Smashing Bananas
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Smashing Bananas
The Smashing Bananas
Download film (right-click)Award Nominees , Chemistry , Demonstration , Family , Physics , Primary
Bananas, liquid nitrogen, hammers… it’s clobberin’ time!
Director's Notes:
Team The Smashing Bananas write:
In a controlled experiment an ordinary banana is divided in two and one half quenched in liquid nitrogen whilst the other half is kept at room temperature. Both halves are then struck simultaneously with hammers producing some surprising results!
The idea came from some fun freezing fresh fruit in Daddy’s workshop and seeing what happened when the frozen fruit were dropped from a height! Daddy normally uses liquid nitrogen to achieve engineering interference fits between metallic components.
Family Armstrong cast the daughters (ages 7 and 9) as presenters; mum filmed while dad served as ‘technical assistant’, which in the film trade usually means ‘maker of tea’ but in this case involves wrangling liquid nitrogen.
Nominee: Judges’ Special Award, 2010
SciCast Notes:
You know, I wish some of the presenters I worked with for ITV had remembered their lines this well, or delivered them this clearly.
Good clear performances, then, but maybe my favourite part of the film is the sound. The clunk tinkletinkle sound as the banana skitters across the floor is lovely. I’d have loved to have seen some closer shots of the fruit in question, but trying to move the camera in this sort of film can go very badly wrong — there’s no shame in playing it safe and holding the camera good and still.
Cracking stuff. Oh, sorry, pun.
— Jonathan