Smarter Every Day films Prince Rupert's drops, tempered glass drops, in high-speed slow motion at 130,000 fps. It shows how the drop's heavy internal stress lets the head survive hits while the tail shatters the whole thing.
Why Hacker News points people here: Recommended across Prince Rupert's drop and glass threads for its striking high-speed footage.
“High speed video of one of these things exploding. Kinda blew my mind.”HN comment, 2019
“High speed video of one of these things exploding. Kinda blew my mind.”
High-speed footage of tempered glass drop exploding.
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Interesting. I love glass blowing. Maybe I'll learn about it some day. Borosilicate and aluminosilicate cookware is actually pretty tolerant of chipping, because pieces tend to be thoroughly annealed. Tempered soda-lime, on the other hand, is not, so it has tremendous internal stress that makes it much tougher than borosilicate, but once it does chip it's liable to shatter explosively. Like Prince Rupert's drops. Hey, you want to see something cool? You'll appreciate this since you work with the stuff. Go to 2 min 45 sec in the video at this video . High speed video of one of these things exploding. Kinda blew my mind.
RecommendsgvbApr 2013
“which is definitely worth watching.”
Smarter Every Day episode on molten glass drops, worth watching.
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Also discussed and illustrated in "The Curious Properties of a Molten Glass Blob Dropped in Cold Water" link The story linked is just a blog wrapper on a "Smarter Every Day" episode, which is definitely worth watching. Smarter Every Day: this video
RecommendsMiguelHudnandezJul 2013
“there is a community of people doing silly things with high speed cameras that makes for stimulating watching”
Example of stimulating high-speed camera videos on YouTube.
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You'd just see some blinding white light for a few seconds and then maybe nothing else for the rest of your life. Our human eyes and brains limit us from perceiving even everyday things with the majesty they deserve. Even popping water balloons looks amazing in high speed video. On YouTube, there is a community of people doing silly things with high speed cameras that makes for stimulating watching: Smarter Every Day: weird glass phenomenon this video Smarter Every Day: cat righting itself in midair link Lots of high speed videos link
RecommendsskelleraMay 2023
“Learn about and see how it’s made”
See how Prince Rupert's drops are made, with a follow-up on freezing the break.
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Shout out to Destin from SmarterEveryDay for his love of PRDs. Learn about and see how it’s made – this video Encasing a shattering drop in glass – link The process the team uses in the second video to freeze the break in glass is pretty awesome! (If you’re into that kind of thing)
Cites ithuhtenbergApr 2013
“Here's the vid -”
Video of Prince Rupert's drop behavior accompanying a step-by-step description.
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1. Drop molten glass in a bucket of water. 2. Let it cool down, take it out. 3. Hammer the head of the drop and it won't break. 4. Nick the thin tail and the whole thing will explode . Here's a GIF - link Here's the vid - this video
Cites itkahirschMay 2017
“The Smarter Every Day YouTube channel has done several high-speed videos about Prince Rupert's drops”
Lists several Smarter Every Day high-speed Prince Rupert's drop videos by date.
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The Smarter Every Day YouTube channel has done several high-speed videos about Prince Rupert's drops, including a couple released just last week. * 2013-03-22 this video * 2016-12-29 link * 2017-04-26 link * 2017-04-30 link
Cites itpmarreckOct 2020
Prince Rupert's drops cited as inspiration for an idea.
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wow, I literally just had a very similar idea but what inspired me to think of it was the phenomenon of Prince Rupert's Drops this video I commented on the quantamagazine article but it's awaiting moderator approval
Cites itGravitasFailureOct 2021
“he demonstrates their strength by shooting a drop with a .22 rifle.”
Prince Rupert's drops shown strong by shooting with a .22 rifle.
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The strength that those stresses add is mind boggling. Smarter Every Day[0] did a video on Prince Rupert's Drops, which have similar internal stresses, and he demonstrates their strength by shooting a drop with a .22 rifle. [0] this video
Cites itstephen_gMay 2023
“which was a blog post featuring this YouTube video”
Original blog post featured this video; archived link provided.
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Unfortunately the link on the third post now seems to go to an SEO spam site, but the Web Archive seems to have the original - link which was a blog post featuring this YouTube video - this video
Cites itleeoniyaMay 2024
“maybe the same reason [the super hard] prince rupert's drops explode. really high internal stress.”
Prince Rupert's drops explode due to high internal stress.
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> While the Superfest glass is by far more durable than normal glass, when they shatter – the burst into a million fine pieces and are a total nightmare to clean up. I’m not sure if it’s because of their potassium chloride coating or because they are made to be super thin, my advice is to not drop them. maybe the same reason [the super hard] prince rupert's drops explode. really high internal stress. this video
