My google-fu gives me a few non-relevant results on this one, mostly about Lil John, so I figured I would try the Dope.
How fast do my fingers travel when I snap? I snap with my thumb and middle finger, producing a sound that is probably pretty average in decibel terms when compared to my fellow snappers.
Is it measured in FPS? MPH? Proportions of C? Anybody have access to a device that could determine this?
You can measure it in whatever units you’d like, as long as it’s distance per unit time. If you wanted to get fancy, you could even measure it in radians per second, as a rotational speed, since your second knuckle stays relatively stationary.
My first thought would be to use a high speed camera at at least 4,000 frames per second, but that’s just because I’ve done quite a bit of data reduction to determine velocities of projectiles with that method. I’m sure there’s a better (read: less expensive) way, but it would work in a snap.
I understand the measurement unit is largely irrelevant, but I’m curious as to the actual speed here. My random listing of potential measurements was a poorly phrased, roundabout way of asking what scale I should be looking for, because I wasn’t sure an actual number would turn up.
Sorry for the poor wording, I seem to have a knack for that… any guesses?
Well, I can do no more than eight distinct snaps per second, and even that is pushing it. That suggests to me that a snap takes at least an eighth of a second. Snap distance form middle fingertip to palm is about 8cm. That works out to about 0.6 m/s, or 1.4 mph. That’s mean speed, obviously. To measure highest fingertip speed you would indeed need some instruments
Hmm, thinking about it a bit more, I don’t think the rate at which I can snap my fingers is terribly relevant. I think you would need to clearly locate the onset of the snap, perhaps by means of film as Santo Rugger said.
8 per second?! On the same finger/hand? Are you sure?
I just tried and I can do that, but it’s not as loud as my normal snap.
The finger is also going back and forth, so you should double your distance.
Yes, and you also need to account for the fact that the “return” movement from the end of the snap back to the starting position is considerably slower than the actual “snap” velocity.
High speed video here: http://courses.ncssm.edu/hsi/hsvideo/snap.htm
Looks like maybe 15 frames to me(someone else please confirm this, I can’t tell all that well), from the time the middle finger leaves the “snap” position to when it smacks against the palm.
15 frames / 2000 fps = .0075 seconds travel time.
I’d guess there’s 2.5 inches of travel during a snap, so thats 2.5in/.0075sec = 333.33 in/sec = 19mph.
I’m doing them on alternating hands, obviously. Or, apparently, not obviously.
If you’re doing them on alternating hands, and getting 8 snaps, wouldn’t that mean each snap took you 1/4 second, not 1/8?
Regardless, the distance should be doubled.
ETA: It gives the same answer. :smack: 2/2 = 1
The point of alternating hands was to allow me to enter the continuous snap zone, with a view to measuring the duration of a single snap. It’s impossible to do continuous snaps with one hand.
Anyway, as I already said, it’s a stupid way of estimating the duration of a snap, and we should instead turn our attention to things like YamatoTwinkie’s film.