interior tension

Prince Rupert’s Drops

By / April 9, 2009

A beloved classroom demonstration in materials science. The residual stress within the drop gives rise to unique properties that every demonstrator likes to demonstrate: The drop can be hammered on the fat end without breaking, but disintegrates explosively if the tail end is even slightly damaged.

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Video of the week – Prince Rupert’s Drops

By / December 18, 2008

Again, we  present another beloved classroom demonstration in materials science. This one is a non-intuitive display of surface tension, residual stress, interior tension, potential energy and tempered glass. To create…

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