Time Warp (2008) s01e15 Episode Script
Sharpshooter
-LIEBERMAN: When you're ready.
-When can I shoot? You can shoot now.
NARRATOR: What happens when a sharpshooter takes on the carbonated-beverage industry MAN: Nice! NARRATOR: when high cholesterol meets high-speed photography STUMP: That's awesome! MAYER: That's music to the ears.
NARRATOR: and a boomerang, well, booms? What happens? "Time Warp.
" KEARNEY: Uh-oh.
Oh, my NARRATOR: Take two guys whose slo-mo cameras can stop the world in its tracks It starts out pretty asymmetric.
It has to move the mass of this thing out of the way.
Joseph, I need the widest-angle lens we have.
NARRATOR: add a high-tech laboratory where anything can and will happen and some of the world's wildest talents.
What happens? We've got to say we are very, very home on the range -- the shooting range.
We've shot skeet [Gunshot.]
Fire in the hole! NARRATOR: bulletproof vests and poor dudes who got on the bad side of our Taser.
Aaaah! NARRATOR: But the one thing we haven't seen is just how sharp a sharpshooter can shoot.
Until now.
LIEBERMAN: How's it going, Bill? Hey, guys.
How you doing? You shooting today? I'm shooting footage of you shooting.
Well, then what the hell are we standing here for? Let's go do some shooting, guys.
NARRATOR: "Badlands" Bill Oglesby is a three-time Old West Shooting Association champion.
Uh, that's code for sharpshootin' cowboy.
So these are the targets you guys are thinking about? Boy, you guys are fiends, I'll tell you that.
We heard you were good.
If it's good enough for John Wayne, it's good enough for me.
NARRATOR: In the bad Old West, shooting a bull's-eye through a poker card from 20 feet away was considered a handy conversational tool.
Badlands Bill shows the ace of hearts no mercy.
One more time.
LIEBERMAN: There it is.
That's actually a pretty cool tear.
Look at that.
I don't think he would have survived.
NARRATOR: Now Dr.
Oglesby prepares to take his meds apart.
-Can you see that back there? -No.
But that's all right.
KEARNEY: The one that you can't see, aim for that.
That is one tiny little -- LIEBERMAN: Bam.
Nice.
NARRATOR: If you needed any proof that this shot was overkill, here it is.
Now for some bigger game.
A lollipop.
There's no point in wondering if Bill can make the shot.
It's seeing what these things look like as they go down.
And we mean down.
Now, that was pretty cool.
Little head just rolled right off.
KEARNEY: Shot him in the neck.
That was cool as hell.
Did the head just hang there for a second? NARRATOR: But at least one life was spared.
The second camera angle catches a bit of drama in the microcosmos.
Look closely above and to the left of the lollipop.
Notice anything? Yeah.
A bug going about a bug's business.
And a bullet, well, doing the same.
MAN: [Laughing.]
Oh, wow! LIEBERMAN: Looks good.
NARRATOR: But enough of fortune's slings and arrows.
-Want to put another one up? -Yeah.
Please.
NARRATOR: We don't have all day for this sucker.
This time, the candy goes "NOVA.
" Ooh! But that was such a sweet shot.
KEARNEY: Oh, wow.
OGLESBY: Gosh dang.
It was like the big bang.
LIEBERMAN: Absolutely.
OGLESBY: Carl Sagan would have loved that shot.
He was big into shooting lollipops? NARRATOR: Carl Sagan? Oh, yeah, Bill does have "Dr.
" in front of his name.
And now he decides he wants to actually show off a little bit.
What I do, I position the mirror this way and this way to get my sights lined up.
NARRATOR: There comes a day for every academic gunslinger to take a good, hard look in the mirror.
Over your shoulder like this? Backwards.
Completely backwards.
NARRATOR: For Badlands Bill Oglesby, today is that day.
Now, it's one thing to hit a can of pop at 20 paces by shooting backwards over your shoulder, but how about LIEBERMAN: So is that gonna be tough enough? MAN: This way? Okay, now stay right there.
Let me look at the mirror.
How do you look? Yeah.
It's unbelievable.
You really gonna be able to do this? Come on, now.
Let's be serious about this.
Yeah.
This'll get done on the first shot.
That's what I like to hear.
I wish we worked that way.
NARRATOR: The cameras are all set.
Okay, are we ready? Okay.
When you're ready.
-When can I shoot? -You can shoot now.
What was to the naked eye a chaotic explosion now becomes clear.
The bullet entered at a slightly sloping angle.
It tore straight through the first five pop cans before driving down against the wooden board and veering slightly left, escaping on the far side of the remaining cans.
Meanwhile, those cans appear to be floating.
The pressure from the bullet has blown the board downward.
The board bounces back up, knocking the cans off their feet.
And the carbonated shock wave continues outward.
Round two.
Everyone's ready? Whenever you're ready.
-Nice! -That's pretty amazing.
Completely through the center.
Right through both ends, right through the middle.
Amazing.
Say, "Let's go" Let's go check it out.
NARRATOR: From the beginning, this is definitely a more direct hit.
LIEBERMAN: That's awesome.
OGLESBY: I think that is good, myself.
If I seen that on TV, I would [bleep.]
Look at that.
NARRATOR: We agree.
[Bleep.]
Now, remember, this is a bullet shot from a rifle resting on Bill's shoulder while he looks into a mirror set 20 paces from the pop cans.
But despite Bill's laser-straight aim, the bullet loses velocity with each soda it meets.
The succession of impacts and liquid inside the cans caused the bullet to veer off course after the sixth soda.
LIEBERMAN: The fact that it went through six, it's pretty clear that you hit it almost dead center on the first one, and it slowly curved its way out.
Cool, cool technology, guys.
Cool shooting, Tex.
KEARNEY: Badlands.
-Badlands.
There you go.
-Badlands Bill.
NARRATOR: Now, we couldn't let Bill leave without one last card trick.
The edge of a card.
At .
01 of an inch thick, the edge of a playing card is practically invisible.
There it is.
Okay, I was aiming on the wrong side.
NARRATOR: Well, that just about tears it.
OGLESBY: Good night! NARRATOR: By the time we've grown up, most of us have learned to stop playing with our food Bacon and eggs.
NARRATOR: with a few rare exceptions.
For Matt, it's all part of his high-cholesterol diet and high-speed obsession.
For Jim Stump and Jon Mayer, playing with food [Laughter.]
is a way of life.
Yeah, that worked well.
They're the Feasty Boys.
And together, we're about to turn the "Time Warp" studios into Martha Stewart's second-worst nightmare.
Well, this is basically our four food groups -- -beer, bacon -Butter.
and better not forget the cheese.
[Laughs.]
NARRATOR: A recipe for slow death that we'll film in high speed to reveal all of its tasty goodness.
STUMP: Let's cook some butter.
Start with some butter.
About like that.
[Laughs.]
NARRATOR: Now, not everyone feels the need to butter up the pan before adding the bacon, but they're not the Feasty Boys.
I can hear my arteries closing.
NARRATOR: Uh, mmm! A sizzling-hot grill, glittering saturated fat sliding gently.
Ooh Now, we hate to mess with perfection, but [Laughs.]
bring home the bacon.
The puddles.
Rivers of flavor falling off the side.
STUMP: I was a little nervous coming here today, thinking you guys might influence my appetite with viewing this stuff in slow motion.
And I want it even more.
This is really cool.
LIEBERMAN: Slow motion only helps the appetite.
KEARNEY: Makes me more hungry.
NARRATOR: Where do we go from here? Don't ask.
Jon, if you'll cut your cheese.
- [Laughs.]
-Ha ha ha ha.
Glad you guys are on that side of the table.
Now, the trick to this is forgetting the bread.
You really want to layer that cheese on thick.
NARRATOR: At this point, Jeff, Matt, and the Feasty Boys have thrown out the menu and are just looking for cool things to film at over 300 times slower than normal speed.
Know what this is? Think hard.
Yep.
Popcorn.
STUMP: Oh! KEARNEY: That's 10,000 frames per second.
NARRATOR: And that's moisture in the kernel rapidly turning to steam that's creating the explosive and tasty blossom we know as popcorn.
You know, it just stayed right there on the surface.
LIEBERMAN: Yeah, but this thing is jumping still 4 inches high, you know? Just taking its time.
MAYER: And look at the oil just flying off of it.
NARRATOR: So remember -- butter bacon with cheese and popcorn.
Our last slo-mo trick requires we shake up, open, and waste a perfectly good beer, as close to an original sin as the Feasty Boys can imagine.
N-o-o-o-o-o-o! NARRATOR: Yes! NARRATOR: You Warpies out there will certainly remember our bullwhip buddy Adam Winrich.
[Whip cracking.]
Like sharpshooter Bill, Adam had his own special way of destroying pop cans starting fires and courting friendship.
[Groans.]
That's a little closer than you said it was gonna be.
NARRATOR: It was also with Adam that we first became acquainted with the Schlieren imaging system.
"Schlieren" is the German word for "streaks" as in streaks of air.
The Schlieren process captures minute changes in the air patterns surrounding matter.
All we got to do is have you get right at the target, and we'll be able to see everything.
MAN: Let's check to see.
Give it up for playback.
LIEBERMAN: Nice.
You got it.
NARRATOR: "Time Warp's" high-speed camera shooting through the Schlieren system confirmed that a snap of Adam's bullwhip creates a sonic boom.
Let's see that again.
The curved line ahead of the whip is actually an image of the sound barrier breaking.
After Adam left the laboratory, our boys stuck around to shake it up with the Schlieren and hang out with MIT professor Jim Bales.
By setting up this system, we can see very small changes in density, changes caused by a fraction of a degree in the air temperature, and we'll see how the light is bent.
NARRATOR: We're going to introduce this mind-bending Schlieren to some of the classic objects of our affection.
Bubbles, bullets, and balloons.
First up, bubbles.
We previously documented the beauty of a bursting bubble in slo-mo.
Behold the bubble seen with the Schlieren system for a totally new perspective.
The effects of the inner gases on the bubble's surface are now visible.
Yeah, it's very much like some faraway planet or something.
It's so cool when it's dripping out how much it influences currents all over the bubble.
NARRATOR: And the burst LIEBERMAN: After the pop, there's definitely some kind of temperature pressure wave coming off there.
BALES: That one's easy.
It looks like there's a temperature difference 'cause I'm full of hot air.
That's my breath.
It's warmer than the room.
You see the difference when you pop the bubble and you let that warmer air come out.
LIEBERMAN: We're just seeing that get a chance to escape.
You got it.
NARRATOR: Watch them again side by side.
Two different glimpses of the same unseen world.
Remember Olympic skeet shooter Sean McClelland? See if we get all the balloons on this one.
- [Gunshot.]
-Bye.
NARRATOR: Here we illustrated shotgun pellets taking out a gaggle of balloons.
Very cool at warp speed.
But what happens to the escaping helium? At the Schlieren lab, we can show you.
There it is.
BALES: And there it goes.
Look at that.
Right when it punctures through, you can see the shock wave go through the whole outside.
You see that, and then you start to see it outgas the helium, and it looks like it goes on fire.
NARRATOR: Escaping helium creates air turbulence the way flames do, turbulence that's normally invisible to the naked eye.
Now, we just showed you what a speeding bullet looks like.
But time-warping through Schlieren gives us an entirely new angle.
All right, we're about to load the rifle.
Eyes and ears on.
NARRATOR: Now let's see if there isn't more to marvel at in the sight of a speeding bullet courtesy of the Schlieren.
BALES: We are loaded.
-3.
- [Click.]
NARRATOR: At the top, a bullet in regular slow motion.
At bottom, a slow-motion bullet that's also been processed through the Schlieren.
Watch as the bullet literally deforms the atmosphere.
These curved lines are formed by hot and compressed air flowing around it, much like water around the bow of a boat.
Again, we are literally seeing air under pressure, an amazing glimpse into a corner of our natural world that once was invisible.
We normally slow things down that are really hard to see.
But here we're seeing something that's totally invisible and making it visible.
Would it be safe to say that with this setup that we can see a fraction of refraction, catch the action for maximum compaction? My feet have killer traction.
[Record scratches.]
NARRATOR: What goes around comes around.
Case in point -- Eric Darnell.
He is the inventor of a kind of postmodern take on the boomerang.
Why three blades? Greater lift, easier to catch, and engineered for novice boomers like our Matt and Jeff.
Okay, class, loosen up.
I like it.
What I'm gonna do is throw them both simultaneously and try to catch them both.
They'll follow different paths but arrive at the same point.
Degree of difficulty -- It's about a 12 out of 10.
-This is the big show-off move.
-Yeah.
NARRATOR: 12 out of 10? Can't we start with something simple? -You think? -Today? If there's no wind, I believe him, sure.
LIEBERMAN: It's like he's going into meditation.
NARRATOR: Don't let your left hand know what your right hand Oop, little low.
NARRATOR: Oh, sorry.
LIEBERMAN: You do it.
-What is he -- -He's doing that.
That's probably the toughest part.
LIEBERMAN: One.
There it is.
NARRATOR: Now let's get warped.
With our high-speed cameras, we'll see how an expert throws.
LIEBERMAN: Why would you choose to use a pinch grip versus, you know, the full-hand grip? DARNELL: I threw everything full-hand grip.
I taught myself to throw a pinch grip because I was hurting my elbow by throwing so much.
LIEBERMAN: So it is because of that strain.
DARNELL: Yeah.
That's beautiful shots.
LIEBERMAN: Here you have this boomerang that's spinning as it goes, right? So if you really look at the perspective from the ground, this wing is moving a lot faster than this one, 'cause this one's moving against the direction it's generally going.
So you're gonna get differential lift from one wing to the other, and that's gonna cause this procession and make it come all the way around.
And, I mean, that makes this more complicated than a plane.
This is more complicated than a plane or a helicopter.
It's actually using this angular momentum shift to bring energy around.
You know, 25,000 years ago, someone picked up a stick.
It created a slight amount of lift, and they thought, "Oh, I got to go tell my friends.
I'm gonna go share this fact, and we're gonna start designing sticks to purposely do that.
" And then you have the first man-made flight that's ever happened.
Yep.
It's incredible.
NARRATOR: And now, 25,000 years later, three men on a field of dreams take humanity to the next level.
[Record scratches.]
Oh, there's a camera in my way! I think there was a cameraman slightly in your way.
-All right.
-Jeff's turn, I think.
Hey, is that a boomerang in your pocket or -- Yes.
NARRATOR: And here's the windup followed by the 100-yard dash.
I'm getting it! NARRATOR: Clearly we'll need another 25,000 years to get this right.
DARNELL: Stay with it.
Stay with it.
NARRATOR: Or will we? DARNELL: Yes! The elbow catch.
That is the one.
KEARNEY: That's showing off is what that is.
NARRATOR: Something you want to see warped? Check us out on the Discovery Channel Website -- discovery.
com/timewarp -- and the warp you see just might be your own.
-That was well done.
-Yeah.
Down.
-When can I shoot? You can shoot now.
NARRATOR: What happens when a sharpshooter takes on the carbonated-beverage industry MAN: Nice! NARRATOR: when high cholesterol meets high-speed photography STUMP: That's awesome! MAYER: That's music to the ears.
NARRATOR: and a boomerang, well, booms? What happens? "Time Warp.
" KEARNEY: Uh-oh.
Oh, my NARRATOR: Take two guys whose slo-mo cameras can stop the world in its tracks It starts out pretty asymmetric.
It has to move the mass of this thing out of the way.
Joseph, I need the widest-angle lens we have.
NARRATOR: add a high-tech laboratory where anything can and will happen and some of the world's wildest talents.
What happens? We've got to say we are very, very home on the range -- the shooting range.
We've shot skeet [Gunshot.]
Fire in the hole! NARRATOR: bulletproof vests and poor dudes who got on the bad side of our Taser.
Aaaah! NARRATOR: But the one thing we haven't seen is just how sharp a sharpshooter can shoot.
Until now.
LIEBERMAN: How's it going, Bill? Hey, guys.
How you doing? You shooting today? I'm shooting footage of you shooting.
Well, then what the hell are we standing here for? Let's go do some shooting, guys.
NARRATOR: "Badlands" Bill Oglesby is a three-time Old West Shooting Association champion.
Uh, that's code for sharpshootin' cowboy.
So these are the targets you guys are thinking about? Boy, you guys are fiends, I'll tell you that.
We heard you were good.
If it's good enough for John Wayne, it's good enough for me.
NARRATOR: In the bad Old West, shooting a bull's-eye through a poker card from 20 feet away was considered a handy conversational tool.
Badlands Bill shows the ace of hearts no mercy.
One more time.
LIEBERMAN: There it is.
That's actually a pretty cool tear.
Look at that.
I don't think he would have survived.
NARRATOR: Now Dr.
Oglesby prepares to take his meds apart.
-Can you see that back there? -No.
But that's all right.
KEARNEY: The one that you can't see, aim for that.
That is one tiny little -- LIEBERMAN: Bam.
Nice.
NARRATOR: If you needed any proof that this shot was overkill, here it is.
Now for some bigger game.
A lollipop.
There's no point in wondering if Bill can make the shot.
It's seeing what these things look like as they go down.
And we mean down.
Now, that was pretty cool.
Little head just rolled right off.
KEARNEY: Shot him in the neck.
That was cool as hell.
Did the head just hang there for a second? NARRATOR: But at least one life was spared.
The second camera angle catches a bit of drama in the microcosmos.
Look closely above and to the left of the lollipop.
Notice anything? Yeah.
A bug going about a bug's business.
And a bullet, well, doing the same.
MAN: [Laughing.]
Oh, wow! LIEBERMAN: Looks good.
NARRATOR: But enough of fortune's slings and arrows.
-Want to put another one up? -Yeah.
Please.
NARRATOR: We don't have all day for this sucker.
This time, the candy goes "NOVA.
" Ooh! But that was such a sweet shot.
KEARNEY: Oh, wow.
OGLESBY: Gosh dang.
It was like the big bang.
LIEBERMAN: Absolutely.
OGLESBY: Carl Sagan would have loved that shot.
He was big into shooting lollipops? NARRATOR: Carl Sagan? Oh, yeah, Bill does have "Dr.
" in front of his name.
And now he decides he wants to actually show off a little bit.
What I do, I position the mirror this way and this way to get my sights lined up.
NARRATOR: There comes a day for every academic gunslinger to take a good, hard look in the mirror.
Over your shoulder like this? Backwards.
Completely backwards.
NARRATOR: For Badlands Bill Oglesby, today is that day.
Now, it's one thing to hit a can of pop at 20 paces by shooting backwards over your shoulder, but how about LIEBERMAN: So is that gonna be tough enough? MAN: This way? Okay, now stay right there.
Let me look at the mirror.
How do you look? Yeah.
It's unbelievable.
You really gonna be able to do this? Come on, now.
Let's be serious about this.
Yeah.
This'll get done on the first shot.
That's what I like to hear.
I wish we worked that way.
NARRATOR: The cameras are all set.
Okay, are we ready? Okay.
When you're ready.
-When can I shoot? -You can shoot now.
What was to the naked eye a chaotic explosion now becomes clear.
The bullet entered at a slightly sloping angle.
It tore straight through the first five pop cans before driving down against the wooden board and veering slightly left, escaping on the far side of the remaining cans.
Meanwhile, those cans appear to be floating.
The pressure from the bullet has blown the board downward.
The board bounces back up, knocking the cans off their feet.
And the carbonated shock wave continues outward.
Round two.
Everyone's ready? Whenever you're ready.
-Nice! -That's pretty amazing.
Completely through the center.
Right through both ends, right through the middle.
Amazing.
Say, "Let's go" Let's go check it out.
NARRATOR: From the beginning, this is definitely a more direct hit.
LIEBERMAN: That's awesome.
OGLESBY: I think that is good, myself.
If I seen that on TV, I would [bleep.]
Look at that.
NARRATOR: We agree.
[Bleep.]
Now, remember, this is a bullet shot from a rifle resting on Bill's shoulder while he looks into a mirror set 20 paces from the pop cans.
But despite Bill's laser-straight aim, the bullet loses velocity with each soda it meets.
The succession of impacts and liquid inside the cans caused the bullet to veer off course after the sixth soda.
LIEBERMAN: The fact that it went through six, it's pretty clear that you hit it almost dead center on the first one, and it slowly curved its way out.
Cool, cool technology, guys.
Cool shooting, Tex.
KEARNEY: Badlands.
-Badlands.
There you go.
-Badlands Bill.
NARRATOR: Now, we couldn't let Bill leave without one last card trick.
The edge of a card.
At .
01 of an inch thick, the edge of a playing card is practically invisible.
There it is.
Okay, I was aiming on the wrong side.
NARRATOR: Well, that just about tears it.
OGLESBY: Good night! NARRATOR: By the time we've grown up, most of us have learned to stop playing with our food Bacon and eggs.
NARRATOR: with a few rare exceptions.
For Matt, it's all part of his high-cholesterol diet and high-speed obsession.
For Jim Stump and Jon Mayer, playing with food [Laughter.]
is a way of life.
Yeah, that worked well.
They're the Feasty Boys.
And together, we're about to turn the "Time Warp" studios into Martha Stewart's second-worst nightmare.
Well, this is basically our four food groups -- -beer, bacon -Butter.
and better not forget the cheese.
[Laughs.]
NARRATOR: A recipe for slow death that we'll film in high speed to reveal all of its tasty goodness.
STUMP: Let's cook some butter.
Start with some butter.
About like that.
[Laughs.]
NARRATOR: Now, not everyone feels the need to butter up the pan before adding the bacon, but they're not the Feasty Boys.
I can hear my arteries closing.
NARRATOR: Uh, mmm! A sizzling-hot grill, glittering saturated fat sliding gently.
Ooh Now, we hate to mess with perfection, but [Laughs.]
bring home the bacon.
The puddles.
Rivers of flavor falling off the side.
STUMP: I was a little nervous coming here today, thinking you guys might influence my appetite with viewing this stuff in slow motion.
And I want it even more.
This is really cool.
LIEBERMAN: Slow motion only helps the appetite.
KEARNEY: Makes me more hungry.
NARRATOR: Where do we go from here? Don't ask.
Jon, if you'll cut your cheese.
- [Laughs.]
-Ha ha ha ha.
Glad you guys are on that side of the table.
Now, the trick to this is forgetting the bread.
You really want to layer that cheese on thick.
NARRATOR: At this point, Jeff, Matt, and the Feasty Boys have thrown out the menu and are just looking for cool things to film at over 300 times slower than normal speed.
Know what this is? Think hard.
Yep.
Popcorn.
STUMP: Oh! KEARNEY: That's 10,000 frames per second.
NARRATOR: And that's moisture in the kernel rapidly turning to steam that's creating the explosive and tasty blossom we know as popcorn.
You know, it just stayed right there on the surface.
LIEBERMAN: Yeah, but this thing is jumping still 4 inches high, you know? Just taking its time.
MAYER: And look at the oil just flying off of it.
NARRATOR: So remember -- butter bacon with cheese and popcorn.
Our last slo-mo trick requires we shake up, open, and waste a perfectly good beer, as close to an original sin as the Feasty Boys can imagine.
N-o-o-o-o-o-o! NARRATOR: Yes! NARRATOR: You Warpies out there will certainly remember our bullwhip buddy Adam Winrich.
[Whip cracking.]
Like sharpshooter Bill, Adam had his own special way of destroying pop cans starting fires and courting friendship.
[Groans.]
That's a little closer than you said it was gonna be.
NARRATOR: It was also with Adam that we first became acquainted with the Schlieren imaging system.
"Schlieren" is the German word for "streaks" as in streaks of air.
The Schlieren process captures minute changes in the air patterns surrounding matter.
All we got to do is have you get right at the target, and we'll be able to see everything.
MAN: Let's check to see.
Give it up for playback.
LIEBERMAN: Nice.
You got it.
NARRATOR: "Time Warp's" high-speed camera shooting through the Schlieren system confirmed that a snap of Adam's bullwhip creates a sonic boom.
Let's see that again.
The curved line ahead of the whip is actually an image of the sound barrier breaking.
After Adam left the laboratory, our boys stuck around to shake it up with the Schlieren and hang out with MIT professor Jim Bales.
By setting up this system, we can see very small changes in density, changes caused by a fraction of a degree in the air temperature, and we'll see how the light is bent.
NARRATOR: We're going to introduce this mind-bending Schlieren to some of the classic objects of our affection.
Bubbles, bullets, and balloons.
First up, bubbles.
We previously documented the beauty of a bursting bubble in slo-mo.
Behold the bubble seen with the Schlieren system for a totally new perspective.
The effects of the inner gases on the bubble's surface are now visible.
Yeah, it's very much like some faraway planet or something.
It's so cool when it's dripping out how much it influences currents all over the bubble.
NARRATOR: And the burst LIEBERMAN: After the pop, there's definitely some kind of temperature pressure wave coming off there.
BALES: That one's easy.
It looks like there's a temperature difference 'cause I'm full of hot air.
That's my breath.
It's warmer than the room.
You see the difference when you pop the bubble and you let that warmer air come out.
LIEBERMAN: We're just seeing that get a chance to escape.
You got it.
NARRATOR: Watch them again side by side.
Two different glimpses of the same unseen world.
Remember Olympic skeet shooter Sean McClelland? See if we get all the balloons on this one.
- [Gunshot.]
-Bye.
NARRATOR: Here we illustrated shotgun pellets taking out a gaggle of balloons.
Very cool at warp speed.
But what happens to the escaping helium? At the Schlieren lab, we can show you.
There it is.
BALES: And there it goes.
Look at that.
Right when it punctures through, you can see the shock wave go through the whole outside.
You see that, and then you start to see it outgas the helium, and it looks like it goes on fire.
NARRATOR: Escaping helium creates air turbulence the way flames do, turbulence that's normally invisible to the naked eye.
Now, we just showed you what a speeding bullet looks like.
But time-warping through Schlieren gives us an entirely new angle.
All right, we're about to load the rifle.
Eyes and ears on.
NARRATOR: Now let's see if there isn't more to marvel at in the sight of a speeding bullet courtesy of the Schlieren.
BALES: We are loaded.
-3.
- [Click.]
NARRATOR: At the top, a bullet in regular slow motion.
At bottom, a slow-motion bullet that's also been processed through the Schlieren.
Watch as the bullet literally deforms the atmosphere.
These curved lines are formed by hot and compressed air flowing around it, much like water around the bow of a boat.
Again, we are literally seeing air under pressure, an amazing glimpse into a corner of our natural world that once was invisible.
We normally slow things down that are really hard to see.
But here we're seeing something that's totally invisible and making it visible.
Would it be safe to say that with this setup that we can see a fraction of refraction, catch the action for maximum compaction? My feet have killer traction.
[Record scratches.]
NARRATOR: What goes around comes around.
Case in point -- Eric Darnell.
He is the inventor of a kind of postmodern take on the boomerang.
Why three blades? Greater lift, easier to catch, and engineered for novice boomers like our Matt and Jeff.
Okay, class, loosen up.
I like it.
What I'm gonna do is throw them both simultaneously and try to catch them both.
They'll follow different paths but arrive at the same point.
Degree of difficulty -- It's about a 12 out of 10.
-This is the big show-off move.
-Yeah.
NARRATOR: 12 out of 10? Can't we start with something simple? -You think? -Today? If there's no wind, I believe him, sure.
LIEBERMAN: It's like he's going into meditation.
NARRATOR: Don't let your left hand know what your right hand Oop, little low.
NARRATOR: Oh, sorry.
LIEBERMAN: You do it.
-What is he -- -He's doing that.
That's probably the toughest part.
LIEBERMAN: One.
There it is.
NARRATOR: Now let's get warped.
With our high-speed cameras, we'll see how an expert throws.
LIEBERMAN: Why would you choose to use a pinch grip versus, you know, the full-hand grip? DARNELL: I threw everything full-hand grip.
I taught myself to throw a pinch grip because I was hurting my elbow by throwing so much.
LIEBERMAN: So it is because of that strain.
DARNELL: Yeah.
That's beautiful shots.
LIEBERMAN: Here you have this boomerang that's spinning as it goes, right? So if you really look at the perspective from the ground, this wing is moving a lot faster than this one, 'cause this one's moving against the direction it's generally going.
So you're gonna get differential lift from one wing to the other, and that's gonna cause this procession and make it come all the way around.
And, I mean, that makes this more complicated than a plane.
This is more complicated than a plane or a helicopter.
It's actually using this angular momentum shift to bring energy around.
You know, 25,000 years ago, someone picked up a stick.
It created a slight amount of lift, and they thought, "Oh, I got to go tell my friends.
I'm gonna go share this fact, and we're gonna start designing sticks to purposely do that.
" And then you have the first man-made flight that's ever happened.
Yep.
It's incredible.
NARRATOR: And now, 25,000 years later, three men on a field of dreams take humanity to the next level.
[Record scratches.]
Oh, there's a camera in my way! I think there was a cameraman slightly in your way.
-All right.
-Jeff's turn, I think.
Hey, is that a boomerang in your pocket or -- Yes.
NARRATOR: And here's the windup followed by the 100-yard dash.
I'm getting it! NARRATOR: Clearly we'll need another 25,000 years to get this right.
DARNELL: Stay with it.
Stay with it.
NARRATOR: Or will we? DARNELL: Yes! The elbow catch.
That is the one.
KEARNEY: That's showing off is what that is.
NARRATOR: Something you want to see warped? Check us out on the Discovery Channel Website -- discovery.
com/timewarp -- and the warp you see just might be your own.
-That was well done.
-Yeah.
Down.