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What Made My Window Shatter?

Incidentally, does anybody know where you can buy Prince Rupert drops? They used to be available from scientific supply houses. They came packaged in sawdust. I've tried to make my own, but I haven't gotten it to work, and I haven't had much luck with Google.
 
Meffy said:
Shatner's acting could... NEVER! ... shatter glass.

Nimoy's poetry, maybe.

Either one's singing, oh, definitely.
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Just luuuved the one about the Hobbits, and Shatners soliloquy version of Elton Jon's Rocket Man was to die for.

Yuri
 
WildCat said:
Do windows in the UK normally have safety glass? Never seen that here, except in vestibule door glass and auto glass, of course.

Anyway, I think probably a large bird, they can take quite a hit and still fly off, just look at this video. That seagull flew off shortly after!
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Actually, most newer tall buildings in the US (high-rise office buildilngs and apartment buildings/condos) have safety glass. Particularly in earthquake-prone areas.

Personally, I beleive it was Uri Gellar sending out thoughtwave attacks against skeptics. The rest of you better watch out, 'cause he's coming after you next.
 
But he failed. No worries here. I'll twist his spoons if he tries anything fancy.
 
skeptigirl said:
So I'm sitting inside my house working on some papers when all of a sudden there's a big whump. The house shook and I thought a tree had fallen on it. I went out and there on the roof was this huge cement slab that had been over the double chimney like a shelf supported in the middle. It was broken in two and now leaning like an upside down V.

The slab is so heavy that even one half of it is almost impossible for one person to lift. It must be as old as the house so that would make it close to 50 years old. There was no reason I could see that it broke other than it finally failed due to age and weathering.

Anyway, it just seemed appropriate to mention in this thread.
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We had a structural engineer inspect our house recently because of some slab damage, and he told us about a pretty non-intuitive fact: The roof assembly of a house is actually stronger than the concrete slab it is built on. Therefore, as the slab begins to settle, the roof can actually start pulling the house apart on the end of the house OPPOSITE where the slab is moving.

Could it be that this is what happened...there was a great deal of tension in the roof caused by a warped slab, and it just gave away at some point?
 
aggle-rithm said:
We had a structural engineer inspect our house recently because of some slab damage, and he told us about a pretty non-intuitive fact: The roof assembly of a house is actually stronger than the concrete slab it is built on. Therefore, as the slab begins to settle, the roof can actually start pulling the house apart on the end of the house OPPOSITE where the slab is moving.

Could it be that this is what happened...there was a great deal of tension in the roof caused by a warped slab, and it just gave away at some point?
Click to expand...
If I was more computer savvy I'd draw you a picture. It's not what you're thinking.

There is a double chimney. In the middle, between the two openings, are two little brick supports, only 3-4 bricks high and as wide as the chimney base. The slab was about 2 feet wide and a little more than 5 feet long. It sat on the two brick supports in the middle of the chimney and like a TT hung over the chimneys. It was extremely heavy. When I first saw it, it was so heavy I thought it was cemented to the supports but later found you could move it. And now that it is broken in half, I still cannot lift either half by myself. In fact, I could barely slide the halves back into a safe position.
 
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