Dandelion

Approximate Elapsed Time: 1 second

The tiny seeds of a dandelion fly away in a strong breeze. With the naked eye, it appears that dandelion seeds fly off in bunches - all at the same time. But, in this slow motion clip (10 times slower than normal) we can see that seeds are released from the dandelion almost one at a time. The outer ring of seeds, the one closest to the oncoming breeze, gets the brunt of the wind's force and are pulled away first. This allows the breeze to hit other seeds found in the center of the dandelion. This second layer is pulled away, revealing yet another layer. This process continues until all the seeds are blown off.

How This Clip Was Made:

This slow-motion video was created using a special video camera that takes 250 images a second, as opposed to only 30 images a second for a normal video camera. The video was then digitized and transferred to a computer. The action was slowed down even more by displaying each image twice. Footage provided by: NAC Visual Systems. Special Thanks: Dick Freeborg, NAC Visual Systems.

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