Talk:Prince Rupert's Drop

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The 18 January 2006 edit had (incorrectly) switched tensile and compressive stresses in the explanation of how these drops work. The compressive stress on the surface is what causes the strengthening effect; glass, like all brittle materials, is far stronger in compression than in tension, which means that it will generally fail from tensile stress, especially when subject to both kinds of stress (e.g. bending). If the surface was in tension, it's likely that the glass would fracture spontaneously.