Batavian tears,

or Prince Rupert's drops as they are known,

were discovered in the 17th century and became famous when Prince Rupert of Bavaria presented five of the curiosities to Charles II of England. These were turned over to the Royal Society for study in 1661, yet despite four centuries of research, the secret of the drop's combination of great strength and self-destructive fragility remained elusive, photograph Purdue University, the drops look like glass tadpoles, the bulbous end can withstand the blows of a hammer and yet burst into powdery dust when their threadlike tails are snipped,

the drops are made by taking red hot blobs of molten glass with a high thermal expansion coefficient, like soda-lime or flint glass, and dropping them into a jar of cold water. The molten glass instantly solidifies into the characteristic tailed drop shape in a quenching process similar to that used to make the tempered glass for modern smartphone screens, which wasn't discovered until the 19th century, it all sounds fascinating, and it is as the video above demonstrates, it is a little long, but can the bulbous end of a Bravaian Tear really withstand the impact of a speeding bullet? you will have to watch the video to see!