Flying Saucers
SciCast film goes here
If you're reading this text, try visiting http://scicast.org.uk/films/2008/01/flying-saucers.html directly. If you're already there you probably need to update Flash
Flying Saucers
The UFOs
Download film (right-click)Demonstration , Explanation , Physics , Secondary
Is that a flying saucer? No, silly. It’s a pie dish.
Director's Notes:
Using a van-de-Graff generator to propel metal pie cases. Charged particles are repulsed by each other, providing the energy needed.
SciCast Notes:
I like this film — it’s simple, but the explanation is clear and the animated graphics help tremendously. SciCast isn’t really about flashy and expensive ‘professional’ graphics sequences. Don’t get me wrong, I’d be delighted to see something incredibly whizzy, but the approach taken here will be more appropriate in most cases. Nicely done.
The close-up of the pie dishes flying off is excellent, too — it’s great to see a different angle on that, and to get close enough that we can see there’s no fishing line involved.
The sound glitches are a little odd; sorry about that. As far as I can tell, the film was made using a digital stills camera — which goes to show just how good such equipment can be.
— Jonathan