Butterfly Takeoff at 2,000 Frames per Second - Smarter Every Day 79

[Music] Hey, it's me, DTin. Welcome back to Smarter Every Day! The cat is disturbing homework time, so we're going to take a break and make an intro.

Every time I've observed a butterfly flying across a field, he looks like he's a very poor flyer. He looks like he's bouncing along, and because of the really large surface area on the wing and low mass, it looks like the wind's just making him flutter back and forth. He doesn't really have control over what he's doing.

But it wasn't until I recorded this next video with a Miro at 2,000 frames per second in the Amazon that I realized that I've probably been wrong this entire time.

All right, see if we can high-speed—what is this called? This butterfly? Uh, I believe it is [Music] Metha. Yep, I got it. Is it gone? [Music] Oh, oh, oh! [Music] It stayed in focus! Oh my [Music] God, dude, that was amazing!

All right, let's take this opportunity to change the battery since this one's low. Sure, that nuts J. You want some water? Fine, fine, of course you are. You don't need water, do you?