BYU professors, students capture Santa's jiggling belly in new YouTube video

PROVO — Ever wondered what Santa's belly jiggling like a bowl full of jelly actually looks like? What about popcorn popping? Thanks to students and professors from Brigham Young University's SplashLab, you can see for yourself.

The lab recently posted a Christmas-themed video showing ultra slowed-down images of a gelatin Santa Claus dropping onto a plate. In addition to the shaking, flopping and jiggling of the Santa, they also recorded images of shattering Christmas ornaments and splashes of egg nog at 12,500 frames per second and popcorn popping at 20,000.

According to Tadd Truscott, Ph.D., the professor featured in the video, the purpose of the film was to show off the lab and the equipment and for festive cheer.

"High-speed cameras are awesome. The high-speed photography allows us to do things we otherwise would miss, and it allows us to check scientific facts," said Truscott.

In addition to the Christmas video, the SplashLab has a number of other slowed-down clips varying from a moth's wings to objects moving through bubbles on its website at www.splashlab.byu.edu.

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