Was the Olympic torch for 2020 lit using 35mm nitrocellulose film? | Hacker News Reader

Was the Olympic torch for 2020 lit using 35mm nitrocellulose film?

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16 pointssupernova87a12 comments

I was randomly watching footage of Olympic torches being lit, and for the initial torch lighting ceremony for 2020, it appears that a piece of 35mm film was used to start the fire! https://youtu.be/yD58s2ikdHE?t=3193

Discussed more in the article link.

Sochi and London were too. I’d like to find older footage as well , would expect the same.

https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/lighting-ceremony (2009)

Clever. I guess it’s possible they’ve been doing it this way all along - this is likely what they would have used to film the early ceremonies, so it would’ve been close to hand.

- also, looks like Zeiss designed the original lighting mechanism so even more likely.

> looks like Zeiss designed the original lighting mechanism so even more likely

I'd be really interested to know if the process follows a spec sheet (and how long it is).

Can't be more complicated than MilSpec brownies (26 pages) [0].

[0] https://nsarchive.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/mil-c-44072c.p...

That is ... exhaustive.

Seems pretty unnecessary, cotton wool does a good job on its own from my childhood playing with a magnifying glass.

Perhaps this is a tradition that started in the early film era, and just carried on?

It's probably because nitrocellulose is very hard to put out. It can burn underwater, so a little rain wouldn't bother it.

Actually this seems relatively news- I was looking at old clips and in 2000 they weren’t using the film, couldn’t get it lit and had to use the backup kit the day before. This seems to have started afterwards.

That's pretty nifty. I didn't think nitrocellulose film was manufactured anymore. If not, I wonder what movie they got it from. This is a good application for it, certainly.

A roll would last a long time for this. Could well be they just have one or two still in a cupboard from the thirties.

Because I didn't fully grasp this without further research: Kodak ceased production of nitrocellulose film in 1951, when "safety film" was commonly used instead.

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