Video for an Explosive Use of Capacitors and Conservation of Momentum, Watermellon style!

Courtesy of Louis S.:

The video I chose actually represents two aspects of physics in this class.  The set-up of the watermelon explosion is simply a large bank of capacitors wired together in series with an extremely high voltage. When one of the capacitors is discharged, there is an enormous current that runs through the watermelon, causing it to explode. This shows the relationship between capacitance, voltage, and current.  The other portion of this class can be seen with the high speed camera showing the watermelon explode.  When the watermelon is initially at rest, its momentum is zero.  Then, once it explodes, all of the little pieces of watermelon-shrapnel must fly off such that the components of their motion must equal zero.