Mystery of Prince Rupert's Drop at 130,000 fps - Smarter Every Day 86
Why Hacker News recommends it
Recommended across Prince Rupert's drop and glass threads for its striking high-speed footage.
What it is
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.
Recommended by 4 HN commenters across 4 different months, 2013 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec nate_meurer · 2019-03 · on “The Pyrex Glass Controversy That Won't Die”
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.
Recommends gvb · 2013-04 · on “Prince Rupert's Drop”
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]
Recommends MiguelHudnandez · 2013-07 · on “Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch”
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]
Recommends skellera · 2023-05 · on “Prince Rupert's Drop”
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 huhtenberg · 2013-04 · on “Prince Rupert's Drop”
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 kahirsch · 2017-05 · on “Scientists solve 400-year-old mystery of Prince Rupert's drops”
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 pmarreck · 2020-10 · on “Room-Temperature Superconductivity Achieved for the First Time”
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 GravitasFailure · 2021-10 · on “Researchers Have Developed a New Kind of 'Unbreakable' Glass”
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]