Description

High-speed photograph of a bullet slicing through a king of hearts playing card ("Cutting the Card Quickly" series); copy of black-and-white image priduced in 1964.

A .30 caliber bullet, traveling 2,800 feet per second, requires an exposure of less than 1/1,000,000 of a second. Edgerton outdid the gunslinging heroes of western movies by turning the card sideways when he shot through it. The rifling of the barrel caused the rotation of the projectile, which, in turn, carved out the S-shaped slice of card between the two halves. (from "Stopping Time" (1987), pp. 122-3). (CC)

Type

handwritten pencil

Location

obverse bottom

Text

11