Sticky Books
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Sticky Books
Back of an Envelope Productions
Download film (right-click)Adult , Award Nominees , Demonstration , Explanation , Physics
The frictional forces between the pages of two interwoven books.
Director's Notes:
Found on page 8 of the June 2007 issue of Interactions, the Institute of Physics member newspaper.
I recommend using two similarly-sized books with a similar number of pages, and it’s probably best to do it on a table and not in mid air like I did in the film.
— Benjamin.
SciCast Notes:
Nominee: Best Film by an all-Adults Team, 2008
‘Keep it simple’ is fast becoming something of a catchphrase for effective SciCast films. Not that I wouldn’t love to see hugely-elaborate films with casts of hundreds, it’s just that those are harder to pull off and we’d rather you were experimenting with the science and occasionally pointing a camera at it.
So this is ridiculously simple. Filmed on a digital stills camera in one shot, that you can’t even see the speaker for most of the film is quirky rather than annoying. It helps that it’s a terrific experiment, of course - try it for yourself.
What really makes this work, however, is the attention to detail. We can hear what’s being said, it’s not too long, and the film-maker’s excitement comes across well.
Oh, and we’re loving the use of an Inland Revenue envelope for the opening caption. Nice touch.
— Jonathan.