How to Suspend Water Without a Cup!

while it seems possible, I am hesitant to believe it happens as pictured, namely because while it certainly looked like water, it was spinning much faster than it should from a simple twist of the wrist. While I am not saying it it impossible, I feel there was a bit of trick photography in the video.

by **entropyembrace** » Feb 28th, '11, 03:12

Re: How to Suspend Water Without a Cup!

by entropyembrace » Feb 28th, '11, 03:12

It´s fake...definitely CGI

It´s kind of clever in that it calls up two things from physics and chemistry...the spinning motion he does with the cup bring to mind centrifugal or centripetal forces...but what should happen is what you see in the "bloopers" at the end of the video...the water spins and flies apart.

Also he says to use distilled water...he´s invoking surface tension of water which is extradordinarily powerful compared to most liquids...water has very strong hydrogen bonding which is why you see drops of water forming domes...or if you slightly overfill a cup you´ll see a dome of water over the rim...and you´ll see this effect the most in distilled water...but it´s not nearly strong enough to hold up that much water...all the water behind the surface is pushing on it to reach a more stable state...that is all over the counter top :lol:

Also the turbulence from twisting the cup puts even more energy into breaking the surface tension as if gravity wasnt enough lol :roll: