A drop of prince rupert against the press. A drop of prince rupert


Prince Rupert's drop
This is one of the interesting properties of glass, which is popularly called "Prince Rupert's drops" (also known as Rupert's balls or Dutch tears).

Making a drop of Prince Rupert is very easy. You just need to take a hot glass and drop it into a bucket of water. As a result of the fact that the water quickly cools the outer surface of the glass, the temperature inside the glass remains significantly high. When the glass finally cools on the inside, it shrinks inside the already hard outer shell. This creates a very strong tension.


Interestingly, the drop has amazing durability. The durability is amazing:



Yes, breaking its tail, you will cause instant explosive destruction, similar to the one that causes the explosion of any glass product that, after casting, was not put into an annealing furnace - just breaking the tail you start this process yourself.




Unlike ordinary glass, this drop cannot be broken even by hitting very hard with a hammer - if you hit the main part of the "drop". At the same time, if you slightly damage the "tail" of a tear, it explodes like a grenade - however, this can only be seen with a camera capable of shooting at a speed of 100,000 frames per second. This is what you can see:



The speed of movement of the fault is about 4 thousand 200 km per hour.


Prince Rupert, cousin of King Charles II, had about the same titles as natural talents: Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, Earl Holderness, Duke of Cumberland, cavalryman, sailor, scientist, administrator and artist.

His father, Friedrich von Palatinate, was the king of Bohemia for exactly one winter, and spent the rest of his life in Holland. Even as a child, Rupert mastered the main European languages, demonstrated good mathematical ability and the talent of a draftsman. Military career Rupert started at age 14, accompanying the Prince of Orange at the siege of Rienberg. Two years later, during the invasion of Brabant, he joined the Prince's Guard, and the following year, together with his older brother, visited English relatives, making an extremely favorable impression on Charles the First. From this trip he returned with an honorary master of arts degree awarded to a distinguished guest at Oxford.

In 1637, Rupert took part in the siege of Breda, after which, together with his brother and a detachment of Scottish mercenaries, he went to fight in Westphalia, where in the fall of 1638 he was captured. Until 1641, he was held in prison, and at this time Lord Arundel, the English ambassador in Vienna, presented the prince with a dog, which later gained resounding fame.

It was white poodle, allegedly smuggled out of Turkey, where the sultan forbade foreigners to acquire dogs of this breed. "It was extremely curious to see this cocky and restless man having fun teaching the dog a discipline he never knew himself." The poodle, who received the unpretentious nickname Boy, invariably accompanied Rupert until his death at the Battle of Marston Moore. The poodle was readily recalled in pamphlets by the "round-headed" ones, for example, in one engraving, he is depicted snarling at the members of parliament, dissolved by Cromwell. Fight enjoyed many privileges - sleeping in the master's bed, using the services of more barbers than Rupert himself, and getting the most tidbits from the hands of King Charles, who indulgently allowed Boy to sit in his chair. According to rumors, the dog was very smart. So, at the word "Karl" he began to jump joyfully and loved to listen to the Liturgy, turning his face to the altar. This, obviously, caused rumors that a spirit follows Rupert in the form of a Battle, they say, the dog can become invisible and participates in necromancy sessions conducted by its owner. And the poor fellow was killed. Boy was, as they say, a silver bullet.

Returning to the Prince In addition to training the Battle during the years of imprisonment, Rupert also held theological talks with confessors, resisting attempts to convert him to Catholicism, improved his skills as an engraver, read books on martial arts and started an affair with the governor's daughter. Thanks to the efforts of Charles the First, Rupert was freed on the condition that he never again turn weapons against the emperor. In August 1642, the Prince arrived in England with his younger brother Moritz at the head of a troop of British and Scottish Continental War veterans to side with the king in the civil war with Parliament. Granted the Order of the Garter, Rupert became the head of the royal cavalry, but soon the joy of his arrival was far from universal.
Although Rupert was an accomplished soldier, he had a youthful fervor that, as well as foreign manners, alienated the king's solid advisers. In particular, their understandable discontent was caused by the statement of the prince that he wants to receive orders exclusively from his august uncle. The youth have done Rupert a bad service. At the Battle of Edgehill in October 1643, his cavalry completely defeated the parliamentary, but, carried away by pursuit, Rupert left the battlefield, thus depriving the royalist power of the chance to inflict a decisive defeat on the roundheads.

The prince showed remarkable energy, combining administrative work with the conduct of hostilities throughout the years 1643-44: he took Bristol, ruled Wales, lifted the siege from York ... After the defeat at Marston Moore, Rupert stood at the head of the royalist army, nominally led by the Prince of Wales. Internal disagreements and a number of objective reasons led to the defeat at Naseby, after which Rupert doubted the successful outcome of the war for the king and advised Charles to come to an agreement with parliament.
This was seen as a malicious intent, which the king was finally convinced of after the prince surrendered Bristol to parliamentary forces. The king dismissed Rupert, he came to Newark and demanded judicial trial, as a result of which his good name was returned, but not the command. In 1646, Princes Rupert and Moritz were expelled from England by order of Parliament.

On the continent, Rupert led the detachments of British emigrants who entered the French service, and commanded them in hostilities against Spain. After the start of the second civil war in England, the prince, with varying success, tried himself in the role of a sailor. In 1649, he and Moritz received command of 8 ships and went to Ireland under the command of the Marquis of Ormond, where he continued the glorious English tradition- robbed strangers and transferred the loot to his own.
Parliamentary Admiral Blake was assigned to put an end to these atrocities, and Rupert sailed to Portugal, where he was promised shelter, but Blake caught up with him in the port of Lisbon. Discovered as a pirate, the prince sets out on a free voyage across the Mediterranean and Atlantic. In the spring of 1652 Rupert sailed to the shores of West Africa, where he was wounded in a battle with the natives.
He sailed for the West Indies in the summer of 1652, and found that the royalist enclave in Barbados, where he hoped to find refuge, had surrendered to the Commonwealth. In the fall, on the way from the Virgin Islands, two of Rupert's four ships were killed in a storm, one of them was commanded by Moritz. Overwhelmed by the death of his brother, the prince returned to Europe in 1653.

Rupert was warmly received at the court of the exiled king Charles II in Paris, but the courtesies melted in proportion to how the exact amount of the booty he brought from the West Indies was found out. The frustrated prince spent the next six years in obscurity, falling out over inheritance with his older brother.
After the restoration of Charles II in 1660, Rupert returned to England and was well received by the king, despite previous differences. He received an annual pension and was appointed to the Privy Council in 1662, with particular concern for the state of the navy.

Rupert also took an interest in foreign business ventures, becoming the first governor of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670. The territory provided to the Company was named "Prince Rupert's Land" in his honor. He was also an active shareholder in the African company. Rupert's contribution to the development of trade was marked by the inscribed stone laid in the foundation of the new Royal Exchange.
The prince as an admiral took Active participation in the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars, playing a significant role in the Battle of Lowestoft and in the victory on St. James's Day (July 25, 1666). From 1673 Rupert devoted himself administrative work in the admiralty. He died at the age of 62 in 1682 and is buried with honors at Westminster.

Continuing to show interest in scientific experiments Rupert co-founded the Royal Society. In particular, he experimented with the production of gunpowder (his proposed method made gunpowder 10 times more efficient), tried to improve guns, invented an alloy known as "Prince's metal", and also developed a device for, so to speak, deep-sea diving
The prince formulated the mathematical problem of the "Rupert's cube", achieved notable successes as a cipher, built a water mill in the Hackney swamps, developed a naval weapon, which he called Rupertinoe, invented a mechanism to balance the quadrant during measurements on board the ship, tried to improve surgical instruments and was the author outstanding engravings.

As for his personal life, Rupert never married, but left behind two illegitimate children: son Dudley (1666) from Francis Byrd and daughter Rupert (1673) from actress Margaret Hughes (Hughes). The latter, thanks to her connection with Rupert, became the first professional actress in English theater, in 1669, Margaret, along with male actors, enjoyed the privilege of "royal servants" - she could not be arrested for debts. It was very helpful, because she led a lavish lifestyle.
During their relationship, Rupert gave her jewelry worth 20 thousand pounds, and among them were the family jewelry of the Palatinates, and also bought a mansion for Margaret for another 25 thousand. Rupert liked family life - or its semblance - he was pleased to observe, watching his little daughter: "She already rules the whole house and sometimes even argues with her mother that makes us all laugh." It is believed that Margaret became Rupert's morganatic wife.

He bequeathed his property equally to her and his daughter.

Prince Rupert's blob looks like a glass tadpole created by a rookie glassblower, but it is so strong that it cannot be broken even with a hammer. However, it is enough to lightly hit it on the "tail", and it crumbles into powder. Scientists have been trying to find the reason for such inexplicable qualities for almost 400 years, and now a team of researchers from the University of Cambridge and Tallinn technical university Estonia finally has an answer.

Prince Rupert's Batavian Tears or Drops first appeared in the 17th century and became famous when Prince Rupert of Bavaria presented five of these trinkets to King Charles II of England. They were donated to the Royal Society for study in 1661, however, despite nearly four centuries of research, an explanation for their strange qualities has only now been found. The droplets are made from molten glass with a high coefficient of thermal expansion and are dipped into a vessel of cold water. The molten glass instantly solidifies in its characteristic drop shape.

To study the drops of Prince Rupert, the scientists used a technique where a transparent 3D object is placed in an immersion bath so that polarized light can pass through it. Changes in the polarization of light within an object correspond to voltage lines. Previous work by Tallinn and Cambridge physicists, back in 1994, involved filming the explosion of a droplet at nearly a million frames per second. The video shows how, after damage to the "tail", cracks spread drop by drop at a speed of about 6,500 kilometers per hour.

A new study has shown that the compressive stress of glass in the head of a droplet is about 50 tons per square inch, making it as strong as steel. This is because the drop cools down faster on the outside than on the inside. Thus, a huge pressure is injected onto the center of the droplet "head", which is compensated by stretching.

As long as these forces remain in equilibrium, the droplet is very strong and can withstand significant loads. But if the “tail” is damaged, this equilibrium is violated, and many small cracks propagate parallel to its axis. This happens at such a high speed that it resembles an explosion.

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Today I found something new and interesting for you, although perhaps this is new only for me, but it will definitely be interesting for everyone - a drop of Prince Rupert. Let's figure out what these drops are and why they are interesting ...

What are Prince Rupert drops

Prince Rupert's drops are glass drops with a thin tail, which are obtained by placing molten glass in water. And the interesting thing about them is that they are almost impossible to crush, trample, break or destroy in any other way available to people, but this applies only to the drop itself, but it also has a thin tail, in which the vulnerability of a seemingly indestructible thing is hidden, and if it break, then a real glass explosion occurs. See for yourself how a drop of Prince Rupert is unsuccessfully trying to crush with a hydraulic press:


and how it explodes easily when a thin tip is damaged:

Well, an interesting effect?

Let's see how such an interesting result is obtained? To do this, you need to understand how the drops of Prince Rupert are obtained.

Prince Rupert drops how to make

In order to make drops of Prince Rupert, it is necessary to place molten glass in water. If molten glass enters cold water, there is a process of its very rapid solidification with the simultaneous accumulation of enormous internal tension. Moreover, cooling occurs at least quickly, but not instantaneously, therefore, when the surface layer has already cooled down, hardened and decreased in volume, the inner part of the drop, let's call it conditionally the core, is still in a liquid and molten state.

Further, the core begins to cool and shrink, but intermolecular bonds with the outer already solid layer prevent it from shrinking, as a result of which, after cooling, the core occupies a larger volume than if it were cooled in a free form.

Because of this, forces with the opposite direction act on the boundary between the outer layer and the core, which pull the outer words inward and the core outward and create a compressive stress for the outer layer and a tensile stress for the inner core, respectively. As a result, we have a huge internal stress, which makes the drop very strong, but at the same time, any damage to the outer layer leads to a breakdown in the structure and a glass explosion, but since the thinnest place is the tail, it is through it that you can destroy outer layer in order to get such a beautiful explosion as in the video above or in the photo below:

And this video is for those who find it easier to perceive video information than to read a lot of letters:

When and where Prince Rupert's drops were found

Prince Rupert's drops were first discovered in Germany in 1625, however, as is often the opinion that they were discovered by the Dutch, or maybe it sounded so beautiful, because everything abroad causes more curiosity, times do not change at this time, hence the second name for these drops - Dutch tears.

And what does Prince Rupert have to do with this? The fact is that Prince Rupert, the British duke, was the person who brought these drops to England and presented them to the English monarch Charles II. The king really liked the interesting glass drops and he gave them to the British Royal Scientific Society for study. In honor of these events, the curious drops began to be called the drops of Prince Rupert, and this name has been perfectly preserved to this day. Here he is a vivid example of how you can go down in history simply by giving an interesting thing to the right person.

Interestingly, the method of making Dutch tears has been kept secret for a long time, while at the same time selling them as interesting toys at fairs and markets.

I read what they write about Prince Rupert. His biography is quite interesting, he was involved in a large number historical events, but this is more a topic for a separate post.

When I was finishing the post, I found an interesting and relevant video, in which the whole process is shown from the beginning and the end of the dock - from the creation of a drop of Prince Rupert to a glass explosion:

Now the theme of Prince Rupert's drop is fully disclosed and you can safely show off this knowledge in the company or even make such drops (just be careful). That's all for today, see you soon!

Let me introduce you to one of the interesting properties of glass, which is commonly called drops (or tears) of Prince Rupert. If you drop molten glass into cold water, it will solidify in the form of a drop with a long, thin tail. Due to instant cooling, the drop acquires increased hardness, that is, it is not so easy to crush it. But if you break off a thin tail of such a glass drop, it will immediately explode, scattering the finest glass dust around it.



Glass drops were invented in Germany in 1625. In the 17th century, it was believed that glass tears were actually invented in Holland, so they began to be incorrectly called "Dutch". In Britain, glass tears became famous thanks to the British Duke Rupert of Palatinate. He presented them to King Charles II, who, in turn, presented them to the Royal Scientific Society for research. In honor of the duke, glass tears began to be called "Rupert's drops." The method of making Duke Rupert's drops has been kept secret for a long time. They were sold to all comers as funny toys.

Today the mechanism of Dutch tears "work" has been thoroughly studied. If molten glass gets into cold water, it quickly solidifies, building up incredible mechanical stress. Let us conditionally select the outer layer in the drop and inner core... The drop cools from the surface, and its outer layer is compressed and reduced in volume, while the core remains liquid and hot.

After the temperature inside the ball drops, the core begins to shrink. However, the already solid outer layer will resist the process. With the help of intermolecular forces of attraction, it tenaciously holds the nucleus, which, when cooled down, is forced to occupy a larger volume than if it cooled freely.

As a result, forces will arise at the boundary between the outer layer and the core, pulling the outer layer inward, creating compressive stresses in it, and the inner core outward, forming tensile stresses in it. These voltages are very significant when cooling too quickly. So that the inside of the ball can break off from the outside, and then a bubble is formed in the droplet.

If the integrity of the surface layer of the teardrop is violated, then the force of tension will be immediately released. The solidified glass droplet itself is very strong. It easily withstands hammer blows. However, if you break its tail, it collapses so rapidly that it looks more like a glass explosion.

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A drop of Prince Rupert is a glass artifact that has two opposite properties: it is extremely durable and extremely fragile at the same time.

The blob looks like a tadpole with a bulbous head and a long, thin tail. The head is so strong that it can withstand a hammer blow, and bullets fired into it at close range are destroyed on impact - yes, it is bullets, not glass. However, if you flick your finger over the tail of the droplet, it turns the entire droplet, including the durable glass head, to powder.

Prince Rupert's droplets (also known as "Batavian tears" and "Bolognese flasks") are formed by pouring liquid glass into cold water, causing the outer surface of the droplet to solidify immediately, while the glass inside remains molten. The cooled outer layer tries to contract, while the molten inner layer tries to expand. During crystallization, the opposite forces acting on the drop head make it unusually strong and brittle at the same time. It is like a stone arch — the structure is under extreme stress, which is precisely what keeps it from falling apart. But if you remove the cornerstone, the arch will collapse.

Prince Rupert's drops were first discovered in Germany in the 1640s. They were originally created by glassmakers from Mecklenburg (Northern Germany) and were sold as toys and curiosities throughout Europe, where they were called by various names: for example, "Prussian tears" or "Dutch tears". Glassmakers closely guarded their secret, leading to a number of theories as to how the drops were made.

An amateur scientist from England, Duchess Margaret Cavendish, after several weeks of experiments with dozens of samples in her laboratory, came to the conclusion that a small amount of volatile material was injected into the head of the drop, which reacted violently when exposed to air.

In 1660, Prince Rupert of Palatinate, Duke of Cumberland and one of the founders of the Royal Society, brought with him several glass drops to demonstrate to scholars and King Charles II. As you probably already guessed, they were named after him.

Robert Hooke, who was in charge of conducting experiments in front of members of the public, made an important breakthrough in suggesting that it was the cooling of glass after immersion in water that caused the droplets' strange properties, although a more complete understanding of mechanics did not become available until three centuries later.

It was only in 1994 that scientists from Purdue University and Cambridge University, using high-speed framing to observe the process of droplet disintegration, came to the conclusion that the surface of each droplet undergoes a high compression load, while the inner part is under the influence of high stress forces - in a state of uneven balance, which can be easily disturbed by breaking the tail. Experiments show that the bulbous head can withstand compressive forces of up to 7,000 kilograms per square centimeter. It has also been estimated that destructive cracks travel along the tail and head at an astonishing speed of 6,500 kilometers per hour.

In the future, in cooperation with Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia, researchers found that in order to break a droplet, a crack must be created that can penetrate the zone of its internal stress. The outer compression layer is very thin: it is only about 10 percent of the diameter of the droplet head, but it is incredibly strong. Since surface cracks tend to grow parallel to the surface, they cannot enter the stress zone. But if the tail cracks, the cracks will enter the stress zone and release all the stored energy, causing the droplet to collapse.

Tempered glass, which is usually used in the manufacture of cars and mobile phones, is made in the same way. It is quickly cooled in molten form using cold air, creating an internal stress that allows the surface to remain compressed at all times. Compression prevents cracks from growing, but when the glass is finally shattered, it shatters into thousands of small pieces. This is why the windshields of cars shatter into small pieces on impact, but they are covered with a special layer of glue that prevents particles from entering the interior of the car and causing injury to passengers.

"Tensile stress is what typically causes materials to break in a manner similar to breaking a sheet of paper in half," says Koushik Viswanathan of Purdue University. "But if you change the tensile stress to the compressive one, then you make it harder for the cracks to grow, and that's exactly what happens in the head of Prince Rupert's drop."

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