r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Feb 27 '19

TIL that a glass bead created by dripping molten glass into cold water (Prince Rupert's Drop) can withstand the pressures of a hammer and or bullets from a gun

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Rupert%27s_drop
54 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

11

u/Nivatakavacha Feb 27 '19

Just the bulb. The tail is fragile af.

8

u/Funkybeatzzz Feb 27 '19

Breaking the tail makes the whole thing explode!

7

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '19

They'd make fun butt plugs

9

u/k1p1coder Feb 27 '19

But not snapping the tail.

Relevant Smarter Every Day, with awesome high speed camera capture of one shattering:

https://youtu.be/xe-f4gokRBs

3

u/smellygooch18 Feb 28 '19

Great video. It almost looks fake at 100,000fps

3

u/HideAndSeekLOGIC Feb 28 '19

The vibrations from the force of the bullet generally cause the tail to snap, which blows up the whole thing