Mystery of Prince Rupert's Drop at 130,000 fps - Smarter Every Day 86
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.
Why Hacker News recommends it
Recommended across Prince Rupert's drop and glass threads for its striking high-speed footage.
- 4 people recommended it
- 4 different months
- 1 strong recommendations
- first 2013, last 2024
What HN commenters said
“High speed video of one of these things exploding. Kinda blew my mind.”
High-speed footage of tempered glass drop exploding.
nate_meurer, 2019-03 · Strong recommendation · in “The Pyrex Glass Controversy That Won't Die”
“which is definitely worth watching.”
Smarter Every Day episode on molten glass drops, worth watching.
gvb, 2013-04 · Recommendation · in “Prince Rupert's Drop”
“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.
MiguelHudnandez, 2013-07 · Recommendation · in “Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch”
“Learn about and see how it’s made”
See how Prince Rupert's drops are made, with a follow-up on freezing the break.
skellera, 2023-05 · Recommendation · in “Prince Rupert's Drop”
Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.
Topics: tempered glass, high-speed camera, internal stress, materials science, slow motion
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