science

Schwanenstein

Schwanenstein is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Schwanenstein rather than just read about it. In short: The Schwanenstein is a glacial erratic on the island of Rügen in Germany. It lies about 100 metres east of the harbour at Lohme on the northern shore of the Jasmund peninsula about 20 metres off the beach in the Baltic Sea.

Key takeaways

Schwanenstein belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Schwanenstein to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Schwanenstein from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Schwanenstein is a glacial erratic on the island of Rügen in Germany. It lies about 100 metres east of the harbour at Lohme on the northern shore of the Jasmund peninsula about 20 metres off the beach in the Baltic Sea. It weighs 162 tonnes and has a volume of 60 m3. It is thus the fifth largest erratic of about 20 other large glacial boulders that are part of Rügen's legally protected geotopes. It is stylistically portrayed in Lohme's coat of arms.

Origin and features The Schwanenstein is made of so-called hammer granite and was very probably transported here from the island of Bornholm during the last ice age. Its reddish appearance is due to the presence of a high proportion of potassium feldspar. On its west side a marked crevice runs through the stone that, over the course of time, has been enlarged by the crystallisation pressure of frozen ice and may well result in the shearing off of a large slab of rock in the near future.

Legends and stories Like many other erratics, the Schwanenstein is linked to several legends and stories.

According to one legend, babies were delivered on Rügen in summer by Adebar the stork and in winter by swans. Until then the children were hidden in the rock. An incident occurred on 13 February 1956, when some boys from the orphanage and the village of Lohme were playing near the shore on the frozen Baltic Sea. The weather changed suddenly, a storm whipped up and broke the ice. Three boys saved themselves on the Schwanenstein. As the wind dramatically increased in strength a frantic rescue operation was launched. Local fishermen, a fishing boat from Sassnitz and border guards tried to save the children, but storm surge wrecked all their efforts. Rescue teams from outside, for example, an engineer platoon of the Volkspolizei from Prora, got stuck in the metre-high snowdrifts. Only the next morning, when the weather had calmed, could the bodies of the three boys, Helmut Petersen, Uwe Wassilowsky and Manfred Prewitz, be recovered from the Schwanenstein. They were buried in the cemetery of Nipmerow, in the parish of Lohme. 39 years later, on 14 February 1995, at the initiative of the children at Lohme orphanage, a memorial stone was erected at their grave.

See also Glacial till Glacial series Erratics on and around Rügen

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Schwanenstein

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Schwanenstein claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Schwanenstein before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Schwanenstein ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Schwanenstein

In research: Schwanenstein appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Schwanenstein in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Schwanenstein is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Geography of Rügen, Glacial erratics of Germany, Glaciology stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Schwanenstein outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Schwanenstein in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Schwanenstein means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Schwanenstein out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Schwanenstein in simple terms?

Why does Schwanenstein matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Schwanenstein?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Schwanenstein.