Smashing against a steel block at a speed of 1600 feet per second, a .22 bullet experiences such friction that it melts and scatters like a fluid. (from "Stopping Time" (1987), pp. 131-2) (CC)
I think that it’s a bullet shattering against plexiglass or a wall.
webersky says:
February 29, 2012 at 9:20 pm
I thought at first that the bullet is hitting a steel plate – like armor but now I’m going for Ben’s first guess.
It appears to me that in the second picture very fine particles or even a gas erupting backwards from the pane. Then there what appear to be larger particles exiting the area of the hole almost parallel to the plane of the pane.
In the third frame the largest rings of debris look like they are on the near side while the smaller ring and spray near the center are on the far side of the pane.
Why the rings appear to all be in the plane of the pane baffles me. The shot of the bullet just before impact is astonishing.
I think that it’s a bullet shattering against plexiglass or a wall.
I thought at first that the bullet is hitting a steel plate – like armor but now I’m going for Ben’s first guess.
It appears to me that in the second picture very fine particles or even a gas erupting backwards from the pane. Then there what appear to be larger particles exiting the area of the hole almost parallel to the plane of the pane.
In the third frame the largest rings of debris look like they are on the near side while the smaller ring and spray near the center are on the far side of the pane.
Why the rings appear to all be in the plane of the pane baffles me. The shot of the bullet just before impact is astonishing.