English: Prince Rupert's Drops are small glass structures resembling tadpoles that can withstand the blows of a hammer and yet burst into powdery dust if their threadlike tails break. They have been a source of fascination and mystery since they were discovered in the 17th century.

Now an international research team has pinpointed the source of the bizarre shatter-resistant behavior behind Prince Rupert’s drops. The work was a collaboration of researchers from Purdue University, the University of Cambridge in the UK and Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia.

Featured Purdue Researcher: Srinivasan Chandrasekar, Professor of Industrial Engineering & Materials Engineering

Special Thanks to Inspired Fire for making the Prince Rupert's drops used in this video.

Photo credits: The Art of Glass, Christopher Merrett, 1662 Micrographia, Robert Hooke, 1664 Philosophical Magazine, 1994 Applied Physics Letters, 109, 231903 (2016) Trevor Malhmann

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Purdue's College of Engineering is among the largest in the United States and includes 13 academic programs, all with high rankings. U.S. News and World Report ranks Purdue's College of Engineering in the Top 10 nationwide: no. 8 for graduate programs and no. 9 for undergraduate programs.