What Makes Prince Rupert’s Drop Both Indestructible and Fragile?
Prince Rupert’s Drop demonstrates that glass can exhibit extraordinary properties. This tadpole-shaped piece of glass is so hard that it cannot be broken with a hammer. However, this only applies to the bulbous head of the drop, because damaging its elongated part will cause it to spectacularly explode into thousands of pieces in an instant. What explains the remarkable behavior of Prince Rupert’s Drop?
5 min readJun 10, 2024
Even children know that glass is a fragile material that is easily damaged. However, it turns out that a glass drop can withstand even a very strong hammer blow. Yet, merely touching its weakest point is enough to instantly transform it into a cloud of glass shards. Magic? No, it’s just physics.
Where did Prince Rupert’s Drops come from?
The answer to the above question is contained in the name of these creations. The glass drops with extraordinary durability were invented by Prince Rupert of the Rhine, a 17th-century English aristocrat, politician, and officer of German origin.
