To open a new building by cutting a ribbon with scissors is so last millennium. Instead, the Sciencenter of Ithaca will use people power to melt a wire to officially open its new building Friday, Feb. 28. The ceremony begins at 10:30 a.m. at the museum, located at 601 First St. The event coincides with the museum's 20th anniversary.

"Visitors attending the ceremony will form a human battery by forming a circle, each person holding a piece of copper in one hand and steel in the other," says Charlie Trautmann, executive director of the Sciencenter and a Cornell University adjunct professor of engineering. By holding a neighbor's steel in one hand and copper in the other, each person will become a separate cell, generating about seven-tenths of a volt, he says. The resulting energy from the circle will be stored in a capacitor. When the voltage gets high enough, it will trigger a circuit that powers the ribbon-cutting -- or melting.

Trautmann explains that when you touch two dissimilar metals -- in this case, steel and copper -- the perspiration on your hands acts like the acid in a battery, causing electrons to flow from one metal to the other through your body.

"We'll need about 50 people to form this human battery," Trautmann says. "Once the necessary energy is generated, the resulting pulse will melt a wire in a colorful ribbon cable strung across the entrance to the new museum." He says that the 40 conductors in the cable are symbolic of the 20 years of full-time effort contributed by the organization's co-founders, Debbie Levin and Ilma Levine.

The Sciencenter opened its doors in 1983. After four moves in the first 10 years, the museum built the first phase of its current facility in 1993. In 1996 it acquired an adjacent building, adding 50 percent more space to accommodate the 50,000 people a year who visit the museum. With the addition of the new section -- at a cost of $5.5 million -- the museum has tripled its exhibition space.The new wing has many new exhibits. Among them is a full-scale model of one of NASA's two Mars rovers, the first of which is scheduled for launch May 30. The model, built by Cornell students, will be exhibited through early May, after which it will be displayed at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. (Cornell professor of astronomy Steven W. Squyres is principal investigator for the international team that is developing the Athena science package to be carried by the two rover vehicles during their planned exploration of the planet in 2004.)

The Sciencenter's new wing also provides exhibits on magnetism, live animals, optical illusions and one called Cools Moves: The Artistry of Motion. Museum visitors can make music by walking up a musical staircase, programmed by Cornell graduate Jeremy Selan '00, M.S. '03. The staircase uses a video camera to detect motion and trigger a variety of sounds that change throughout the day. There is also a Curiosity Corner, designed for children under 4 and focused on sensory science.

For Sciencenter information on hours and admission, http://www.sciencenter.org.