Prince Rupert's Drop: Unbreakable Yet Explosive

Prince rupert's drop Glass Materials science Tension Strength Mr incredible Young frankenstein Thermal properties Explosion

Materials Physics Science Engineering

4 days ago 3,220 views 0 shares

Prince Rupert's Drop: Unbreakable Yet Explosive

prince-rupert's-drop-memes, glass-memes, materials-science-memes, physics-memes, tension-memes | ScienceHumor.io

Prince Rupert's Drops are like the ultimate glass ninja warriors. These teardrop-shaped glass structures are virtually indestructible at the bulbous end (you can literally hammer it!), but flick the tail and—BOOM—the whole thing explodes into dust.

Materials scientists get weirdly excited about this phenomenon because it's all about that sweet, sweet internal stress distribution. Meanwhile, sci-fi fans are just thinking "cool exploding glass thing" without appreciating the complex thermal gradients and tensile strength principles at work.

The meme perfectly captures how materials nerds (looking at you, Mr. Incredible) appreciate the actual science, while sci-fi enthusiasts (Igor from Young Frankenstein, apparently) just want to see things go boom. Science is cool either way, but knowing why it goes boom? That's the real superpower.

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