G-Form has run several experiments on the company's iPad protectors. The newest take on protecting the treasured device has a video that shows an extreme freefall to Earth at a height of 100,000 feet. An iPad was elevated to the height by a weather balloon before it popped and then plummeted to Earth.
Here's a look at the experiment and how it might not be what it seems.
Premise
The premise behind the experiment is that an iPad is covered in a protective case made by G-Form. It is attached to a weather balloon and then sent aloft high into the atmosphere. A video camera is attached to the device with an aluminum bar that records the event.
The iPad is released in the Nevada desert. Eventually, you can see the curvature of the Earth in the background as the balloon goes 100,000 feet into the upper atmosphere. Space begins about 200,000 feet later. That distance translates to about 19 miles above the earth.
The balloon goes so high, the air pressure of the balloon is greater than the air pressure in the upper atmosphere. The thing pops and then the iPad, its case and the camera start spinning out of control. A GPS tracking device allows the humans on the ground to find it on a grassy hillside. When the iPad is picked up, a logo for Disney appears on the screen to show it can allegedly play movies.
Debunking
The visuals of the experiment are no doubt eye-popping. The YouTube video that records the event has over 2 million views. As with any experiment done with consumerism in mind, there are a few things that need to be remembered about the experiment. First is that the video is barely over two minutes long. For any true science to be derived from the video, third parties would have to view all of the footage.
The fact that the device fell from such a high altitude is incredible, but drag and the surface area of the objects in question may have slowed the iPad's descent. Although the pull of gravity is immense, an object with a larger surface area that increases drag through the atmosphere will be much slower than terminal velocity. In essence, the aluminum bar with an iPad on one end and a camera on the other may even act as a small primitive wing. NASA's website explains objects that come back to Earth in a formulaic expression.
The overall weight of the objects would also lessen the velocity of the fall. The iPad weighs 1.33 pounds. Add a digital camera for another pound. The case is only six ounces. The small aluminum bar probably weighs a half pound. The entire contraption weighs less than five pounds spread out over a several square feet.
One final thing to keep in mind is that the experiment is just like reality television. The video has been edited to show what someone wants us to see. There is no guarantee that the iPad that showed the Disney logo was the exact same one that fell from the sky. Even if it was the exact same device, the video briefly showed the image on the iPad's screen as opposed to actually playing an entire movie.
The so-called "experiment" with the iPad has too many unknown factors to be taken seriously. Who drops an iPad from that high off the ground in the first place?
William Browning is a research librarian.
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