Clip of the Day

Clip of the Day

Our daily hand picked video is sure to inspire a solid dose of wonderment. The library is huge, luckily we sift through it and bring you daily fixes of inspiration and wonderment. Have you seen an instructional video that amazes? Please let us know by sending us a line at info@wonderhowto.com

Clip of the Day - 8/22/2008

Slice a bottle in half ... with string

Really? A string? In half?

Yes. This is not a hoax. Just old fashioned science.

The ingredients necessary are simple: string, acetone and a match.

We initially assumed this was a result of the acetone, the magical ingredient in many other fringe hacks of this nature. But the acetone here is simply an agent for flame. (Hint: look to the Related Videos on the right to see the other applications.)

The clean break in the glass occurs when the exact ring of heated glass comes in contact with the cold water. Thermal shock slices the bottle in half.

If the act isn't magic enough, practice this on several bottles to craft yourself a set of mod glasses.

Join the Discussion
+1
stubbs 6 months ago
OMG
Czech Beer
good stuff....
reply
+1
colin 4 months ago
had to check the science on this many times
so unbelievable
reply
+1
Bobinski 3 months ago
WHAT did the science tell you?
reply
+1
sanlife 2 months ago
super cool...
reply
+1
yadda 2 months ago
This really does work. I tried it so that I can cut all my bottles in half to start an indoor garden. The trick is in the thickness and how much the string can absorb. BTW acetone is also known as finger nail polish remover. I havent tried this with rubbing alcohol yet. The thicker the glass, the more wraps around the bottle you need. I tried it with regular yarn and it worked fine. I tried it with construction string (yellow) and it didnt seem to absorb enough acetone to even light.

A few words of wisdom: wear gloves, make sure the water is cold, wipe excess acetone off of the bottle. I first wrapped some string around the bottle, tied off a knot, then soaked it in acetone. The put it back on the bottle and wipe the glass off so the flames dont go crazy. Rotate the bottle constantly while the string is on fire, then dunk it in cold water. You do not need to apply very much pressure. One thing im not sure about is if you rotate the bottle until the acetone burns out, will the surrounding parts of the bottle near the string be just as hot, thus producing an unclean cut? or does a clean cut depend on a cold bottle with a small amount of heat in a confined area? (the string) i have a lot of bottles to practice with because I actually have a use for this, and I will post results on instructables.com soon. Thanks for posting this. Cheers!
reply
+1
CainiteCaitiff last month
I wonder if you can do this from top to bottom to cut the bottle down the middle....
reply
+1
luvashy03 3 weeks ago
This works! I used regular old yarn and it the top just cracked off.
reply
add new comment
Add your comment:

Related Videos - Similar & Oddly Connected

Member Playlist - pranks

loading...