze,” demonstrating the effects of liquid nitrogen, and about a dozen scientists will be ready to answer questions in the exhibit area on the 15th floor of Wilson Hall.

In the atrium, families can enjoy a “physics carnival,” including interactive exhibits by students from four area schools. On the second floor of Wilson Hall, visitors can play “Cosmic Shuffleboard” while learning about the role of dark energy in the universe.

Fermilab’s new operations center on the first floor of Wilson Hall will also be accessible for the Open House. Many of the center’s experiments are controlled from this room, and there will be operators at their stations, all of them ready to talk about the work they are doing. Next door to that operations center, a panel of lab employees will present an interactive talk about their day-to-day jobs.

This year, in addition to tours of the linear accelerator and main control room, there will be two special tours on offer: one to see the 50-foot-wide Muon g-2 electromagnet that was transported from New York in 2013, and one to visit a laboratory where parts of our neutrino beam production devices are created.

Tours of the linear accelerator and main control room will be given throughout the day, with no registration required. Attendees will need to register in advance for the Muon g-2 and neutrino horn lab tours.

These tours will fill up fast, so those who want in should register quickly at http://ed.fnal.gov/openhouse. There are a limited number of seats available, and standbys will be accepted.

-Fermilab hosts annual Family Open House Jan. 31-