Video: Water Balloon Exploding at 2,000 Frames per Second

Wired:

An enterprising photographer, Eadweard Muybridge,
captured a series of snapshots — a filmstrip — of a horse trotting
and definitively settled the question in the affirmative. You can see
the horse in-motion and check out the geeky tech from this magazine piece on high speed photography.

Fast forward 130 years and we can now split a second into 2,000 of
its constituent parts and examine them. One incredible example is the
video of the yellow balloon exploding above. At that speed, the water
appears much more viscous than it is, holding its shape for a few
thousandths of a second before gravity pulls it to the ground.

View Comments

  • I don't have them handy, but I'm sure I've still got them in one of my boxes somewhere. I do know exactly where the shoebox full of negatives is.

  • Cool! Do you still have the photos of that we took of popping water balloons? I had a lot of fun taking those photos with you and we had to wait for the film to be developed to see if any of the photos actually turned out. One, two, three, pop/click!

Share
Published by
Dennis G. Jerz

Recent Posts

The choreographer daughter is doing a thing.

The choreographer daughter is doing a thing.

2 days ago

So I’m starting a thing. Wish me luck. #blender3d #medieval #york #mysteryplay #corpuschristi

So I’m starting a thing. Wish me luck. #blender3d #medieval #york #mysteryplay #corpuschristi

2 days ago

No interior yet. Getting there. Gotta start somewhere. Low-poly background detail for a medieval theater project. #blender3d

No interior yet. Getting there. Gotta start somewhere. Low-poly background detail for a medieval theater…

2 days ago

This is manageable. Far better than some semesters.

This is manageable. Far better than some semesters.

3 days ago

Creating textures for background buildings in a medieval theater simulation project. I can always improve this later. #blender3d

Creating textures for background buildings in a medieval theater simulation project. I can always improve…

4 days ago

Yesterday my stack of unmarked assignments was about 120, so this is not bad.

Nothing in this stack is pressing, but they do include rough drafts of final papers,…

5 days ago