Science! By Ryan Whitwam Jan. 3, 2014 1:45 pm
The internet is overflowing with poorly made GIFs that just play for some number of frames and reset jarringly to the beginning. The elusive perfect loop, on the other hand, is almost an art form. by very carefully editing the frames of a GIF, you can sometimes craft an animation that seems to never stop. It can be truly mesmerizing.
So clear your schedule because we’re about to check out 10 of the most fascinating perfect loop GIFs on the internet.*Click the gallery above to see each one of the animated pics and then check out the full explanations of each animation below, without your browser being weighed down by all those hefty GIFs.
[h=3]How Poptarts are made[/h]You probably were not under the illusion that Poptarts and similar toaster pastries were lovingly hand crafted, but you wouldn’t have guessed the process was quite as mechanical as it is either. The first GIF in our gallery above shows the pastry crust being folded over on blobs of (possibly) fruit-based filling. Then it’s rolled flat and cut into toaster-size rectangles. Yum.
[h=3]Fractal zoom[/h]A fractal is a mathematical set that is either the same, or very close to the same at all distances. These numerical quandaries were thought to be unsolvable with manual calculations until Benoît Mandelbrot’s work in the 1960s. The fractal seen in the GIF above is called the Koch Snowflake or Koch Curve. As the image zooms, the same shapes continue to appear.
[h=3]Making chain[/h]It’s strange that some of the more complicated items we own — like smartphones — are often assembled by hand in giant factories. At the same time, the simple jobs are handled by machines. In this GIF a machine is making a chain by inserting a bit of metal then bending it into individual links. The precisely controlled motion is perfect for looping.
[h=3]Auroras[/h]Those lights in the sky are pretty to look at, but the auroras seen at high latitudes are just the end point of a cool astronomical phenomenon. The aurora is created by ionized particles from the sun impacting the upper atmosphere. The particles fly through space on the solar wind and are directed toward the poles by Earth’s magnetic field. When the excited atoms return to their ground state, they give off the light we see as auroras.
[h=3]Supercell[/h]A supercell thunderstorm means trouble. These large rotating updrafts are usually the spawning point for tornadoes and large hail. In this GIF you can see the rotating funnel reach down toward the ground. Ominous and perfectly looped.
[h=3]Muybridge’s horse[/h]
Eadweard Muybridge was an English photographer who, in 1872, was hired to settle a bet between race-horse owners. It was a popular debate at the time to speculate on whether or not all four of a horse’s hooves were off the ground at any point while it was running. Muybridge set up series of camera to capture a horse running along the track and put the frames together. What he created was the first motion picture… and a nearly perfect GIF.
[h=3]Volcanic vent[/h]Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the interior of the Earth is still quite toasty, but volcanos are here to remind us of that fact. The molten rock that pushes up through the crust brings with it water vapor, carbon dioxide, sulfur, and hydrogen sulfide. Some nasty stuff you don’t want to breathe. This GIF is interesting not only for what it depicts, but it’s a very well-made loop — the clouds match up nicely.
[h=3]Trefoil knot[/h]It might look like this shape is warping, but it’s actually completely solid. You brain incorrectly perceives the rotation of this trefoil knot as a change in shape. This knot is mathematically interesting as the simplest example of a non-trivial knot, meaning it cannot be untied in three dimensions without cutting it.
[h=3]Marker test[/h]You wouldn’t want to buy markers only to find they are of substandard quality, right? In the GIF above you can see markers being tested for longevity, and it’s hypnotic.
[Don't miss: 10 amazing chemical reaction GIFs]
[h=3]Thompson machine gun[/h]Better known as the Tommy Gun, the Thompson machine gun was originally designed for soldiers in World War I, but the war ended before it could be deployed. When bootlegging and organized crime took off during the prohibition era, the Thompson earned its place in American popular culture. Early models could fire 600 .45 ACP rounds per minute — a real revolution in its day. This GIF shows a Thompson being fired and infinitely launching shell casings upward.
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The internet is overflowing with poorly made GIFs that just play for some number of frames and reset jarringly to the beginning. The elusive perfect loop, on the other hand, is almost an art form. by very carefully editing the frames of a GIF, you can sometimes craft an animation that seems to never stop. It can be truly mesmerizing.So clear your schedule because we’re about to check out 10 of the most fascinating perfect loop GIFs on the internet.*Click the gallery above to see each one of the animated pics and then check out the full explanations of each animation below, without your browser being weighed down by all those hefty GIFs.
[h=3]How Poptarts are made[/h]You probably were not under the illusion that Poptarts and similar toaster pastries were lovingly hand crafted, but you wouldn’t have guessed the process was quite as mechanical as it is either. The first GIF in our gallery above shows the pastry crust being folded over on blobs of (possibly) fruit-based filling. Then it’s rolled flat and cut into toaster-size rectangles. Yum.
[h=3]Fractal zoom[/h]A fractal is a mathematical set that is either the same, or very close to the same at all distances. These numerical quandaries were thought to be unsolvable with manual calculations until Benoît Mandelbrot’s work in the 1960s. The fractal seen in the GIF above is called the Koch Snowflake or Koch Curve. As the image zooms, the same shapes continue to appear.
[h=3]Making chain[/h]It’s strange that some of the more complicated items we own — like smartphones — are often assembled by hand in giant factories. At the same time, the simple jobs are handled by machines. In this GIF a machine is making a chain by inserting a bit of metal then bending it into individual links. The precisely controlled motion is perfect for looping.
[h=3]Auroras[/h]Those lights in the sky are pretty to look at, but the auroras seen at high latitudes are just the end point of a cool astronomical phenomenon. The aurora is created by ionized particles from the sun impacting the upper atmosphere. The particles fly through space on the solar wind and are directed toward the poles by Earth’s magnetic field. When the excited atoms return to their ground state, they give off the light we see as auroras.
[h=3]Supercell[/h]A supercell thunderstorm means trouble. These large rotating updrafts are usually the spawning point for tornadoes and large hail. In this GIF you can see the rotating funnel reach down toward the ground. Ominous and perfectly looped.
[h=3]Muybridge’s horse[/h]
Eadweard Muybridge was an English photographer who, in 1872, was hired to settle a bet between race-horse owners. It was a popular debate at the time to speculate on whether or not all four of a horse’s hooves were off the ground at any point while it was running. Muybridge set up series of camera to capture a horse running along the track and put the frames together. What he created was the first motion picture… and a nearly perfect GIF.
[h=3]Volcanic vent[/h]Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the interior of the Earth is still quite toasty, but volcanos are here to remind us of that fact. The molten rock that pushes up through the crust brings with it water vapor, carbon dioxide, sulfur, and hydrogen sulfide. Some nasty stuff you don’t want to breathe. This GIF is interesting not only for what it depicts, but it’s a very well-made loop — the clouds match up nicely.
[h=3]Trefoil knot[/h]It might look like this shape is warping, but it’s actually completely solid. You brain incorrectly perceives the rotation of this trefoil knot as a change in shape. This knot is mathematically interesting as the simplest example of a non-trivial knot, meaning it cannot be untied in three dimensions without cutting it.
[h=3]Marker test[/h]You wouldn’t want to buy markers only to find they are of substandard quality, right? In the GIF above you can see markers being tested for longevity, and it’s hypnotic.
[Don't miss: 10 amazing chemical reaction GIFs]
[h=3]Thompson machine gun[/h]Better known as the Tommy Gun, the Thompson machine gun was originally designed for soldiers in World War I, but the war ended before it could be deployed. When bootlegging and organized crime took off during the prohibition era, the Thompson earned its place in American popular culture. Early models could fire 600 .45 ACP rounds per minute — a real revolution in its day. This GIF shows a Thompson being fired and infinitely launching shell casings upward.
- [h=4]How Poptarts are made[/h]Squirt, fold, squirt, fold, and so on. Not very appetizing.
- [h=4]Fractal zoom[/h]The same at all distances — the essence of a fractal.
- [h=4]Making chain[/h]There are no weak links in this GIF.
- [h=4]Auroras[/h]The aurora is created by ionized particles from the sun impacting the upper atmosphere.
- [h=4]Supercell[/h]A rotating cloud getting ready to mess stuff up.
- [h=4]Muybridge's horse[/h]The original perfect loop.
- [h=4]Volcanic vent[/h]Clouds of sulfur and carbon dioxide rising from a volcano.
- [h=4]Trefoil knot[/h]Nope, it’s not changing shape. It’s just a trefoil knot spinning.
- [h=4]Marker test[/h]A perfect loop with perfect loops.
- [h=4]Thompson machine gun[/h].45 ACP shell casings being ejected from the famous Thompson machine gun.
More...
