The Slow Mo Guys are at it again, posting a new video of what two shape charge explosions look like when they collide - and the results are “mind blowing”.
A shape charge is an explosive with a “focused jet” that is “used for making holes in things, like steel or earth or concrete or rock or tanks or whatever really”, presenter Daniel Gruchy explained in the video.
Along with Gavin Free, Gruchy set up shape chargers at Colorado School of Mines using lasers - and posted the results for their 15 million YouTube subscribers to watch.
Gruchy explained: “We’ve lined them up with lasers to try and get them as accurate as possible, because when they’re this far apart, the points, the very finest points are tiny. We’re going to try and get the jets to meet in the middle."
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A massive bang rings out as the explosives are fired at each other and just about collide.
“Woah…that’s crazy,” Gruchy said, inspecting the slow-motion footage of the spectacular explosion, with Free adding in awe: “That is JJ Abrams. That is like two death stars.”
One explosion travelled at 15,700 miles per hour and the other shot out at 16,050 miles per hour.
The Slow Mo Guys underexposed the footage to a 375,000 FPS, 375,000 nanosecond exposure in an attempt to see the impact - and a white hot explosion is pictured in slow-motion.
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Inspecting the site, the pair found holes caused by the explosion on metal plates the explosives shot out of and in the surrounding area.
“There’s a lot more shrapnel than I thought there would be actually,” Gruchy admitted.
Free said: “Even though we’ve done shape chargers multiple times at this point, that was definitely the most fascinating footage we’ve got out of it.
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“That was my favorite.”
Before pointing the explosives at each other, the Slow Mo Guys started off by firing a shape charge into a block of ballistic gel to help them figure out the exposure for their equipment.
The jet shoots through the block of gel and comes out the other end, leaving a “grim-looking melty hole”, Gruchy said.
“Super cool,” he added.
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One enthusiastic commenter wrote: “You’ve reached a new level, this is not just a slow-motion video of an explosion, this is art!”
The Slow Mo Guys have made a name for themselves for their mind-boggling slow-motion videos - in the past, they've dived deep into the mechanics of televisions, and also pictured bullets shot under water.