Observations
This is interesting primarily in that most of us have not seen a lit filament jiggling. Beyond that it is interesting to watch the dynamics of the spring as it moves.
Today we look at what goes wrong when chopping wood.
Materials
Wood
Axe
Knot
Foam backed fabric.
Observations
This shot, while technically a failure, turned out beautifully. The ax hit a knot as it was cutting the first chord of wood which caused the ax blade to rotate, which in turn caused one half of the chord to bolt towards the backdrop. The impact on the backdrop is one of the more fascinating aspects of this shot. The shape the wrinkles take on as the wood impacts the cloth is neat. The wood chips as well as the motion of the ax are both interesting to watch as well.
Procedure
In this instance we stacked two pieces of wood on top of one another. After that, business as usual.
Observations
This is a neat chance for us to see how effective a wedge is at doing its job. The ease which which it cuts through the wood is not dissimilar from a hot knife in butter. I like the splinters and small chunks of wood that split off as the ax separates the wood. The force with which the wood separates is interesting, not unexpected, just interesting. Interesting in that the force comes from such a small piece of metal. All in all, neat to watch in slow motion.
Today we take a sledge hammer to an old Dell computer.
Materials
One old broken Dell computer.
A sledge hammer.
Observations
This video is filled with all kinds of goodness. I love the flex we get to see in the fiberglass handle of the sledge hammer. The dust bunnies uprooted from their home is also incredibly interesting. It is amazing the amount of dust that builds up in these things. I also like to see the plastic flexing as the hammer comes down on it.
Procedure
For this shot I loaded the wand with dirt and turned the vacuum on.
Observations
To make the motion more visible I took the shutter speed down to match the frame rate, giving us as much motion blur as possible. This also gives us a wider in-focus range as we also had a much higher aperture.
Today we look at a rather simple, single motor, quadrupedal robot out for a stroll.
Materials
A quadruped purple robot.
Procedure
Turn it on and allow it to walk forward. This particular robot is triggered by exceeding a certain audio threshold.
Results
Jiggly, shaky fun.
Observations
This is a really neat look at how much give there is in this particular robot. The flexible plastic legs are not stiff enough to keep it going in a straight line. The give is enough to turn the robot upwards of 10 degrees to either the left or the right as it moves forward. This was a robot my daughter and I assembled to start us on our foray into robotics. I’ll post some more of our robots over time.
