Damage
When the tail end is damaged, the large amount of potential energy stored in the drop's amorphous atomic structure is released, causing fractures to propagate through the material at very high speeds.
Recently an examination of the shattering of Prince Rupert's Drops by the use of extremely high speed video has revealed that the "crack front" which is initiated at the tail end propagates in a disintegrating Drop within the tensile zone towards the drop's head at a very high speed (~ 1450–1900 m/s, or up to ~4,200 miles per hour, a number that in air would be Mach 5.5).
Because of the transparency of glass, the internal stress within these objects can be demonstrated by viewing them through polarizing filters.
Read more about this topic: Prince Rupert's Drop
Famous quotes containing the word damage:
“I came to explore the wreck.
The words are purposes.
The words are maps.
I came to see the damage that was done
and the treasures that prevail.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“Technological innovation has done great damage ... to eating habits. Food is now available in such unpleasant forms that one frequently finds smoking between courses to be an aid to digestion.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950)
“Instead of asking—”How much damage will the work in question bring about?” why not ask—”How much good? How much joy?””
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)