Pinch Me

Drippy Faucets Offer Lesson In Physics

To Peter Taborek, a drippy faucet is a physics experiment. Taborek uses high-speed video to capture the motion of drops and bubbles coming apart. Knowing the details of this “pinch-off” process is important when designing inkjet printers, because ink must form a single droplet without trailing liquid. It also is useful in biotechnology when fluid is used on microchips, and it has applications in cosmetics, food and structural materials industries.

One Frame at a Time

A Brief History of Stop-Motion Animation

O’Brien’s work inspired his young assistant Ray Harryhausen who followed in his footsteps by creating sequences and films that further blended stop-motion model/puppet animation with live-action footage. One of his finest pieces of work was the sequence in Jason and the Argonauts featuring a fight with seven skeletal warriors who are all performed via stop-motion animation. Not too shabby for 1963.