Monday, May 31, 2010

Squash and Stretch

A golf ball seems to be a solid object, incapable of flexing. But if you whack it hard enough, and film it with a fast enough camera, what appears rigid squishes and stretches like a water balloon.

15 comments:

Dan Gurney said...

Fascinating!!!

I'm sending this to my golfing friend. He'll love it.

mikeburns@mikeburnsart.com said...

My mind has been shattered...unlike that golf ball

draigstudio said...

That is amazing! I must show my students this!

René PleinAir said...

Unbelievable, you almost think that the ball must have an internal memory. when you do this with a tomato of a Mellon they have no idea how the look like when they hit the steel plate, but the golfbal is sooo stubborn, ... he knows!

Daniel.Z said...

Mind = blown.

Unknown said...

ehh... i call shenanigans on that. how do we know thats real?

Ulrich said...

It's a pancake with dimples! Gotta love physics, amazing!

Unknown said...

O-O Holy cow...I was expecting to see even just a bit of squash on that impact...but what an eye opener! Awesome of you to plug a bit of animation reference...it's important to know when and where to exaggerate things like this...since all art - from illustrating to animating - is merely an illusion of life!

Lester Yocum said...

Actually, it appears that this is not the impact from a normal golf club swing, nor is it arguably a standard golf ball. The dialogue underneath the YouTube video is instructive.

Compare with
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y57pw_iWlk&feature=related and

Here's a more expected impact:

Gordon Napier said...

Pull the other one... I can imagine a golf ball denting or cracking or shattering, but not turning into a fried egg and the reforming itself!

SVSART said...

WOW

Patrick Dizon said...

I could not comprehend what i jstu swa..!..:;.;......

James Gurney said...

Thanks, Les: I guess the jury is out on whether it's real or not. That video you linked to of the driver seems more like what one would expect.

Unknown said...

These French guys try to see if it's a fake... You might/shall/will be surprised by their results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=280J1N_9OBA

Unknown said...

These French guys set up an experiment to see if the clip is a fake or if it is real...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=280J1N_9OBA