On top of its symbolism, watching a CD explode under warp speeds is pretty cool to watch.Gav and Dan, better known as the "The Slow Mo Guys" on YouTube, attached a CD to a vacuum motor and spun it to fast until it blew into pieces. Spoiler alert: it doesn't endure.For their first experiment, they spun the CD at a speed of 23,000 revolutions per minute (RPM), or nearly five times faster than it usually spins in a CD or DVD player. It took about 15 seconds until the CD shattered into several pieces."I thought it was going to go to the moon," one of the guys said after watching it be obliterated.To see the explosion occur, they had to slow down their camera to 28,500 frames per second or 1,140 times slower than real time. "It's like physics doesn't know what to do with the CD, so it says 'I'm out, I'm done,'" says Gav.On their second attempt, they slowed down the camera to 61,980 frames per second, or roughly 2,500 times slower than real-time. The camera captures the CD exploding "like a turbine," much to their amazement.For their last experiment, they spun the CD even faster and recorded it at 170,600 frames per second—6,800 times slower than real-time. It's necessary since the naked eye doesn't see the CD disappearing, besides hearing the "pop" it makes."Just the shape it makes when it shatters," says Dan, "like a little tree."
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