Why do spinning mechanisms (such as helicopter rotor blades) appear to be moving very slowly once they spin fast enough?

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What is the actual physical process happening here?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

That’s only when recorded on camera and played back.

Because both the recording device and the display device will have a set frequency of capturing/displaying still images.

And those frquencies will not be the same as the speed of rotation of the rotors/wheels they’re re ording, especially as the rotors/wheels are changing speed.

So your eye is going not going to see the smooth speed of the spinning wheel that it would in real life. Instead it’s going to be seeing the frames captured/displayed by the devices, and those will appear to your eye to be out of order from what’s expected at certain speeds.

(Your eyes have a refresh rate too, but it’s faster and fuzzier than typical recording devices, and also your brain automatically conpensates for that!)

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