This Video Uses Sound Waves to Bend Water and Our Brains

No CGI here, folks. Just science.
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This video from YouTuber Brusspup is fascinating. It uses sound waves and a camera to make it appear that water is impossibly bending and reshaping itself. See for yourself. What’s particularly interesting is that the effect only works through the camera.

The speaker in this rig is outputting a 24hz sine wave, and the camera is recording at 24fps. It’s that synchronization that makes this effect possible. The camera is catching the water as it is being vibrated by the sound from the speaker at the exact same point on the wave pattern. It’s essentially freezing the pattern. The video also shows the effect of using a slightly out-of-sync signal.

Brusspup has many videos like this over on their page. We definitely think they’re worth checking out.

Previously in the world of illusion

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Image of Glen Tickle
Glen Tickle
Glen is a comedian, writer, husband, and father. He won his third-grade science fair and is a former preschool science teacher, which is a real job.