Tantalizing Mystery of the Exploding Prince Rupert’s Drop

amazing glass experiment prince rupert's drop

Sometimes, when artists and geeks come together some beautiful things can happen. That was exactly the case when the awesome dude from Smarter Every Day visited a glass blowing shop to explore the insane mystery of the Prince Rupert’s Drop.

prince rupert's drop

Not familiar with the term? Most people aren’t. It’s a glass object created when molten glass is dropped into a container of cold water. The resulting tadpole-shaped piece of glass is incredibly strong and won’t break even when struck with a hammer on the larger end.

The video tells the story better than we ever could, so we’ll let Smarter Every Day explain the phenomenon, along with ultra-high-speed shots of the Prince Rupert’s Drops literally exploding into millions of pieces.

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See more in Earth & Nature or under Science. May, 2013.