The beautiful coney-joney was first discussed by Hertz back in 1881 and has henceforth become known as Hertzian cone cracks. They typically occur when a hard spherical object is pressed into the surface of a brittle material. In this case, the sphere itself is made of a brittle material (glass) and is "pressed" into the steel plate when it impacts, but the same effect is present. The cone-shape is caused by the propagation of a crack. The crack begins its life as a ring just outside of the region that's in contact with the plate, where the tensile stresses (the kind that pull a crack open) are at their highest. The crack generally then grows orthogonally away from the surface for a short distance before turning and heading away at a coney-joney angle. The path followed is one that maximizes the release of stored strain energy (the same sort of energy that is stored when you pull back a rubber band). The maximal strain energy releasing path is ultimately guided by the local magnitude of the stress fields (similar in concept to the gradient of the pressure levels in the glass upon impact) near the leading edge of the crack. All in all, for spherical contact such as this, the stress fields basically say to the crack, go be a cone, it's the best release. Source: PhD in this area

It’s called a “conchoidal fracturing”, and occurs in glass and glass like rocks. It’s one of the key indicators archaeologists use to identify stone tools and tool scraps. When the force of the strike moves through the glass, depending on the angle and force, the fracture absorbs much of the force (you can see that in the ripples left on the new surface of the glass) allowing for precise shaping. Basically, glass + force = conchoidal fracture.

The secret to these glass balls is that there is no grain like tat in rocks or wood. The balls are also annealed in a way as to temper them so they won't fracture. That is why you got that cone effect when they hit the plate!

This is arguably the most scientific one of you guys' videos has been, observing the state of the dropped glass being so similar every time. The Coney-Joney effect is very fascinating, and I bet this video could be used as a scientific case study on it.

4:00 First Drop(?) 4:55 Second drop 6:13 Third drop 6:35 (it's called a conchoidal fracture) 8:48 Forth drop 10:08 Fifth drop 11:12 Sixth drop 12:50 Seventh drop 14:45 Eighth drop 15:49 Ninth drop

The glass spheres’ unusual breaking effect is called concoidal fracturing (credit to ttv_aussieloverkangaroo for the clarification) due to the distribution of force as it hits the steel plate. Read #1 for info on the cracking of this glass, read #2 for info on why your shirts were burning. #1 Glass of this type is of an inorganic silica compound, and is uncompressable. The force has no place to be released, so, consequently, the force pushes the sides of the glass sphere out in a shearing motion. This is called shear loading. Directly on the point of contact, the glass stays almost completely intact, as it is being pushed w/ extreme force, that is then diverted downwards, and outwards creating the cone effect. These glass spheres might’ve been made similar to how a Prince Rupert’s Drop acts. A Prince Rupert’s Drop is basically a tear drop of molten glass dropped into cold water, creating a piece of glass where the outside is instantaneously cooled, but the inside is still hot, resulting in a force that pulls inwards towards the center of the glass drop. The drop is extremely hard, but if nicked at the tip, can shatter in milliseconds (watch SmarterEveryDay’s video that better explains it here - m.kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rstdmZeY1NG2cqc.html) The Prince Rupert’s Drop style effect COULD explain why the sphere is so hard; when it was cooled, the inner glass of the sphere cooled more slowly, creating a force that pulls inwards towards the center if each ball. This makes it extremely strong, and creates the cone effect. The reason that a pattern seems to emerge where the cone’s shape is almost identical dropped from 10 meters and 45 meters is that, as I said earlier, the glass is uncompressable, and the maximum exerted force was not yet achieved. This might be possible if the spheres is dropped from a much greater height onto a material that would not absorb a lot of force (the plate in the video absorbs a lot of force because of its wobbling, and the sand further absorbs the shock) such as a mangalloy plate fused to concrete, as the plate wouldn’t be able to move, and acts as an almost immovable object. I’m led to believe that if the glass spheres succumb to the force and eventually are smashed against something with enough force, they will either crack into multiple large chunks, OR shatter into different shapes, where the closer to the point of impact, the smaller the pieces. #2 My hypothesis on why the spheres built up such a strong magnification of the sun so quickly is just the nature of the ball. In you cut it in half, and aligned the cut side parallel to the sun, you’ll see that the side closer to the sun is shaped like a concave lens, and as the rays hit the ball, the energy and light is dispersed. When it reaches the other side of the ball, it meets a convex lens, which concentrates the rays of light. It’s basically an extremely efficient magnifying glass. More technical info on Hertzian Cone Cracking- royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2014.0135 Concoidal fracturing in other circumstance- www.sandatlas.org/conchoidal-fracture/ Feel free to blast me in the comments of my comment. I understand not everyone will agree with me/believe this is self-research and not plagiarism. But I really don’t care.

The glass is strong against compression, like concrete.And the point where it impacts the metal plate is the one where the stress is purely compression, that explains the point. The parts that fall off shattered from the ball due to the shearing forces applied on impact, since there were nowhere for the energy to flow easily. The parts that stayed were mostly being supported by that one point in the cone. The waves are probably a result of the manufacturing process, since the small glass ball has less waves and has probably been made in less layers. One easy way to understand how strong glass is against compression is trying to brake a piece of small glass by pinching it between your thumb and index. Unless you have the glass bending, it will probably not brake.

I think Rexy’s been through a lot and now he deserves a relaxing day at the spa

I think the cone thing is happening because glass is strong in compression, weaker in tension - the point that hits the surface is experiencing compression forces - the parts to the side of it are overhanging the point of contact and because they want to continue moving downwards (Newton's first), these parts are under tension with respect to the part in contact with the surface, so they tear off - this is really clear to see in the slow-mo for the first drop of the small sphere Also, they exhibit conchoidal fractures because the glass has no crystal structure with planes of weakness along which to break.

Coney Joney: Solids are much weaker under tensional stresses than compressional stresses. Due to the amorphous structure of glass, it is very strong under compressional stresses and so will only break in the places of high tensional stress. This tensional stress occurs in a cone radiating from the small point of contact and is due to the rapid deceleration of the ball. The top and middle of the ball remains in compression so does not fracture at all. Edit: In addition, as other comments have said, the ripple effect on the surface is called conchoidal fracturing, and this occurs in materials with no crystalline structure. It is the result of the way the shockwave and hence the tensile stress is transferred through the ball. It is the same process by which flint tools were made back in the day.

Just incase anyone was wondering, I know I'm months late on this video. But it fragments like that because it's a sphere hit a concave object being the metal plate. So only the the one side on impact that connects takes the blunt force of impact creating the fragment shap. If the force isn't high enough due to the diameter of said object then the entire thing won't be effected.

The "Coney-Joney" is created on the plane of maximum tensile stress. Glass is a very hard material with high yield (strength) for compressive and shears stresses, but is much weaker in tension. This is why the impact point, being under compression, survives. In a material, tensile, compressive, and shear stress exists simotaneously in different directions. The maximum tension occurs because of the inertia of the material outside of cone pulling down. While the material inside the cone is more effectively stopped by the impact. this is a result of the load propagating within the solid angle of the cone commonly called a frustrum. The waves are probably due to a change in fracture phase. Entering fast-fracture phase results in an unstable (wavy fracture). This is my understanding based on structural mechanics. Hope it helps.

4:10, for those of you who are interested, that kind of crack is called a Conchoidal fracture (Con-coy-doll spelled phonetically). It means the overall shape of the fracture is cone like in nature, where the “positive” cone is popped out of the other side of the medium from the site of impact, and the surface that is impacted (be it by projectile, or tool) is the smaller end of the “cone.” Also, the scientific reason for this phenomenon, is (as most high silicate solids are) Glass is an amorphous solid. So, there is no set, and repetitive “path of failure” (usually following the boundaries of the crystalline structure of a medium) in the material, and therefore, the force gets distributed, and absorbed nearly evenly, resulting in conical fractures, and an easily identifiable point of impact. Since there is no repeating crystalline structure, there is no “stress accumulators” in the material. no sharp angles, no well defined crystalline boundaries, and therefore no where for the stress to accumulate, resulting in the failure of the entire crystal, rather than in between the crystals. As a side note, this can creat edges sharper than a razor. (I learned this the hard way, when I picked up the primitive art of Flint Knapping)

I know I'm a bit late to the party, but the sphere is exerting force into an object from the very tip it lands on, but since the mass comes in at a cone shape, that is the shape of the exerted force. The majority of the mass comes in a straight line down the middle, which is why you get a cone shape instead of a funnel shape. The rest of the mass is divided equally on all sides, which is why the cone has that perfect cone shape. Since the glass sphere is more brittle than the steel plate, all that force is impacted back into the sphere and it cracks in that same shape. If you were to drop a steel sphere onto a glass or ice cube, you would see the fractures going in that exact same shape. This is also why it doesn't matter how big the sphere is, as long as it is below the fracture point of the steel plate. It exerts a larger force if it has a higher mass, but the higher mass also have an equally higher shatter resistance, and an equally higher impact radius.

Love how they are still doing dropping stuff from high place, it’s a classic for the ages

It all comes down to “hardness” vs “toughness”. Glass is an extremely hard structure which also makes it extremely brittle (hard but not tough). When something that hard has significant force applied, the glass wants to break but chooses the path of least resistance (to expend the energy applied). Because it’s a sphere and tensile strength is evenly dispersed, the path of least resistance is outward, not through. The only reason it doesn’t come out in a perfect cone is due to inconsistencies in the glass “grain structure”/shape.

Lots of people have said that the cone shape is caused by conchoidal fracture, and tried to define it, but no one seems to have explained WHY conchoidal fracture exists. I have a degree in geology, but I'm less clear on the physics, so while I think this is right, a physicist might be able to clear up my hazy spots. Basically, glass (and rocks like obsidian) are formed by the very rapid cooling of a liquid. In obisidian's case, molten lava, and in glass' case, melted down sand. Because the liquids cool so fast (by going from volcano to cool air for obsidian and by being quenched in water for glass), the minerals in them do not have time to arrange themselves into large individual crystals. Instead, they form microscopic crystals that slot together so perfectly that they are like one big one. This is what makes it simultaneously so strong in terms of compression and yet so weak in terms of shearing. You could say there are no natural weak-points between crystals for an impact to break along, or that the space between every minute crystal is just as likely to break as the next. So instead of shattering wildly the structure breaks in exactly the way that it distributes the force. Naturally, any impact causes energy to radiate out in circular waves from the point of contact, so the glass fractures along these waves. They look like ripples in water, because that is pretty much what they are - ripples of energy that caused the tiny particles to shear far enough apart that they separated from one another. In the case of the spheres however, the waves of energy bounce around inside the sphere itself, causing many of these waves to be sent flying around in all directions (which you can actually see as reverberations in the slowmo). As they collide with each other, some cancel each other out and some magnify each other, depending on how they meet. The cone shape is caused by the waves radiating out around the surface of the sphere, and then meeting again at the same point. The glass at the exact impact point is still compressed, so instead of breaking there, the waves bounce off of each other again, at an angle roughly 45 degrees to the plane of the surface. This forms the characteristic cone. When the sides of the cone reach the surface of the glass again, the waves release their energy through the path of least resistance, which is up through the surface of the sphere, shattering everything below that point andoutside the 45 degree plane, leaving behind the cone. tl;dr - the structure of the glass allows it to propagate the waves of energy from the impact very well. The cone is caused by these bouncing off of each other and the surface. Extra fact: because the crystals are so tiny, there is no roughness to blunt an edge where two fractures meet, and thus they form an almost molecule-perfect edge. This is why obsidian and glass are so incredibly sharp when they break.

Did some quick maths on the biggest ball drop using your figures of 40m and 40kg drop to work out the final energy output of the heaviest glass ball when it collided. assuming the energy wastage is minimal, it produced about 15 and a half kilojoules of energy, which (if it were in the form of electrical energy) would be enough to power an LED lightbulb for almost half an hour!

Because it's a shock wave and it resonates at the same frequency as the glass however it does not have enough shock wave for completion and thus the shape of the breakage. Also some of the shock is absorbed by the soft ground underneath which also affects the resonation so next time drop it onto something solid and you will find the effects to be substantially deferred.

thats called a Conchoidal fracture. A Conchoidal fracture is a smoothly curving fracture surface of fine-grained materials which have no planar surfaces of internal weakness or planes of separation (no cleavage). Such a curving fracture surface is characteristic of glass and other brittle materials with no crystal structure. its the principle behind flintknapping.

David Attenborough in the bushes: here we see three Australian males in their natural habitat dropping objects from a great distance in the name of science. While many people don’t understand their dialect they watch for enjoyment. Today we see them drop glass balls from this great height. They celebrate the achievement by screaming that it has a coney joney. This is a self dubbed name as it is unknown what the name of the real effect is. On closer inspection they discover that by some pure miracle the impact point is unaffected and their celebrations grow larger. The effect is most likely created due to how the builder constructed the ball. Upon closer inspection you can see how the ball has fractured in layers. Unbeknownst to these males they ask there large worldwide following to explain it to them. The public then responds by giving their best explanation below in the comments section as it is referred to in hopes of recognition. I have been studying all sorts of different animals in the past, but this one just straight up confuses me.

If you look at the shape of the bowling ball from a similar angle you can see the same cone-like shape. It's just that the bowling ball only has a few thicker layers, instead of the glass with all the thinner layers.

5:55 Given the brittleness is from an incredibly rigid lattice, I'd expect there's close to 0 elastic deformation in it. I am sure that all energy that didn't go into splitting it went into deforming the steel which acted like a leaf spring, providing an apparent bounce.

The actual scientific answer is that *it breaks in a similar way every time because of the way the glass was cooled. Much like a Prince Rubert's Drop, the glass is cooled rapidly; creating a compressed center, and a shell that can sheer off after the impact. The molecular structure of the glass is like layers or shells, so only the outermost layer breaks off of the ball instead of it shattering throughout the whole ball.

Ball drop # 1- 4:56 2- 6:16 3- 8:51 4- 10:10 5- 11:13 6- 12:53 7- 14:47 8- 15:52

I love the interactions in these. No cursing, no horrible pranks against each other, but still VERY entertaining. Good on ya, fellows! I hope you filled up on KFC after all this

there's a reason why crystal ball sellers give the warning of "when you're not home cover the crystal ball", not because of some mystic ideas or paranoia, but because the light hitting it through a window would set your house on fire

The light being focused so clearly through the shards of broken glass at 8:09 is one of the raddest things I've ever seen on this channel. How good.

I learned a thing or 2 from SmarterEveryDay. When he shot a 9mm bullet toward acrylic. The middle was not fractured at all, but the area around it was shattered. He called it frustum. It is where stress is not transferred through an object like a cylinder but it is transferred through a pressure cone. Thank you SmarterEveryDay for making me smarter. #smartereveryday

It's 2022, and yes. The Coney-Joney effect is mentioned a lot in our science textbooks. All scientists and physists are discussing this matter.

Glass forms in layers. When the end result is a sphere, there are multiple spheres below (inside). The strongest part, is the thickest (minimal damage). A few layers “ slough” off from the kinetic energy, but only off of the bottom. The layers on top, have support below them. All just a guess

I can't say I'm an expert in coney-joneology but I believe it's caused by the way glass compresses. Glass is a strong, but brittle material, meaning it can withstand a lot of force but breaks quickly (compared to metals, which bend and deform). When it hits the plate, the point of impact gets squished in, and the glass around it has to follow due to the strong bonds. But because the compression strength (squishing ability) is stronger than the tensile strength (stretching ability) the area around the point of impact can't handle the stress of stretching, and shatters. The ring around the point of impact is what makes it look like a cone. Hope this helps explain things simply!

It's a retinal pressure cone caused by small surface area contact combined with the Amorphis microscopic molecular structure of the glass resulting in a conchoidal fracture pattern. I knew that off the top of my head because of KZfaq . KZfaq rules.

it has likely been mentioned but, the reason the ball doesn't shatter more, the higher you bring it is because from the first drop at the halfway point with the first medium ball, is because it already hit its terminal velocity, meaning no matter the high past that point at most. The speed is the same, meaning its force of impact will also be the same.

That was such a beautiful, specific Parks & Recreation reference. Shout out to the greatest board game ever created during a massive depressive episode.

In case anyone was wondering, the 40kg glass ball: Falls for 3.03 seconds Reaches a speed of 106 km/h before impact Hit the steel plate with a force of 392.266 N (88.1849 lbf) EDIT: Thank you to MechanicalMind7. The force listed above is just the average impact force. The peak impact force (the one you'd feel if hit in the head) is actually close to 1,765.17 kN or 396826 lbf, assuming the steel plate had a 2 cm give.

It’s called a “conchoidal fracturing”, and occurs in glass and glass like rocks. It’s one of the key indicators archaeologists use to identify stone tools and tool scraps. When the force of the strike moves through the glass, depending on the angle and force, the fracture absorbs much of the force (you can see that in the ripples left on the new surface of the glass) allowing for precise shaping. Basically, glass + force = conchoidal fracture. Plz pin

4:57= throwing smallest glass ball 6:17= throwing medium glass ball 8:52= throwing bowling ball 10:11= throwing big rock ball 11:14 throwing Part 2 smallest glass ball 12:53 throwing medium glass ball part 2

I've been watching this show for ages, kinda addictive and satisfying just seeing y'all doing all that ridiculous stuff 🤣🤣🤣 may I suggest something? How about trying different guages of bullets on the glass spheres and for the finale you shoot it with a tank 😱

For brittle materials like glass, they break in a shape known as a "frustrum" (which is essentially a cone with the tip cut off) centered at the point of impact, which is exactly what you see here! Source: Mechanical Engineering Student

The shape is called a concoidal ... It's a fracture of silica molecules which makes the glass .... Also when the glass hits the steel plate ... The impulse created makes the wave patterned fractures which in turn explain Newton's 3rd law at the point of contact nothing happens... But the impulse travels in the form of waves and is the force is not conserved anywhere else but the point of contact , the cone is formed ... (Comtest).. thank you ❤️

You guys are great! Got to this vid late but I can give my Gaunson style explanation. At impact there is a "wave" in the glass angled at 45 deg. It propagates so fast through glass that the glass acts like a liquid which forms the "wavies". Once they reach the limit of the edge the reflection tries to come back which pulls all the glass off the surface. 🖐😃👍

Watching the glass ball falling in slow motion reminds me of a drop of rain falling from a storm cloud.

They should definitely drop the hulk fist on one of the glass orbs.

The "Coney Joney" is actually an incomplete manifestation of the Bell Effect. A subsequent drop with the impact at the exact same location and angle would complete the effect, distributing the force through the rest of the bell curve, creating a bell shape and serving as a reminder for us to GET THE BELL ON.

Hertzian ring and cone crack systems. At higher velocities or loads, inelastic deformation (densification, flow, or intense local fracturing and crushing) under the impact site leads to characteristic patterns of fragmentation arising from radial, lateral and median cracks. But hey i like coney-joney or HRCJ effect better :P

The fact it doesn't shatter raises the question,how far must it fall to completely explode =0

Smarter Every Day actually kinda explained why it breaks that way. Stress propagates through the glass in a shape called a fructum, which is basically a cone with the point cut off. That cone gets wider until it intersects the edge of the ball, and everything on the wrong side of that stress line is what breaks off.

As a retired glass maker, you make these in layers, like as onion. Also it is leaded crystal which is 60% by weight dissolved lead, giving it the optical quality. A crack will always travel the path of least resistance, ie the thinnest, so upon impact the cracks will propagate in 45 degree angles, the waves are the onion layers exposed.

them making fire made my day bc it reminded me so much of myself and i realised that i am not alone in a world of silliness and dumb ideas such as these, but i share it with my favourite content creators on the planet, thanks boys, i hope i can meet ya one day

Just imagine in 1000 years if archeologists ever dig up that area all the awkward things they're going to find buried beneath the surface.

LMAOOOO, okay now I fully understand this tweet made by Anthony Oliveira: when i bought my giant crystal ball the lady looked me in the eye and said "whatever you do, never EVER leave it uncovered when youre not home" and i said "oh wow because of spirits?" and she said "what? no bc if the sun hits it weird it'll burn down your house"

Can we just take a moment to appreciate how good of aim they have.

It's Conchoidal fracturing... A conchoidal fracture refers to a haphazard mode of breakage of a material that does not adhere to any fixed or well-described physical planes of separation. Brittle materials are more likely to exhibit conchoidal fracturing. that's why the waves appear on the coney joney and why it breaks the way it does. It has no pattern or plane of separation.

Pure joy from start to finish !

15:49 is what you came for.

As a graduate of Gaunson school of science, the congulei-gai-nurei effect occurs because the glass is made of sand and sand is found on the earth, and the sand is heated a lot to become like lava in a volcano to form the glass ball. Thus when the ball hits the ground, its like a human being hitting their head to remember something, so the glass ball remembers that time it was super hot like a volcano, and forms that volcano shape from its memory. Each volcano formed is different to each glass ball like a snowflake.

The fact that youcan see the shockwave propagate through the ball is amazing. You could almost liken it to seismography. How an earthquake that is big enough will be heard around the globe.

The inertia from the outer edge keeps putting force on the edge of the impact spot, causing the edges to fall of instead of the impact spot cracking.

Shoutout to editor Jack who runs even when he's 3 feet away from the camera.

That slowies are incredible. The ripple effect from the cone are awesome!!

That shatters a whole, new world of possibilities.

As the glass impacts, the point of impact supports the glass above, however there's a shear plane that can't withstand the excess force (the triangular shape from the side view) where the material below the fracture line isn't supported, so below that line is shearing due to tensile stress (the glass below the triangular shape being pulled away from the supported glass fracture line above) on the glass, the fact that the "Coney Joney" is uneven is likely due to the force being applied having a lateral (forward) vector, meaning there's more force being applied to one side than the other, causing more shearing to occur on one side as opposed to the other, so if you drop these directly down you'd likely see an even "Coney Joney". It's likely the front is shearing more as the force has a greater/higher forward motion (which is also translating to a higher stress on impact/stopping motion) so more of the front lower section is shearing as opposed to the rear, so more at the front less at the back. I hope i made this clear enough to understand! You could also likely review the slow motion footage to confirm/debunk the lateral force causing the un-even "Coney Joney". To eliminate the "Coney Joney" effect you'd likely need to surpass the compression strength of the glass itself upon impact where the whole glass ball would likely either shatter, split or a mix of both (maybe turn into dust/tons of tiny shards. This force may be too high to overcome from dropping from Terminal Velocity of the glass balls... maybe look into it? =D As for the waves the most reasonable explanation i can think of is that it's due to the cooling process tempering the glass different amounts at different depths for some reason. Really quite some interesting physics/science/engineering phenomena!

The cones are happening due to your position south of the equator. Here in America the cones are on the other side of the ball.

I love watching y’all drop stuff from the tower!!!! It makes my day & honestly I wasn’t having a very good one today!!! Thanks!!!!!

Most people watching this would not know about the water filled magnifiers we used to put in front of the very small tv screens we had in the 1950s. These are great for focussing the light of the sun, except they were very heavy. You could write/burn words into wood very quickly!!

i believe its called the "Death Star Effect", where a sphere just looks cooler missing a part of it

15:50 it kinda does... your welcome

The shape of the glass sphere is what keeps it from completely shattering

I agree with the pinned comment, I have another theory. I believe its about momentum. When the ball hits the steel because its spherical only a tiny maybe 10 sq millimeter of area is contacting the steel. When contact is made the force of impact is spread through the whole sphere, the glass on the bottom half of the sphere has nothing to support it and is ripped off the sphere by the downward force of the impact. Causing the coney-joney effect to emanate from the impact point. If you slow down the point of impact you can see the glass on the bottom of the sphere does not shatter and go everywhere is is ripped off the ball and yanked down to the plate, then spreads out.

In engineering, there are two types of stresses that a material can experience: axial stress (tension and compression) and shear stress. These two types of stress are related to each other using an engineering construct called Mohr's Circle. Basically, when a material is loaded, there exists an angle where there is no shear stress (called the principal planes), and 45 degrees from the principal planes is the angle of the maximum shear stress. You can see this in concrete loading tests (unconfined compression test). A concrete cylinder is compressed until it fails. These cylinders usually have a shear failure, and the crack that forms is usually on the diagonal. Glass is strong in compression and shear, but is weak in tension. When the glass hits the steel plate, the kinetic energy is transferred from the glass to the steel plate, and ultimately into the ground. Any portion of the glass ball that can transfer this energy with compressive stress or shear stress does not break, but the portion of the ball that transfers its energy with tensile stress shatters. The cone shape comes roughly from the angle of the principal planes (assuming an isotropic material), which delineates the glass is supported in shear/compression from the glass that is only supported in tension.

The Coney Joney Effect: Scientific Term- When a spherical object collides with another object where only a single point makes contact, the energy is transferred back through the sphere in a cone shape. Thus anything outside of this conic region is unsupported, and due to its inertia will shear off of the rest of the sphere. This phenomena will result in a hemisphere with a conic end. Here is a diagram I drew up: imgur.com/gallery/BbxiDsu Disclaimer: (I don't know if any of this is true I was just guessing)

It's so surreal watch them fall in slow motion. It's like watching a void or maybe what a black hole would like like if it were visible.

maybe the cone of the glass effect is showing how the energy gets displaced through the glass and it's molecular structure shows through how it shattered?

*Says in a nerdy voice* According to my calculations the coney joney occurs when a fragile item that is layered (example glass) and is dropped from a reasonable distance. How this happens is the impact zone acts like obleck, ready for impact, it then sends a shockwave which then distributes the layers away from the sphere. The reason why the shockwave occurs is because when the ball makes contact, the impact zone absorbs the energy and its got all this energy with no where to go so it sends it self at a ten degree angle going to the impact zone and the energy continues to move down the layers until it inevitably runs out of energy. The reason the first two impact zones were off to the side are because they had forward movement and that made the distribution of energy go more forward. Think of doing a canonball at a pool, you move forward and that causes the water impact to move forward and out of the way, same concept. When you just dropped them with no forward motion, the peak of the cone was more in the middle but was not direct because the ball was spinning a little and the baseplate was not flat.

Rexy: *sees big ball coming from the sky* Rexy: *flashbacks to around 66 million years ago*

The glass ball burning you like that is why they tell you to cover a glass orb when you're not in the room with it. If the sun hits it, it can end up burning your house down.

17:06 with speed of 0.25 you can see the energy moving from the top to the point of impact through the glass. (I think, unless it is reflection)

2nd time stamp for SloMo if there's some time in between Small Ball 4:55 Medium Ball 6:15 - 7:50 From the Top: Bowling Ball 8:50 Concrete Ball 10:10 Small Ball 11:10 - 12:00 Medium Ball 12:50 Trampoline 14:45 Big Ball 15:50 - 16:45

the bit at the beginning where he keeps thinking he's getting bit by a bug is so great. not just because of the reaction, but how they go ahead and test out ideas for how to explain it immediately.

Obsidian (volcanic glass) fractures in much the same way as the glass balls. That is what makes it workable for sharp tools, like projectile points and knife blades.

Watching the slowie of the biggest sphere, if you watch how the shards of glass explode outward, you can kinda see the diagonal path they all travel... its like the impact carved the conical shape in a way

The so-called "Coney Joney Effect" was first discovered by Giacomo Conigioni, an Italian physicist and student of Galileo. In the early 17th Century, years after Galileo's experiments studying the effects of gravity on spheres of different masses at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Giacomo Conigioni conducted similar experiments using a variety of materials. His most striking (and accidental) discovery was the way in which solid glass spheres did not shatter apart as expected, but instead parts of the sphere broke off in a conical shape from the point of impact, leaving the majority of the sphere intact. Conigioni was amazed by this phenomenon - in his notes he expressed remarks such as "che ridicolo" and "come buono". He facetiously named this effect after himself in his notes, with the intention of giving it a proper name at a later date. However, the University of Pisa refused to publish his findings at the time. The university officially said it was because he had vastly overspent their budget for his experiments on the incredibly expensive glass spheres from a Parisian glassmaker. However, some suspected the university of conspiring with the Catholic Church during the Roman Inquisition to suppress the scientific discoveries of Galileo and his associates. It wasn't until the late 17th Century, years after his death, that Isaac Newton persuaded the faculty to release the notes, which were subsequently published in an English scientific journal. Conigioni's name became erroneously anglicised as "Coney Joney" among the English scientific community, giving us the name we are familiar with today.

Cause of the Coney Joney: it is caused because the glass is more resistant to compressive force then it is to pulling force. What happens is on that small point of impact the glass compresses while on the surrounding glass not in contact with the metal plate the momentum of the glass causes a pulling force. this causes conchoidal fracturing in that particular way that makes the cone.

If you watch to the right side of the sphere from about 8:08-8:18 you can see the focal point of the light. This is what kept burning them. It is really cool to see the focal point emphasized by all of the glass fragments. TBH I did not see this the first 6 or 7 times I have seen this video. :-)

8:15 You can clearly see the focal point ... that looks awesome

We need a Slow Mo Guys version of this! Imagine how spectacular the shattering would be in super slow mo!!!

Comtest: When the glass ball hits the steel the shock waves travel down the ball getting wider creating coney Joney. Then they aren't strong enough to break the glass and that is why the rest of the ball is still intact.

Nice video! I am not sure this is good advice, but if your steel plate is bent it might be better to flip it upside down, so you don't get a "lever" effect when the dropped items hit off center...

the surface radial tensile stress at the circle of contact between the sphere and the target, generated by the impact.

"Look into the glass ball, what do you see?" "Um... a dinosaur and some Australians" "Interesting..."

G'day, Well, Pilgrims... The Word is "SPALLING..." The Compression-Wave generated by the Impact tears the Skin off the Central Mass of the Globe, and the Skin shatters into Sharp Flakes. Spearheads and Knife Blades are made of Obsidian and Flint, using a similar mechanism, flaking the material away one bit at a time using concentrated pressure onto one spot, applied with a piece of Hardwood or Antler. Just(ifiably) sayin'. ;-p Ciao !

2:18 since y’all are in australia it’s actually right side up, so you’re seeing how it’s like to see things everywhere else

Because when they spin part of it is the impact pressure and the other part of it is the sudden stop of the ball which makes it slide off of the sudden stop. Causing the Coney Joni FX

8:15 look at the sun-"laser" in the slow motion segment. Thats just wild.

It’s called a pressure cone. I learned about it in one of my engineering classes. Basically the material has a particular force threshold that will break it, there’s a different shape cone for every material I’ll make the expiation for the glass as simple as I can, let me know if you have any questions For the glass for example, it forms a cone shape, because at the split second the ball hits, the glass can either break or compress. Because there is more glass directly above (at a right angle to the force of the hit) the point that gets hit, there is a cushioning effect from the supporting glass. That’s why it doesn’t completely shatter. That’s also why the cone was at an angle for some of the tests. Because they were spinning. No fault to the boys, but getting a falling object to do exactly what you want is very challenging. If the boys are reading this, what is the maximum weight the tower can hold? This is why a bullet will cause a larger hole in the back of the target as opposed to the entrance I could help you design an object that fits that maximum weight threshold and falls strait, but also have a focus point of a few square inches that way you can basically have the heaviest hole punch in the world

It happens because the force of the impact hits the point on the left of right of the cone and everything vibrates so when it hits the floor it shatters make the vibrations come harder making the wave effect

it's the pressure from the contact point moves up and out in a round pattern leaving the point the ball hit as the high spot in the break

"I feel horrible about throwing glass off the tower" You guys literally threw a car from the top of that massive thing

I think we need a Smarter Every Day and How Ridiculous collaboration to figure this one out...