Prince Rupert’s Drops. Exploding.

I was reading one my favorite science blogs, Itâs OK to Be Smart, and was amazed by a video about something Iâve never seen or even heard of before: Prince Rupertâs Drops. These are tear-drop-shaped glass blobs with long, thin tails, made by dropping molten glass in water. Theyâre interesting, but when you try to shatter them, they become holy-cow-where-has-this-been-all-my-life amazing.

The video is from the remarkable Smarter Every Day video series. This is one of those rare times I donât really need to explain anything; the host does a great job taking care of that. Watch the whole thing. Itâs truly cool.

[Update (June 1, 2013 at 23:00 UTC): It has been brought to my attention that at about the one minute mark in the video, the host uses the word "pansy" to describe someone else in the video. This word has negative connotations in the gay community; it's been used as a homophobic slur in the past and many in the gay community are offended by it. I was unaware of its use in the video when I posted it; I simply missed it. I certainly don't endorse the use of words that marginalize groups of people, and I apologize for that. I will keep the video up, because its scientific value is high, but also because it's already started a dialogue here (and on the original YouTube page) which can help open up more understanding.]

[Make sure you have it set to the highest resolution.]

How about that? Glass is a fascinating subject, but I literally had no idea about this. So look at that: I learned something, and itâs OK to be smarter every day.