Sep 26, 2008 : Science by Night, Researchers' Night - Københavns Rådhusplads. Halfmachine presented the IMPACT installation, a compressed-air linear accelerator "cannon" propelling small missiles 50mm in diameter or less against targets in a lighted impact analysis chamber, at speeds exceeding 250 Km/h.

Each resulting impact / explosion was recorded with a high-speed video camera (Casio EX-F1) for review and analysis on a video screen.

For safety reasons, the targets and missiles used were mostly soft / brittle items such as potatoes, waterbottles, etc. Audience was invited to participate by providing targets and missiles for impact studies. Among the resulting casualties: A cellphone, a plastic frog, a toy car, VHS tapes (5), rice cakes, glowsticks, etc.

Labels and timecodes has been added in this video. The name of the original raw video file (MOV format) from the Casio camera is shown on the lower right, and these files (typically 10 megabytes in size) can be provided on demand to those who might be interested in conducting their own, er, scientific studies. The full videos run for longer durations before and after impact than the abbreviated versions shown here, but the resolution is limited to 432x192 pixels for the 600fps videos and 336x96 for the 1200fps videos.

Music is Apollo 440 / Liquid Cool
halfmachine.dk

PS: "Rice cakes" segment mislabeled - it is recorded at 600fps, not 1200. The timecode is misleading.