An Explosion of Citrus

Limeys – a slang term historically used for the British. I used a lime in this latest experiment with High Speed Flash Photography, and it got me thinking about limeys.

Now my first thought was of the gin & tonic, served with a slice of lime. The gin & tonic was introduced by the British army in India, and makes for a refreshing drink on a hot summer day (which we still haven’t seen here in Milwaukee, by the way).

Actually though, the original limeys were British sailors, so called because of the lime juice they maintained in their diet to prevent scurvy. The limes came from the Carribean, and provided the Vitamin C that was lacking on ships that were out to sea for long periods of time.

Anyway, the picture shows a lime shot by a pellet gun at close range, captured using a short duration flash (1/30,000 second). The pellet has gone through the lime, and you can see the juice coming out at the entry point on the right, with more of a spray of juice at the exit point. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

My next target, sometime in the next few days, will be ripe, red tomatoes, which I’m hoping will provide a more explosive effect.