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The Only Way to Watch Glass Explode is at 300,000 Frames Per Second

If you’ve ever poured too-hot liquid into the wrong glass, you know instinctively that it’s a terrible conductor, and that the contrast between cool exterior and hot interior may cause it to shatter (the same is true of some people, ironically, but let’s not go there). If you’ve ever been a human being, you know that breaking stuff is inherently fun, so long as you don’t have to be the one to clean up the mess afterwards. So when the Slow Mo Guys put these two concepts together, along with an insane camera that can film things at 13,000 times the speed of human perception, well, we couldn’t look away. Though we may have instinctively blinked at the sight of glass flying our way. Don’t tell anyone.

While it’s undoubtedly fun seeing glass crack, you might learn something here too. Like the difference between how a thicker piece, like the handle of a Pyrex jug, can crumble to dust while the rest just shatters. Or how fast the cracking is compared to the amount of time it takes to shut your eye when water is being poured into it (yes, there’s a side-by-side demo). Also, American pyrex is apparently inferior to European, though that could just be the English hosts’ national pride showing.

We don’t envy them the clean-up. While a tarp was laid down to catch all the shards, it turns out that super-heated pyrex just melts on through to the other side. And you thought sweeping up the kitchen after dropping a jar of salsa was bad!

What else would you like to see get smashed in slo-mo? Throw out some ideas in comments below.

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