Things don't always break. But when they do, you may not always have Allstate. Such is the case for most glass cups. Actually the most cumbersome is the cleanup.

It always pisses me off to see, when I drop it onto a cermaic surface, the glass cup bounce several times before shattering into million pieces. It is not the initial impact that breaks it, it is the vibration, the standing wave caused by the successive bounces off the hard surface.

There must be a way to stop the glass from breaking, even if it falls onto a cermaic surface. If you are fast as a ninja you can catch it. I did it once. But perhaps another way is to dampen the vibration. Just as it happens with buildings in an earthquake, there forms a standing wave, which probably gains amplitude and jumps mode with sequential bounces.

How about using the same logic as for tennis racquets? A small vibration damper could prevent a standing wave by converting the vibration to heat, thus preventing resonance throughout the glass. Just a tiny patch of the same material as for tennis racquets may do the trick.
-- xkuntay, Sep 07 2009

Wiki: shear thinning http://en.wikipedia...wiki/Shear_thinning
[Dub, Sep 07 2009]

Kaye Effect - Leaping liquids! http://www.maniacwo...he-Kaye-Effect.html
(Sorry O/T but very weird) [Dub, Sep 07 2009]

Perhaps make glasses out of a shear thinning material [linky] which should go floppy when a shear force is applied, but remains stable otherwise.
-- Dub, Sep 07 2009


I was thinking that Kaye effect might be because the mound locks up in a hydraulic way, making a tunnel that squirts the fluid. Only stopping when the downward flow pressure alters enough to release the locked up volume. ???
-- wjt, Sep 07 2009


This might work. I use my hands or leg to dampen vibrations in porcelain tiles and can make cuts with a grinder and diamond wheel that are not possible with just a wet saw because the wet saws' table transmits the sound waves.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Sep 07 2009


Plastic wine glasses?????? Dear god.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 07 2009


//which should go floppy when a shear force is applied, but remains stable otherwise.//
A sort-of anti-custard?
-- coprocephalous, Sep 07 2009


My theory of why a glass breaks on the second or third bounce: the initial drop causes invisible strains/fractures, while the second/third bounce provides enough energy to cleave the glass along these fractures. So according to my theory, the damping mechanism won't help much. A bit of internet research should shed light on whether either/both/neither of our theories are correct.
-- xaviergisz, Sep 07 2009


[copro], That's right...<"Carmina Burana - O Fortuna" Plays in the background> The Anti-Custard!</CB-OFPBG>
-- Dub, Sep 07 2009


What if the glass was made of piezo material?
An impact causes volts->fedback in to piezo-glass material to "twitch" the glass / counteract the shock / vibration/resonance?
-- Dub, Sep 07 2009


This is an eminently testable theory. It would make great video. It would be a fine school science project.

1. Obtain 144 drinking glasses. Or long stem wine glasses.

2. Drop from standardized height onto hard surface such that unmodified glass will break with a certain percentage chance/drop. Determine this %.

3. Damper is blob of silicone rubber caulk affixed to side.

4. Demonstrate that wth blob in place, one cannot play glass by rubbing dampened finger along top rim.

5. Determine if presence of damper blob increases rate of nonbreakage with standardized drop.
-- bungston, Sep 08 2009


//Obtain 144 drinking glasses//
That's just gross.
-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Sep 08 2009



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