Ice flies off spinning blades in slow motion: real or AI?

As shared

NASA / Quentin Schwinn · Public domain (NASA) · Source

REAL

This is real.

How sure we areHigh

Based on 1 strong and 0 supporting piece of evidence.

What we found

This slow-motion video shows ice breaking away from the blades of a spinning rotor and flying off. NASA filmed it at its Glenn Research Center, in the Icing Research Tunnel, a wind tunnel used to study ice. Ice builds up on the blades as they spin, until pieces are thrown off. A high-speed camera recorded this so that engineers could slow it down and study it. NASA's Image and Video Library dates the video 29 December 2023 and credits Quentin Schwinn and Jordan Salkin. Because the clip sits in NASA's own library, with a date and the names of the people who filmed it, anyone can check where it came from. When footage looks too strange to be real, look for the original upload from the organisation that made it.

Key facts

Original source: NASA / Quentin Schwinn
First published: Not recorded
Earlier appearances: Not recorded
The claim you saw: No caption recorded
Signs of AI: None that decide it

The evidence, strongest first

Strong Decides the answer

Original sourceNASA Image and Video Library, Glenn Research Center, 29 December 2023↗

Supporting Points the same way

None.

Weak Shown, not relied on

How it looksThe picture is black and white, grainy and dim, like footage from a test camera rather than a showy AI clip. The blades keep the same shape as they turn. But nothing in a video can prove it is real. The proof here is that it comes from NASA's own library.

Detector scores are often wrong, so they never decide a verdict here.

What we couldn’t establish

Anything about the moment it shows beyond what the sources above record. If you know more, tell us.

Bottom line

Real: the original source shows it.

See the original ↗Think we’re wrong?

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100% of players thought it was AI

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