Solution:

Persistence of vision works because the human eye and brain can only process 10 to 12 separate images per second, retaining an image for up to a fifteenth of a second. If a subsequent image replaces it in this period of time it will create the illusion of continuity.

The use of animation techniques to create moving images predates conventional cinema. Devices like the phenakistoscope (disk pictured above) and the zoetrope used the basic principles of animation to provide entertainment in the 19th century