Image: Phalsbourg wineglass. Rene Lalique, Designer; Lalique et Cie, Manufacturer. 1924. CMoG 2011.3.401. One of many wine glasses in The Corning Museum of Glass collection that we take great care not to break by any means!
It is possible to break a glass by singing, although it requires singing at precisely the pitch at which a particular glass resonates and with enough decibels to shatter the glass.
Online Videos
If you would like to see the process in action, you can view these videos:
- In How to Break Glass with your Voice, Hard Science uses amplification to break leaded crystal glasses.
- It is very difficult for a human voice to sing with enough volume to shatter a glass, however A MythBuster's Glass Shattering Montage features Jaime Vendera, a singer and vocal coach, who breaks glass solely with his voice.
Further Online Reading
- Fact or Fiction?: An Opera Singer's Piercing Voice can Shatter Glass from Scientific American (2007) discusses the myth, misconceptions, physics, and truth of operatic glass breaking, and includes Jaime Vendera's success.
- HowStuffWorks has also tackled this question.
Additional Reading
- Eberhart, Mark E. Why Things Break: Understanding the World by the Way It Comes Apart. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003.
Find It at a Library Near You
Links & Files
- What to do when glass breaks? Opens in new window
- 10 Conservation Stories in the Galleries (Blog post, The Corning Museum of Glass) Opens in new window
- Recycling Clear Glass at the Hot Glass Show (Blog post, The Corning Museum of Glass) Opens in new window
- Practical Applications of Tension in Glass (YouTube video, The Corning Museum of Glass) Opens in new window
