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Physics

Supersonic cracks seem to be breaking the laws of physics

An experiment with elastic gels broke the theoretical speed limit for how fast cracks can move through materials, raising new questions about the physics of fractures

By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

27 July 2023

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Earthquakes can cause cracks that propagate quickly

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Thin strips of a transparent gel have been found to crack impossibly quickly.

“What we found was a total surprise. This just isn’t supposed to happen,” says Jay Fineberg at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel who led the team that observed the record-breaking cracks. The finding could improve our understanding of some earthquakes and how brittle materials break.

The researchers used fast high-resolution cameras to record how cracks spread through thin samples of porous gels that are commonly used for…

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