Thurs-Demo: The one with the Backstage Tour

I've had a few people ask about the general setup that we use for high speed videography. Here's a little visual tour of the setup and results of some gelatin experiments. If you consider yourself a Strain Junkie, it's best that you give yourself a little time to watch closely...

Gelatin at 255 Hz

Placing a tuning fork on gelatin gives you some lovely wave patterns. I don't know what I was expecting, but I'm rather pleased with the result. I need to spend some time and adjust the perspective, but the results give me some ideas for looking at seismicity in various photoelastic materials...

Duhn-Duhn, Duhnnnnnn...

What in the world can I mean? For the answer, be sure to tune in Saturday.

Nailing Jello to the Wall

Coins in Water

Drop a coin in a well and make a wish? What if you want it to land in a particular spot? I would suggest not dropping it straight on-edge. Little variations can add up to some major instabilities and you get some wacky behavior:


But if you drop it flat, with the face parallel to the water's surface? Much more predicable descent. The little eddies help stabilize the coin as it falls through the water.

Candle Dropped into Water, Take 2

Just to show you it wasn't a one-off fluke, or anything: here's another candle burning underwater for a brief moment before the cavity pinches off and extinguishes the flame.