Val and Galen’s science tendencies led them to a really interesting and symbolic unity ceremony. They created what’s called a Prince Rupert’s Drop.
I’m sure some of you academics out there know what’s up with this, but I had to take to Wikipedia to see what the hell this was all about (since my head jumped to a piercing I won’t mention).
Here’s what Val said about it:
If you drop molten glass into water, it cools very quickly but has lots of residual stresses inside. It’s very strong under compression (you can’t break it with a hammer), but if you snap off just the tail, the whole thing explodes in a shower of tiny glass powder.
They ended up breaking this in lieu of the traditional Jewish breaking of the glass. I kind of love the symbolism of such a hard structure with such a fragile mechanism. Plus, SCIENCE! If you want to attempt this at your ceremony, just make sure to find a helpful scientist or science teacher to make it happen safely.
And check this shit out: these guys over at Smarter Every Day decided to film a slo-mo version of this kind of drop with a high frame rate camera. At 2:31 it turns into what looks like an explosion of rainbow confetti! Plus, they totally explain the science behind it for our braining pleasure.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe-f4gokRBs&w=560&h=315]
Via Boingboing
Check out more photos of Val and Galen’s science-loving wedding here.
