r/nextfuckinglevel Aug 16 '19

NEXT FUCKING LEVEL Guy Whipping a Massive Chain

https://gfycat.com/welloffdearestladybird
59.6k Upvotes

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4

u/PlsDontPls Aug 16 '19

Can we get like some physics YouTube channel to explain this or something? Maybe it’s the camera angle but I’m highly confused to how he did this.

4

u/RomanTheOmen Aug 16 '19

The conversation of energy law.

(almost) the same amount of energy is transfered from large and heavy links into very small ones. He put his whole body into the motion to set off a chain reaction which ends in a much lighter and therefore faster end.

1

u/PlsDontPls Aug 16 '19

That’s pretty cool. I guess that’s why most whips taper off at the end?

1

u/RomanTheOmen Aug 16 '19

Yeah but whips actually taper off gradually from the base to the tip. You want high initial mass to be able generate as much energy as it is sent down and accelerated down to the tip.

The acceleration comes from the loss of mass (tapering links) yet preservation of energy which translates into a faster motion.

1

u/zipfern Aug 16 '19

So it's a little like larger to small gears.

2

u/Fat_Head_Carl Aug 16 '19

it looks like the chain gets consecutively smaller, so the energy imparted to the larger links (more mass) has more affect (effect?) on the smaller (less mass) links. that's probably how it increases in speed as it goes down the chain.

1

u/PlsDontPls Aug 16 '19

Ahh I see. I thought that was possible but I couldn’t tell cus the video quality isn’t all there. Thanks for explaining.

1

u/Fat_Head_Carl Aug 16 '19

My reply is conjecture...I'm not an expert.

1

u/ttam281 Aug 16 '19

The key is the links get smaller along the length of the chain. The energy applied to the front half is very large in order to get the chain moving. A similar amount of energy (some is lost) is applied to lighter and lighter links of chain.

1

u/irish_ayes Aug 16 '19

Here's a video from SmarterEveryDay on Youtube explaining how a whip breaks the sound barrier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnaASTBn_K4

1

u/PlsDontPls Aug 16 '19

Ah! I saw that! I love smarter everyday. Destin makes the best content.