Despite appearances, this is not a crashing ocean wave. In fact, it’s a planned explosion at a quarry, and that wave is more than 360,000 tons of rock and 68 tons of explosive pouring down. The scale of this is hard to imagine, and the physics of a ocean breaker and a massive wave of rocks and gas are similar enough that it’s no wonder our brains interpret them as the same event. Visual effects artists have been using this trick for decades. Rather than simulate the motion of a true fluid, many CGI effects are created from digital particles that, much like the rocks above, are similar enough to fool our eyes and our brains. (Image credit: K. Venøy, source; via Gizmodo)