Classic Slow-Motion Physics Now On YouTube

I emailed David Alciatore ("Dr. Dave") a couple of weeks ago to encourage him to put some of the amazing slow-motion films he had made of everyday (and not so everyday) microevents on YouTube. The hundreds of short segments give viewers a glimpse of the physics behind moments like Jello hitting the floor, a pop can being shot with a bb gun, an egg being dropped on a mousetrap, and a few acts of genuine suffering for the sake of "Jackass"-style science, but were stuck in a downloadable .wma format. After very carefully outlining the benefits of shared media in general and YouTube in particular, I was thrilled when he responded to let me know that he had been planning on doing just that.

Dr. Dave contacted me yesterday afternoon to let me know that he'd just posted two playlists worth of clips on YouTube - one of tricky billiard shots (his other love is the physics of pool and how to improve your game with them) and the other a selection of the water balloon bursts, bb-absorbing chests, and egg-on-mousetrap drops that made him a minor Internet celebrity. Just try not to be mesmerized by this:



If the YouTube playlists aren't enough for you, his full (Windows Media Player-formatted) archive of clips is here. It is truly a treasure-trove of content, and I for one encourage him to do more conversions!