|
|
|
|
|
Ames RoomAn Ames room is a distorted room that is used to create an optical illusion. It was invented by American ophthalmologist Adelbert Ames, Jr. in 1946 based on a concept by Hermann Helmholtz. An Ames room is constructed so that from the front it appears to be an ordinary cubic-shaped room, with a back wall and two side walls perpendicular to each other and perpendicular to the horizontally level floor and ceiling. However, this is a trick of perspective and the true shape of the room is trapezoidal: the walls are slanted and the ceiling and floor are at an incline, and the right corner is much closer to the front-positioned observer than the left corner (or vice versa). As a result of the optical illusion, a person standing in one corner appears to the observer to be a giant while a person standing in the other corner appears to be a midget. The illusion is convincing enough that a person walking back and forth from the left corner to the right corner actually appears to be growing or shrinking. Studies have shown that the illusion can be created without using walls and a ceiling; it is sufficient to create an apparent horizon (which in reality will not be horizontal) against an appropriate background, and the eye relies on the apparent relative height of an object above that horizon. External links
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|