Aeolian Landscape
«Aeolian Landscapes» Wind shapes the landscape, just like water and ice do. As the wind sweeps over the sand surface, dune-like ripples form. When their…
Air Mirror
Sit comfortably and check the stripy view at the end of the road. Now heat up the road. (A solid steel plate rapidly heats to 100°, warming the dark sand of…
Ascending magma
«Intrusion» Volcano in cross-section: This is what happens beneath its vent. What looks like magma is actually air-blown glass particles. They behave like a…
Changeable Weather
How do you determine the average value of numerous individual measurements? Here, the average monthly rainfall can be determined experimentally.
Cloud Rings
A cloud maker like no other! The large basin is filled with water mist. Pressing the lid with a hole causes a mist column to rise in the center – up to seven…
Convection cells
«Convection Cells» Warm air rises, as does warm liquid. This forces air and moisture to descend in other areas. The structures that form resemble cauliflower…
Digital Sundial
This exhibit is not accessible during the winter months. A digital" sundial without electronics: It does not cast a shadow, but projects the time as luminous…
Elliptical Mirror
This έλλειψις has only one goal. At one focus of this mirrored ellipse stands a rotating periscope. At the other focus, a colored cone. Looking at the…
Human Pointer
The shadow shows Winterthur's local time. The scale on the ground indicates where to stand today. The shadow of the raised arm then shows the True Solar Time…
Internal Waves
Wave Backwards Tilt the container – the heavier blue liquid flows downward. When it hits the container wall, it bounces back, creating a wave moving…
Landfall
Funnels and Valleys The sand in this large glass sphere flows through holes in the bottom, creating breaks in the sand’s surface that resemble alpine…
Liquid Dynamics
Chaotic eddies, turbulent swirls – and calm zones. Turbulences become visible. In the flow tank, they appear in the water. Very similar to what happens in a…
Meanderings
Meanders on glass. The glass plate is slightly tilted. Thin streams of water flow over it. What paths does the water take? The fastest path is a straight…
Moonwalk
Reduced Gravity. What does it feel like to jump on the Moon? Try it here! A small effort is enough for a big leap. Here, gravity is reduced to one-sixth,…
Pins in a magnetic field
Reverse the polarity of the earth. Inside a transparent sphere is a very strong magnet. Iron pins can be held or placed outside the sphere. These align…
Population Growth
How fast – and where? Current population figures displayed on a world map, by continent and overall. For each continent, the counters show how many people…
Quasi-Crystals
Golden rhombohedra. When correctly assembled, the various bodies (cubes stretched along their diagonals and cubes compressed along their diagonals) form a…
Rift Zone
«Rift Zone» An air-filled membrane covered by a layer of sand. Press the button, and small sand fountains soon bubble up. The surface rises…
Sand images
Sliding, floating, flowing So beautiful, so fascinating: The sand, moving here between glass plates, tells a story far beyond that of an hourglass. When it…
Settling Column
«Settling Column» Sand follows gravity. The same happens in this rotating glass tube. Mostly filled with water, the sand settles at the bottom. How can the…
Shepherd’s Sundial
North? Not relevant. A simple sundial, like those used by shepherds for centuries. The advantage of this clock is that knowing the north direction is…
Sonnenfänger
With the sun catcher, you can look at the sun indirectly and thus completely safely. To do this, you have to align the exhibition object with the sun and then…
Spider Sundial
This exhibit is not accessible during the winter months. Swiss Timing once with a Swiss flag: The shadow of a flagpole as a time pointer. This spider's web…
Tectonic Basin
«Tectonic Basin» When the earth shakes, solid ground begins to flow or even «boil» as if it were liquid. Here, the garnet-red sand particles vibrate and move…
Terrella
Solar wind – particle shower – aurora borealis. Terra = Earth. Terrella is its diminutive form. But this one packs a punch! The small metallic globe at the…
The twist with the coil
Current using earth’s magnetic field. A coil is rotated in the earth's magnetic field and thereby generates current. The current generated depends on the…
Tit for tat
This exhibit is not accessible during the winter months. When it stands still, this "water carousel" actually looks quite normal. However, when the carousel is…
Turbulent Orb
Currents and their Shapes Ever spun a globe? Turned by a hand crank, it creates horizontal bands. What happens when the movement slows down? Chaotic, stormy…
Underwater Avalanche
«Underwater Avalanche» The "sand" in this round, water-filled vessel consists of tiny glass beads. Depending on the tilt of the disc, the flow patterns vary…
Underwater Sandstorm
Underwater dunes At the seaside, in the shallow sandy shore, you can observe an underwater dune landscape sculpted by the tides. In the plexiglass sphere…
Vortex Action in Bottles
Race: Empty the Bottle A simple task: Who can empty their PET bottle faster? Turn the bottle – the rest happens on its own. But it can go even faster. How?…
Vortice Cylinder
Whirlpool in a Glass of Water Turn vigorously, please. Driven by the hand crank, the water in the cylinder starts spinning slowly, then faster and…
Watch Water Freeze / Ice Flowers
Watch Water Freeze Crystals form on the cold surface, like frost flowers on windows, a sight we see less often thanks to better insulation. Here, you can see…
Why is the Sky blue?
… and why does the sun blush? The sky could be black as night, couldn’t it? After all, we’re looking directly into the nearly black universe. To understand…
Blue Sky
Discover why the sky is blue and the sunset is red. When sunlight travels through the atmosphere, blue light scatters more than the other colors, leaving a…
Glue Stick Sunset
Why is the sky blue? That's a sticky question. Model the scattering of light by the atmosphere—which makes our sky appear blue and our sunsets red—by shining a…
Acoustics
Aggregate states
Algorithms
Animals, plants, habitats
Atomic and quantum physics
Atomic structure
Automats
Biology
Buoyancy
Chaos
Characteristics of life
Chemical Reactions
Chemistry
Colors
Computer science
Cryptology
Currents
Data and information
Design elements
Electricity
Electricity and energy
Electricity and magnetism
Elektromagnetismus
Encryption