Myth or not: the white ceramic from a sparkplug....

[AND1]

Can the white ceramic stuff off a sparkplug shatter a glass without a sound simply by just throwing a tiny piece?

[jimmalenko]

try it and post back your results

[AND1]

actually i did but i wanted to see if most of you think it's possible

[Faustus]

Never tried it, but I've never heard anyone suggest its not true. Therefore I go with true.

[AND1]

I cant believe none of you guys heard about this. Here is the story:

My brother kept telling me it worked and I was like yeah ok, there is no way a little piece of ceramic can shatter a glass. So today while we went to the junk yard (I was looking for a part for my car that broke) he pulled a spark plug out of a crashed junk car and we found about junk van. He hit the glass looking thing on the spark plug until the stuff broke into pieces. He takes a little piece the size of a m&m (it had sharp edges) and he tosses it at the back windshield of the van and with a "poof" sound hardly noticeable the glass starts shattering like a spider web. All you heard was a little cracking sound as it spread throughout the whole glass.

I stood there in amazement.

We were in a junk yard so all the cars were crashed thats why I tried it but on the way home I realised that people can buy spark plugs for 99 cents.

[Faustus]

You misunderstand. I have heard of this. I'm saying that I've never even heard it suggested that its untrue, so I figured it was for real. Also the explination I was given made sense.

[AND1]

Also the explination I was given made sense.

Can you explain it to me also becuase I dont understand why it works?

[jimmalenko]

I cant believe none of you guys heard about this. Here is the story:

My brother kept telling me it worked and I was like yeah ok, there is no way a little piece of ceramic can shatter a glass. So today while we went to the junk yard (I was looking for a part for my car that broke) he pulled a spark plug out of a crashed junk car and we found about junk van. He hit the glass looking thing on the spark plug until the stuff broke into pieces. He takes a little piece the size of a m&m (it had sharp edges) and he tosses it at the back windshield of the van and with a "poof" sound hardly noticeable the glass starts shattering like a spider web. All you heard was a little cracking sound as it spread throughout the whole glass.

I stood there in amazement.

We were in a junk yard so all the cars were crashed thats why I tried it but on the way home I realised that people can buy spark plugs for 99 cents.

sorry.... I wasn't there

[888888]

I don't see the big deal. It doesn't matter if it is a spark plug, a piece of lead, or a rock. If you throw something small hard enough, it will break glass. I think I would have to see this before I am amazed.

[freestyler]

Yes I've heard of this phenomenon before

http://www.kmsp.com/news/investigators/story.asp?1633793

[AND1]

I don't see the big deal. It doesn't matter if it is a spark plug, a piece of lead, or a rock. If you throw something small hard enough, it will break glass. I think I would have to see this before I am amazed.

The big deal is it doesnt make a sound. The windows does not shatter so everyone can hear but rather breaks in a spider web form.

[thecoalman]

I don't see the big deal. It doesn't matter if it is a spark plug, a piece of lead, or a rock. If you throw something small hard enough, it will break glass. I think I would have to see this before I am amazed.

The big deal is it doesnt make a sound. The windows does not shatter so everyone can hear but rather breaks in a spider web form.

I never heard of this but that's how safety glass works though, I was in a car and watched a crack grow across the windshield as we were travelling down the road. Why a piece of spark plug ceramic would cause the crack to start I don't know, probably due to the fact that it's so hard.

[Faustus]

I can't say anything bout why its so quiet. But the sparkplug thing works because the ceramic around the plug is way way more decent then the glass is.

[Cobra]

What happens if you throw these chunks of spark plug at other things then?

[DereX888]

Are you sure your bro didnt threw a whole spark plug?
And which white part of the spark plug are ya talking about - last time I bought them plugs they were all black

[thecoalman]

What happens if you throw these chunks of spark plug at other things then?

It works, I was searching around and found a few pages mentioning it. One was a forensic page that only gave a synopsis, you needed a username to download full article . I'll bet that this is particular to safety glass in cars and not regular glass like a drinking glass.

[mrtristan]

If it's true, it's because cars use laminated safety glass. Safety glass doesn't shatter in the same way that normal glass does.

I won't believe it, until I see it. Car windows are pretty damn hard to break and I have no reason to believe that a little piece of ceramic is capable of breaking the entire sheet, thrown from a human hand.

I have some old spark plugs in the back of my truck, so I'll go and try it out for myself. There's a few abandoned cars close to where I work.

[thecoalman]

If it's true, it's because cars use laminated safety glass.

I think that's exactly why it would work. First they are designed to break, second ceramic can have extremely sharp edges which would easily cut the lamination. Kind of like popping a balloon, that's my theory. I'm just guessing.

Edit: This reminds of of a trick my brother told me, he's a firefighter. You can bend a antennae over against the window. Snap it like a rubber band and poof!!!!

[Faustus]

http://www.kmsp.tv/news/investigators/story.asp?1633793

Still looking for a good explination from something more official then "a guy I know"

ah, both the decenity and the sharp edges.

A novel and efficient method for forced entry into vehicles using broken spark plug insulators to break the windows was reviewed. Various experiments were performed in which a number of objects, varying in their physical characteristics, were compared to the broken ceramic plus insulators in order to examine the uniqueness of the latter in the breaking of tempered glass. A plausible mechanism was presented attributing the great efficiency of the insulators to their hardness in relation to other materials (MOHS scale), and to their potential for the concentration of force in one point because of the sharp, jagged ends.

Best thing google picked up. Its often called "ninja rock" damn I love google.

[BJ_M]

laminated safety glass is only used in the windshield and in the some other windows in some high end suv/cars (as an option) and in police cars (as an option) ....
This info is off the ford fleet/police sales web site .....

some minivans usea special stronger (but thinner which allows flex) tempered saftey glass in the back windows because of a high number of mini van windows blowing out in heat and on the highway due to air pressure ....

[BJ_M]

btw - you can buy a small pen sized device which will shatter glass silently by the same means -- it has a diamond tip on it ...

[BJ_M]

you can prevent your window getting broken very easily this way .. just leave it open 1 -2 mm , it will flex enough that it will not shatter