ok - shoot a bullet at one falling through the air and then take a picture of the resulting collision:

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=3768150

My mom is not going to see the fun of me trying to do this...

Thanks Rich, you find all the great ideas.

Mike

OMG - I've jsut gotta go and try that one!!!

Stunning - whoever thinks up these ideas?? 

Chrissy xx

some guy at MIT with a class full of tech students it seems... read his comment lower down and check out this link:

http://bea.st/sight/doubleTrigger/index.shtml

also check out the other shots at the bottom of the "eyes" section - some great motion captures with coloured chalk and a bullet :)

I was more freaked out by some of the eye shots themselves!!! Some pretty scary looking eyes there!!
Definitely somebody with way too much time on his hands to think up things like this although, I have seen something similar to this set up on tv a few months back where they were trying to see what the outcome would be if they fired to bullets at each other at exactly the same time - trouble is, I can't remember what the result was and whether their theory was proved or disproved??!!

Great link anyway Rich. xx

that wasnt mythbusters by and chance was it? i love that program :)

On the gun thing - they recreated the "catch a bullet in your teeth" magic trick (mechanically of course) and proved that it was physically impossible - no surprise there!  Also that whole movie thing where the impact of a bullet from a large guage gun shot at someone (yes they also did a 12-gauge shotgun) throws them backwards... yeah - right... the bullet just passes through you - they used a pig carcass as the test and there was hardly any movement on impact of any of the guns they tried - and i think they tried pretty much every "powerful" gun they could lay their hands on.  Genius program, and a dream job for the guys on it i think :)

Oh and if you are ever in a car which takes a dive into water and starts sinking, dont panic, just wait until the water fills the car up (hold your breath) then open the door... try to open the door whilst there is still air in the car and you are in for an extremely hard push against water pressure.  Best thing is to have the window open before the water gets up to that level tho - ie dont roll the windows up it only makes matter worse - the idea is to get out of the car, not float...  Yup they did a real life test of that one too (with someone on standby with scuba gear)

I think i am full of random bits of information - some useful, and others completely not so... but if i am ever in that situation at least i have crazy programs like that to thank for my survival :)

ROFLMAO!!!!   YEs,that was the program.  I don't personally watch it, but my kids do and I do remember the car in the water one - something to do with the pressure needing to be equal on both sides - OK if you have emergency scuba gear on your backseat I suppose!!

You are full of useless/ful information and you DO make me laugh!!

Chrissy xx

Over here the consensus is to get out of the car before it sinks if possible. So roll down the window and get out while the car is still floating as it were. With modern cars with electric windows and central locking, they may short out and lock you in. So make sure to have an emergency hammer mounted in the car somewhere by the radio area, that way both the driver and the passenger can reach it. You can use the hammer to cut your seatbelt and break the window to get out. So don't wait till you're completely under water.

There's even a training center over here where you can practice this stuff :)

yeah - definitely - get out if you can before it sinks/water level rises too much that you cant open the window, but if you are having a hard time opening a door or window which is underwater then dont struggle, waiting out the equalisation process conserves oxygen for the underwater escape.

Yeah - the hammer thing was one thing they mentioned... they tried to punch/kick a window in and failed... you need something heavy with a sharp point (like an emergency hammer) to crack these modern windows...

You must live somewhere rural then... i would imagine only places where people go off in 4x4s wading through rivers would necessitate and sustain a centre for people to train for this kind of thing =|

A thread which has taken a rather random turn towards rather random and obscure scenarios not related at all to photography. :)

on a random and related note - anyone succeeded in lighting a fire caveman style? I have tried a few times and failed... but thanks to Ray Mears (the legend) i now know the fundamentals of doing it... useful skill i have to say - once i crack it

I was looking for a way to do the bullet thing without actually buying a real gun and I ran across this site.

www.airsplat.com/

All I can say is geez and who would have thought.  Probably still not of use in a sinking car.

Mike

Quote -
You must live somewhere rural then... i would imagine only places where people go off in 4x4s wading through rivers would necessitate and sustain a centre for people to train for this kind of thing =|

Not too many 4x4 here's :D and certainly not wading through rivers, maybe just for fun driving. But we're famous for our watermanagement (you got water problems, ask the Dutch) because we have so much of it. We have alot of streams and rivers and that's why there's quite some focus every now and then on the 'water involved accident' around here.

An emergcy hammer isn't big and heavy.. it's small and pointy :P

Edit: how did we get from bullets to car accidents

Uh, to get back OT, very cool link and type of image Rich. :)

I like the one of the bullet thru the soap the best.