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Cutting the Card Quickly
Major collection: Science & Technology
Named collection: Harold E. Edgerton Collection
Object type: negative
Maker: Edgerton, Harold Eugene
Date made: 1964
HEE-NC-64003
Named collection: Harold E. Edgerton Collection
Object type: negative
Maker: Edgerton, Harold Eugene
Date made: 1964
A .30 caliber bullet, traveling 2,800 feet per second, requires an exposure of less than 1/1,000,000 of a second. Edgerton outdid the gunslinging heroes of western movies by turning the card sideways when he shot through it. The rifling of the barrel caused the rotation of the projectile, which, in turn, carved out the S-shaped slice of card between the two halves. (from"Stopping Time" (1987), pp. 122-3). (CC)
HEE-NC-64003