Can you see to infinity?
{ Sight }
When you use this hands-on exhibit…you’ll look into a round hole and see a ‘tunnel’ burrowing deep into the ground, even though the hole is about as deep as a frypan.
This exhibit is similar to a House of Mirrors at a sideshow hall, or even a public restroom which has mirrors mounted above opposite rows of sinks. The reflection between the mirrors creates an image which looks like long hallways that stretch on, and on…and on.
Build a tunnel without lifting a shovel.
This exhibit is made from two mirrors and a row of LEDs sandwiched between the two mirrors.
The bottom mirror is a normal mirror, while the mirror at the top is a ‘one-way’ mirror, so you can see through the mirror from your side, but the other side is reflective like a normal mirror.
Light from the LEDs is reflected back and forth between the mirrors, so they create the impression that you’re looking into a tunnel which grows narrower as it grows ‘deeper’.
An area in your brain’s visual cortex responds to the perceived depth, based on the way the lights reflect back and forth between the mirrors.
In a similar way, if you’ve ever walked into a room which had a wall to ceiling mirror, you probably assumed it was an extension into a longer room before you realised it was simply a large mirror.