Ice, Speed, Time...

Horseflies are the fastest self-powered animals on the planet and are capable of 90mph.  It has also been shown that beings like these of faster metabolism also experience time more slowly.  Indeed, peak athletes have been shown to experience time slower than the average human, but with animals of extreme speed, the difference is even greater.  It has been shown that the horsefly experiences time at one-tenth the speed of the average human, making their relatively short 30 to 60 day life-span at least a little longer equivalently.  Reaction time is also greatly increased and is the reason that it is so difficult to swat a fly. 

This relativity inspired an exploration into possible manipulations of time that could be visible and interactive.

I began looking into sound primarily because it seemed the most likely thing to be possible to manipulate.  Sound travels at different speeds through different materials depending on a combination between the density and elasticity of the material.  After hearing beautiful recordings from frozen lakes such as these and these and watching a youtube video that coincidentally gained viral popularity around the same time, I began research into ice and water and found that as soon as water freezes, the speed of sound moving through it increases roughly three-fold.

Water @ 32degrees – 4,603 feet per second.

vs.

Ice – 4,000 meters per second.

In this experiment, I sought to detect and create effects with this change of speed and through this, make commentary on the relativity of time.

I learned about the difficulties of picking up sound with a frozen microphone, made some weird sounds and a big mess.