Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

NEW VIDEO! Seeing the Invisible (Patreon)

Published:
2017-06-15 13:42:35
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

Sorry for the clickbaity title but it's not really bait when the footage is this good. These are some of the most beautiful images I have ever shot of bubbles, matches, lighters, helium... with Schlieren imaging you can see what's invisible to the naked eye.

And this video wouldn't have been possible without you because that mirror was expensive... not to mention the slow-mo camera hire. So thank you for making this step up in production value possible! Also note the 4k and motorized gimble.

Files

Seeing the Invisible

This is what the world would look like if you could see invisible air currents, temperature gradients, and differences in pressure or composition of the air. Support Veritasium on Patreon: http://ve42.co/patreon Special thanks to Patreon Supporters: Tony Fadell, Donal Botkin, Jeff Straathof, Zach Mueller, Ron Neal, Nathan Hansen I first saw a Schlieren imaging setup around ten years ago in Melbourne. I was immediately fascinated by the way I could see the warm air coming off my hand. I hadn't expected the currents to be moving that fast or to be so visible. This was a tricky setup to get right because alignment is very important and here I'm just working with what I had lying around the house mostly (plus the mirror). For the best Schlieren photography, making sure the mirror is stable is essential. I want to improve my setup so the mirror doesn't wobble back and forth too much creating the pulsing light and dark sections of this video. The relationship between index of refraction of air and temperature, pressure, humidity and wavelength is complicated. This website will calculate it for you: http://emtoolbox.nist.gov/Wavelength/Ciddor.asp Slow motion by Hollywood Special Ops: http://www.hollywoodspecialops.com Sound Effects by A Shell in the Pit: http://www.ashellinthepit.com Filmed by Raquel Nuno Special thanks to Blake Nichols for assistance

Comments

Meinhard Absalon

It would be interesting to see a spark, or some other kind of plasma

Drew Kerlee

Nice! I smell science fair projects... 😉

The Gentleman Programmer

I would love to see a whistle in your schlieren camera. You could use a recorder or pea whistle. In particular, I expect to see a train of vortices emitting from the fipple opening. Thanks for showing your setup too - I may have to try this for myself with my own telescope mirror. BTW - how did you get enough light for the high speed movie from such a small led?

Ben Lovelady

Seems like something similar should be possible with polarizers. The polarization definitely changes, but I don't know if it would be detectable. If it were, I doubt any labs would make the fancy setup shown. I'll have to try it out when I'm back at school.

Jeff Raymakers

I'd love to see a wing in a stream of air, or a spinning propeller.

Chris K

something with lasers. the really powerful ones can be seen in mid-air. surely that does something to the air.

Lionel Pöffel

(not so) laminar flow of air around an airplane wing. How do the turbulences around drone air-screws look like?

Gregor Shapiro

A hovering hummingbird or if they are recalcitrant perhaps a mini drone.

Bill Russell

I'm interested in and studying gravitational fields and energy potentials. Do you think there is a way to set-up the double slit experiments with this. You might need additional mirrors and cameras. Thanks!

Science Mom

Super cool! I'd never encountered that before. You know those German Christmas Pyramids with the candes that power little windmill like propellers? I was entranced by those when I was a kid and would watch them for a long time without being able to see the currents - just imagining what the invisible hot air was doing. That's a rather simple thing, but I think it would be cool to check out.

Jonathan Labin

I have a stirling engine from <a href="http://www.stirlingengine.co.uk/d.asp?product=KS90R_BLA_KIT)" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Kontax</a> that sits on my monitor and spins all day. I bet it would be really interesting to be able to visualize the air movement within the chamber if that turns out to be possible. Or if there is any leakage around the drive piston.