Monday, December 22, 2008

Levitating Water



Very cool vid... What you're seeing are water droplets falling, but the light displaying them is strobing at a frequency lower than 2(f(max)) of the water droplets falling rate, resulting in an aliased display of the water. The f(max) term defines the frequency or rate in which the water is falling. In order for our brains to see the water falling at its actual rate, the light displaying the water would need to strobe at a rate of at least 2(f(max)), or the Nyquist frequency. So instead of the light flashing at a rate fast enough to display the water's actual falling rate, it strobes at specific moments giving the illusion that the water is slowly travelling downwards and upwards. I guarantee this is at some trancy music filled nightclub...