Some occurrences in science and engineering are so far from human experience that one?s brain refuses to interpret them correctly on first viewing. With nothing to compare against, you find yourself watching them over and over again so that you can add the item to your mental catalogue of ?stuff that actually exists?.

In this Mythbusters video, Jamie and Adam use a poor excuse (can a car disappear in a crash between two trucks?) to fire a two-stage rocket sled at compact car. The result is as massive as you might imagine:

But for me, the most shocking part of the video is the real-time view of the rocket sled?s speed. My mind immediately presumed that the video was running at 2 or 3 times normal speed. I guess because we are more accustomed to seeing rockets shooting upwards, the almost incomprehensible ground-speed of a two-stage rocket is so much more stunning.

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