CRACK BIFURCATION IN DISINTEGRATING PRINCE-RUPERT DROPS

Results from a high-speed photographic study made at a framing speed o f one million frames per second of the disintegration of Prince Rupert 's drops made of soda-lime glass and immersed in a transparent liquid of a matching refractive index are described. The refractive index mat ching made the cracks through the drop and their bifurcation very clea rly visible. The results further confirm a model of the disintegration process proposed recently.