Optics course
The optics course is a science course ( educational trail ) and adventure trail in Wetzlar that shows the phenomena of optics and mechanics . It was opened on May 9, 2008 and runs from the FORUM Wetzlar shopping center to the monastery garden in Wetzlar's old town. The optics course is a joint project of citizens, the city of Wetzlar and city marketing, the Technical University of Central Hesse , the Fachhochschule Holzminden (HAWK) , schools in Central Hesse, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and 70 companies. The optics course is one of the “Selected Places 2008” of the Germany - Land of Ideas initiative .
history
Development and conception
The history of the optics course goes back to a study project by students from the Fachhochschule Holzminden (HAWK) after the plans for an “optics educational trail” had been presented a few weeks earlier in a meeting in Wetzlar town hall on February 3, 2004. From then on, a working group dealt with the development and implementation of individual installations. Initially, the ideas were limited to the topic of “optical illusion”. The plans were then discarded in order to tailor the installations to the city of Wetzlar, relying on a “see more concept”. Another milestone for the course was the founding of a support association, the chairman of which is the university professor Jürgen Erbach. In autumn 2006, there were talks for the first time to start a corresponding joint project between companies and citizens. On July 2, 2007, the optics course was recognized by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development as an “innovative inner city project” at a congress in Berlin , although not a single object had been erected up to that point.
Construction phase
In March 2008, the first installation, the walk-in kaleidoscope, was set up in the Hofstatt. On May 9, 2008, the opening ceremony followed with the first construction phase of the optics course, among others with the then Hessian Minister of Economics Alois Rhiel . The installations of the 2nd construction phase were officially inaugurated on October 18, 2008. On December 17, 2008, the optics course was the “place of the day” of the initiative Germany - Land of Ideas . The last construction phase with the two objects walk-in eye and walk-in camera should be completed in 2009.
Installations
At the intersection between the “Forum” shopping center and Bahnhofstrasse there are four steles , three of which show different phenomena of light .
Stroboscope
In the first column, directly on the forecourt of the shopping center, the light is clocked and the stroboscopic effect is displayed. Water drips evenly through the light from above, giving the viewer the impression that the drops are standing still, falling more slowly or even rising upwards. The clock frequency can be adjusted by the viewer. location
Advance warning system (bridge movement model)
This much smaller stele is connected to a monitoring system on the B 49 high bridge . The system examines the movements and deformations of the concrete bridge and provides the current values for the stele. A second screen on the stele shows the traffic so that the viewer can compare the data. A 46-meter-long wire rope attached to the bridge's structure is used for the measurement. There are sensors at both ends that monitor the structure using laser beams. It is Germany's first measuring station for bridge movements and was opened to the public on October 16, 2008. This installation is under the heading Making movement visible . location
Lens optics
Here a beam of light is passed through several lenses and thereby directed and bent. In the beam path also are special glasses that let the light beam appear visible. The viewer can turn the beam away with a setting wheel. location
Light guide
In this stele 300 light guides are shown in a sculpture. The visitor can influence the light guides according to color and brightness. location
Prism fountain
The prism fountain was set up in the course of the second construction phase in Bahnhofstrasse.
In a well basin there are three vertical prism columns about 5 meters high and two movable prisms on top, which can be adjusted by means of a cardanic bearing. The sun's rays transmit the light from the movable prisms vertically downwards. The viewer can then change the color spectrum of the light as desired by rotating the prism. At night, a light source replaces the sunlight that is sufficient during the day. The rainbow effect is also illustrated by an additional built-in mist nozzle in the middle of the fountain basin. location
Interferometer
This installation shows the quality inspection using optical precision measurement . At the crossing of Bahnhofstrasse / Eduard-Kaiser-Strasse ( pedestrian zone ) a light kaleidoscope was inaugurated; something identical will emerge on the opposite street corner.
The diffraction and interference of light are presented in the light kaleidoscope. The viewer can look at a colored laser inside through two slits at different heights , which throws various slides onto a projection screen. The viewer can choose the slides and objects. location
Optical grids
Maze of light
Eye movement model
In November 2008, a 6 m high mast with two movable eyeballs was erected on Buderusplatz.
The visitor can move it on six ropes, which stand for the six muscles in the eye. The respective image is transmitted to a monitor at the bottom of the mast with two video cameras. location
Mirror rotunda
The mirror rotunda is located on Karl-Kellner-Ring opposite the district administration.
As soon as he enters it, it shows the visitor his own reflection in a distorted form; If you stand in the middle on the marked point, the mirror image disappears completely. location
Optokinetic balance
The installation on the subject of “Optokinetic Balance” is located in the back alley on the Lahn .
The viewer walks on a fixed bridge through a tube that rotates. Black spots are painted on the inside of the tube, which the viewer automatically uses for orientation. Turning the tube tries to rebalance the human organ of equilibrium and one begins to walk unsteadily. location
Stereo microscope
Night vision device
Water and light organ
The water and light organ is located on the Lahn , near the Old Lahn Bridge on the bank. It is the world's first permanent water and light organ in a flowing body of water and was completed in the course of the 2nd construction phase. The approximately 8-ton installation comes from Strasbourg and was constructed in the shape of a rhombus so that no debris gets stuck. A total of 21 nozzles and 42 lamps were installed for the water and light organ.
It plays a show every full hour between 10:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., each accompanied by two pieces of music. In between there are fountains every 15 minutes without music. The last water feature is at 9:30 p.m. The fountains reach a height of up to 30 meters and are therefore still clearly visible from a distance. The illuminated water features to the music are a fascinating experience, especially in the dark.
Ames room
At the end of the Colchester complex is the Ames room designed by the artist group 3Steps . location
Beuchet chair
The Beuchet chair was inaugurated with the opening on May 9, 2008. It's in the Colchester facility.
The installation shows a popular optical illusion in which a person is in the foreground and next to it is a stool without a seat. The seat is individually mounted on the floor at a certain distance from this. When the viewer looks at the whole from a certain distance, which is marked by a pole, the chair legs and seat appear together. If a person stands next to the stool in the foreground and another person sits down on the seat at the back, one thinks that the person behind, despite their normal height, would be much smaller and would be at the same height as the person standing. location
Colored (half) shadow
In the monastery garden (near Schillerplatz) there is a white umbrella on which two spotlights with colored lights are aimed. This can be used to create a colored penumbra.
The visitor stands in front of the screen. The color spectra together always result in white; paradoxically, the visitors see their shadows in the chosen colors. A pipe is attached next to the projection screen; if you look through it, the shadow does not appear colored.
The installation has been video-monitored since it was damaged by vandalism before the opening.
Walk-in kaleidoscope
The walk-in kaleidoscope is in the street "Hofstatt" in the old town of Wetzlar.
In the walk-in kaleidoscope, as in a normal kaleidoscope, an object is reflected through several mirror walls, creating symmetrical figures. In the walk-in kaleidoscope, it is the visitor who enters.
Binoptometer
The binoptometer has been on Domplatz since it opened.
With the binoptometer the visitor can examine the eyesight with an eye test . There are two steles on Domplatz that can be used by both those who wear glasses and those who do not wear glasses. The devices only provide initial indications of visual defects!
Other objects
Dark department store
Location The dark department store is not actually a department store. It is located in the building of the former Union department store on Karl-Kellner-Ring in Wetzlar and is part of the city's optics course. The dark department store should represent a counterpoint. The blind employees of the museum do not want to show their fellow citizens what it is like to be blind, but what it is like to see nothing.
The dark department store is a basement that has been developed as a dark corridor with lightweight construction. There are locks at the entrance and at the end, so that no light falls into the dark corridors. The dark corridors themselves are covered with black paint on the ceilings and walls and with black flooring. In these absolutely darkened rooms, visitors are put into the position of blind people. In addition to the dark café, there are three “sales rooms” that are modeled on different departments within a department store, such as perfumery, housewares or clothing.
Individual evidence
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original from October 23, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://idw-online.de/pages/de/news258884
- ↑ http://www.hawk-hhg.de/bauwesen/bauwesen_153549.php ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original dated August 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b - ( Memento of the original from August 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original dated August 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original dated August 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original dated August 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original dated August 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original dated August 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original dated August 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Faz.net: Clothing selection in the dark, December 14, 2008
Web links
- Website of the optics course
- Experience the optics course virtually
- Germany - Land of Ideas: Selected locations: Optics course (December 17, 2008)