If you're a grown human and you don't understand how car engines, speakers, or other everyday engineering work, then you may feel like you're past a point of no return—the point when it becomes too embarrassing to ever ask. Jacob O'Neal's GIFs are your answer. His amazing and captivating Animagraffs are annotated animations that show the inner workings of popular mechanics.
Says O'Neal: "Subject material for Animagraffs has to be able to loop indefinitely (since that's all animated GIFs can do), and should require animation to tell the story, as opposed to adding animation as a gimmick."
*Click to expand the GIFs to read the text more clearly.
Four-stroke cycle of a cylinder
First we're introduced to a single cylinder…
Four-cylinder car engine
…then four of them. O'Neal also shows what else an engine needs to work—things like oxygen, oil, and fans.
Jet engine
Driving is great, but flying is even greater.
Speakers and magnets
You ears sense sound by sensing movements in air; speakers make sound by moving air. Magnets are key.
Handgun
The only major component missing here is the person who pulls the trigger.
Flat-panel display
Animagraff's aren't limited to the purely mechanical. Here's an exploded view of a flat-panel display that shows how light is changed as it travels from source outward:
Rachel Z. Arndt is the author of the essay collection Beyond Measure. Her writing has appeared in Quartz, The Believer, Fast Company, and elsewhere. She lives in Chicago.
