Science can be pretty weird

Too bad my instructors for material science never discussed Prince Rupert’s drop.

While the dynamics of the forces within a Prince Rupert’s drop are not the same as in concrete, they are a good demonstration of working with compressive and tensile forces in a brittle material

As the video notes, concrete tensile strength is about 10% of it compressive strength.
So while designing reinforced concrete members is straightforward, it requires identifying where the member is in compression or tension.

Although I doubt the school budget would permit damaging expensive testing equipment, that’s a COOL video!

ReplyDelete