In the beautiful mountainous village of Stagira, Aristotle, in a park overlooking the bay of Ierissos, is the “Aristotelous Alsos”. The grove that has been operating since 2003 and is the only theme park in Chalkidiki. It is worth visiting to see the interesting instruments and enjoy the wonderful view. The grove was pre-existed and the wonderful location was chosen in 1956 to host the imposing statue of Aristotle, the work of sculptor Nicholas, to honor the great philosopher who was born in Ancient Stagira.
The Alsos, in which you find the statue of Aristotle, has been equipped with the interactive instruments. It was built in 2003 by the Municipal Enterprise of Stagira-Akanthos and today it is managed by the Municipal Public Enterprise of the Municipality of Aristotle. These are experimental instruments operating on the basis of the natural laws that are mentioned in the writings of Aristotle and especially in his work “The Physics”. With this addition, Aristotle’s Tree has become a favorite destination for all visitors and schools, as it combines recreation, entertainment and education in a unique way. There is also a café-restaurant in the same place with stunning views of the bay of Ierissos and Mount Athos. It is estimated that only in the summer months it receives more than 15,000 visitors.
In the alpine area you will also see the tower of Madem Aga along with its conch, which was also the administrative center of the mines of the Sidirokafsia area.
THE EXPERIMENTAL INSTRUMENTS
Compass: It is placed in front of the statue of Aristotle and symbolizes that his philosophy has reached every part of the world, and is a starting point of modern worldwide scientific thought, and belongs to humanity. It displays the direction and distance of the most famous cities in the world, in relation to the park.
Telescope: Using the modern telescopes placed in specific spots, the visitor can focus on and enjoy details of the fantastic view to the Ierissos gulf and to the Athonite peninsula.
Prism: The white sunlight passes through the special prism and the famous “colors of the rainbow” are analyzed due to the different speeds of each individual radiation, since each different wavelengthed radiation exits through a different angle.
Sun clock: The large, horizontal sun clock shows the exact time of the place you are. There is a difference of 1 hour and 25 minutes to the current time during summer and 25 minutes difference during winter. The curved lines on the plate of the clock are for the identification of the current month.
Lens: The sign next to the lens informs us that every photon, i.e. every minimum amount of light, has little energy by itself, but when every one is concentrated in one spot then that energy becomes greater.
Pentaphone: It consists of five large pieces of granite that have been calculated to produce a sound of different frequency, a different note. These five notes sound according to the pentaphone ancient scale.
Optical discs: Experimenting with the optical discs, you will find that when the images pass in front of our visual field with great speed, the human eye does not understand them as different, but it creates a continuous visual whole as if we are watching a movie. This happens because the impression of the image lasts for 1/16 of a second on the optical nerve due to inertia. This quality of the eye is called persistence of vision. Cinema actually depends on the “inability” of the eye to see more than 24 images per second.
Pendulum: Older people will remember and younger will learn that the energy of one of the systems that initiates the oscillation is transferred to the other due to conjunction. The effect is that the oscillation width is reducing into the first system, while it is increasing into the next.
Water turbine: By rotating the lever we can create a swirl in the liquid that is contained in the transparent container, and understand the physics of the phenomenon, or compare it with the rotation of the wind that creates a tornado.
Inertia spheres: By playing with the inertia spheres, we are always impressed by the phenomenon of transfer of momentum, when during the first impact, the initial momentum is maintained and is consecutively transferred from the first sphere to the last.
Parabolic reflectors: They are placed in a straight line with a large distance from each other. If two people stand in front of each one, they can have a conversation even if they whisper. This happens because the transferred through air sound waves, are reflected, their energy is concentrated in the center and the sound ends up amplified in the ears of those participating in the experiment.
