The Secrets of Breaking Spaghetti

I show you how to make a spaghetti launcher and talk about why spaghetti usually breaks into three or more pieces
STL file for spaghetti launcher: www.printables.com/model/3315...
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[@Omenvreer]

And thus began the Linguine Wars. Italian chefs all across Italy combatted for the most effective spaghetti-based weapon, leaving dozens of Italians restaurants under mountains of tiny uncooked spaghetti bits.

[@user-wz6vp4zc7u]

Only real Italian chefs will use this firearm in combat.

[@AixlaachenPax1801]

And just like today the secret of good italian food is that it have to be reinvented and popularised by France 😅

[@martiddy]

And the french will use their frozen baguettes as swords.

[@potapotapotapotapotapota]

@@martiddy and they will use their croquembouches as stockpiles of grenades!

[@mati.benapezo]

And the english will use the bangers as, well, bangers.

[@dudekumar8106]

No italian were harmed in this video😂

[@CanadaBud23]

Not physically anyway 😆

[@bob_the_engineer1045]

I thought I heard an Italian dies a little each time you break their spaghetti. ;-) Just kidding!

[@JulienPy]

Fun fact, the researchers B. Audoly and S. Neukirch won an IGnobel in 2006 in the physics category for their paper on spaghettis (look it up on Wikipedia, Ignobels are crazy fun)

[@Siphonife]

Is that the type of prize where you have to ask "I guess its a nobel worthy paper?" on spaghetti.

[@Staeve64]

Every time he broke a single spaghetti strand, an Italian grandmother dies.

[@benmcreynolds8581]

This makes me think about the plants/grass that shoot seed pods at pretty good speeds. When i hike here in Oregon they are everywhere and it fascinates me how u barely touch the grass but the seeds go flying

[@badlaamaurukehu]

Stored tension.

[@DavidTheBrain_]

​@@badlaamaurukehuI've got some stored tension

[@MicheleDelGiudice-mykys]

​@@DavidTheBrain_ayo

[@NickC_222]

Destin (SmarterEveryDay) made a video about those plants a couple years back. It's really cool. I think the video is called "Exploding Weed Seeds" if you're interested.

[@dumbcrumb879]

Now I want someone to make a full auto 3d printed spaghetti gun

[@TentoesMe]

Congress would be calling to ban spaghetti.

[@octimus2000]

I was actually thinking about doing that

[@myc0p]

Vegetable _Stock_ broth to _Bump_ the flavor are already banned.

[@dumbcrumb879]

please do I would love to see that. Not sure how you would get the spaghetti to load in one after another tho@@octimus2000

[@EaglexEyeGaming]

Maybe ask unnecessary inventions

[@partofyoutube1297]

I like how the guy was like "hmm let me try putting that spaghetti into a macaroni "

[@Nate-R89]

I was thinking that that could be used for cooking with a long, thin tube, but then it occurred to me that breaking the spaghetti that way would be a lot more time consuming than just cleaning up a mess lol

[@WarioNumberOne]

How about you just cook spaghetti without breaking it?

[@NickC_222]

This comment is so confusing lmao.

[@tabula_rosa]

​@@WarioNumberOne Rice vermicelli is a thing, stop being weird

[@particle_wave7614]

I was a pole-vaulter in high school. Broke 3 different poles in a span of 2 years. 1 broke clean in half, 1 folded in half, the other snapped into 3 separate pieces. always wondered why they all broke differently.

[@Animanarchy]

In my grade 6 class the teacher had us make bridges out of spaghetti and then see how much weight they could hold. That was fun. So was watching this video. The spectacle of spaghetti pieces flying in slow motion was actually quite captivating.

[@igxniisan6996]

90's ppl: we'll have flying cars in future. future: spaghetti physics

[@bpmgaming3351]

Listing off the specs of the macaroni like you were talking about a firearm got a good giggle out of me 😂

[@ryshellso526]

"Noodles per minute, barrel diameter".

[@Knight-Bishop]

I'd been wondering why I sensed thousands of Italians angrily yelling in unison a few days ago.

[@martymoo]

An Italian told me the word "spaghetti" is plural, like panini, and if you break one, you're actually breaking a "spaghetto". 😜

[@giorgioaz]

Correct! Bravo

[@chocolateblocks]

A certain Michael taught me that one

[@4rumani]

you can still call the act breaking spaghetti even if you break just one smart ass

[@jun6174]

Pasta was stolen from China. Fact!

[@andrry_armor]

spa ghetto 👀

[@Chironseth1970]

I just wanted to say that Norbert Stoop is THE best name I have ever heard. I salute Mr & Mrs Stoop for naming their son Norbert. May god bless you all and a thank you to this channel for bringing Norbert to the attention of a much wider audience 😁👍

[@hello_it_is_me.]

Those math scientists just find the most random things and start searching them And I am here for it 🙏

[@olivarra1]

Smarter every day did a super slow-motion video of the "spaghetti breaking in 3 parts" a few years ago. Very interesting watch.

[@noahway13]

No link?

[@bluerendar2194]

@@noahway13 Links usually need to be manually approved by uploader (and are sometimes just auto-blocked by YT), so it's easier to just give searchable terms and let people find the video themselves.

[@MemesNick]

I didn't know he had uploaded that, now I'll have to watch the video. Thanks!

[@A0V1]

I like how he exsplains everything! Keep it up!

[@scootermom1791]

1:24 "but at the end of it all, they had a bunch of broken spaghetti" and no dinner. Lol 😅😅😅😅😅

[@ColtonBrummell]

Great work dude! You do an excellent job setting the bar! Keep it up!

[@LMacNeill]

Did I *need* to know that I can launch spaghetti "bullets" with a macaroni noodle? No... Will I use this knowledge in the future to fire spaghetti bullets at people? Absolutely 100% yes! I love this channel. 🙂

[@trevclarke1086]

I'm one of those people who break up spaghetti into the pan to cook and I think I can answer your question as to why with the two most likely reasons. As a young chap cooking for myself for the first time, I didn't know how else to get it in the pan, and I used to imagine it must be possible to get long, thin spaghetti pans that allowed you to put it straight in. After some experience, I discovered that it would soften and bend if I did it slowly, and kept it whole from that point on. However, I subsequently changed back to breaking it because it makes for a less messy eating experience. :o)

[@perkinscurry8665]

Or you could just learn to eat spaghetti like an adult

[@trevclarke1086]

@@perkinscurry8665 Yeah, guess I spent my time learning not to be a jerk.

[@TimeTravelingFetus]

I too think it's a lot easier to eat.

[@salmi2luccio]

If you twist it its very tidy, you put the fork in m, twist, pull up and eat no messiness and everything goes in your mouth:)

[@skilletborne]

I do it when the correct pan is dirty or I just cannot be bothered to push it down Every person who gets offended by what I do with my own food on my own time deserves whatever pain they feel and will get more if they say it to my face.

[@cerealguy6359]

Idk why but the pole vaulters pole breaking was the funniest shit. Something about how he went full force, turned upside down for the vault then when it broke he held the position the entire time he fell then just sat there in the EXACT same position. Like he couldn't process how a bendy pole could snap under extreme stress and just was like "huh.. this isn't right... I'm supposed to be up there."

[@tinyPaleBlueDot]

I love how such a low profile, everyday event can actually be such a monster to explain. You've got two world class intellects who focus their brainpower on something which falls under their area of expertise, and after two hours, come up empty! And then it takes how many decades before an explanation is finally reached? Maybe it's just me, but this really blows my mind and will leave a lasting impression. I'm definitely going to try out the twisting aspect to see if I can produce a clean break (that results in just two pieces). Such a skill should prove to be quite lucrative as a bar bet!

[@OShackHennessy]

This isn’t the experiment we wanted, it was the experiment we needed

[@alfonsoortizavila4373]

Thanks my friend for the references, I'll check them out! Amazing content as always. :)

[@carto4028]

This is the Italian equivalent to the discovery of gunpowder. Warfare will never be the same.

[@Gracefuldesigns]

So fascinating! Thank you!

[@IndyStry]

This was so cool, one of my favorite episodes because its easily replicable at home!

[@scienceandfun]

Learning alot from this man ❤️

[@tonybelu]

Thank you for the STL!

[@CanadaBud23]

I always fear pole vaulting for that reason, not like I ever to do that stuff but I always thought about if it breaks and you are up in the air and still coming down and one of those pieces happened to land go under you and land upright and you get impaled by your own pole.

[@MadDragon75]

Sounds rough. Has it ever happened?

[@randomnpc445]

Judging by both the clip of the pole vaulter's pole snapping in this video, and the many demonstrations of spaghetti noodles breaking, the chances of you landing on a piece that's sticking straight up are practically zero. The small parts fly away from the fracture point, so you'd probably be in more danger if you were in the crowd, and the two longer pieces are already close to parallel with the ground, so the one beneath you would fall flat while the other should remain in your hand. Beyond that, because the pole needs to actually be bent in order to snap, you wouldn't be very high up in the air because once you're up there, the pole has already come back to its normal straight shape. It would snap while you're closer to the ground like we see in the video.

[@versuzzero5335]

​@@MadDragon75 The internet is big. There is a video of it happening already. But it didn't go through the clothes if that's what you want to see...

[@jamiecurran3544]

Yes I fear this too!😱😂👍

[@MadDragon75]

@@versuzzero5335 The Internet is big.. True, and also an abundance of digital editing. Be careful about what you take at face value. And no. I don't care to see it happen. But thanks anyhow. 😉

[@mrkthmn]

2:42 - Not everyone has massive pots my guy. Some of us small potters need half length shafts to get the noodles down into the water. But on that note, half shafts universally save you from having to stand there waiting for half of the noodle down in the water to get soggy just so you can bend the hard half down into the water, essentially creating the scenario I just did by breaking my noodles in half in the first place. For me it also makes them easier to handle as im not scooping such long noodles onto my little plates.

[@Bob94390]

Has somebody invented pre-bent spaghetti already, or are we anxiously waiting for that to happen?

[@westonding8953]

Simple fun and practical! The mathematical modeling is very interesting!

[@Kinann]

Now you have to build a full scale one with a pole vault, smooth elec conduit elbow, and hydraulic ram!

[@MadDragon75]

That is a cool way to wake up. 😂 The simplicity and reactions.. You know I'm going to play today.😂

[@Flowering_Glume]

I am able to break them into 2 pieces, but I have to snap large handfuls creating almost a solid bar of them. You still get some diminishing returns on the outtermost part sporadically, but it works. You just have to press hard into the center while holding them as tightly as possible together too. I break an entire box of noodles every time I make noodles and to have easier twirling later I snap them in half to fit easier into pot and bowl. Disclaimer: I do tend to use Thin Spaghetti or Angel Hair, but I snap Fettucini just the same so not sure the thickness matters.

[@4rumani]

So you weren't able to do it. Okay.

[@MH_VOID]

I'm guessing that perhaps the thick bundling prevents the vast majority (the noodles surrounded by other noodles) of the noodles from flexing secondarily, causing them to only break at the common curve that the group as a whole shares?

[@Flowering_Glume]

@@4rumani Well, never tried wIth only one. Who only makes one noodle. This topic only even crossed my mind for the first time in the last 24 hours. I wasn't aware of the physics behind it. Was merely sharing in hopes other people might chime in on what luck they had by changing variables like the thickness of pasta or how many. It got me curious. Which clearly annoys you. I didn't know only people who have the power to break one single standard issued uncooked spaghetti noodle can discuss anything because you're here. What a joy that is! ❤️

[@Flowering_Glume]

@@MH_VOID That seems to be the case. I guess it makes obvious sense that in numbers there would be certain reinforcement going on with the mechanics. I think the thicker the spaghetti or noodle makes a difference too. The length seems to be the biggest thing. It's a lot easier to snap a wooden plank than an oversized, fragile wooden dowel. Or if you break a super thick Pyrex glass piece versus the stem of a champagne glass? I guess?

[@RW77777777]

the thickness matter

[@thirukondajeyaramanprakash2707]

Everything thing is science and maths in this world 😁. Your video is teaching every day and it means lot.

[@NousSpeak]

I love Action Lab!

I love your contents, you are very good KZbinrs.

[@Somedude48]

4:32 Damn, actual smoke came out the spaghetti gun 😂

[@chad2170]

Damn, it even has some recoil.

[@JuanPerezReynoso]

Alternative title: The secret of making Italians getting mad

[@Erik_Swiger]

I love the weird "everyday" science. The stuff we see all the time, and notice, but can't explain. It reminds me, a long time ago I realized that hot water pouring into a cup, sounded completely different from cold water pouring into the same cup. Just a homegrown scientist here, but I'm assuming it's because the bonds between the water molecules have been extended by the heat, and it results in a "hollow" sound while pouring the water. You might have already done a video about this, or I might have seen it elsewhere. Or I might have imagined it. lol Can't wait for the next video. I'll try to think of suggestions; you've covered a lot of areas.

[@caroliensche13]

very interesting topic! However, i dont think the acceleration inside the maccaroni results from reflection on a "slanted surface". I rather think the spaghetti, which is pushed into the maccaroni from behind, acts as a spring. It is loaded when pushed into the maccaroni, and releaved when a piece breaks off.

[@dekutree64]

It is stored spring energy, but it would only spring sideways without the slanted surface to direct it into forward motion.

[@Bob94390]

That sounds reasonable. It could be a combination.

[@MasterBlaster3545]

Just hold the spaghetti with both hands close together. That is how you do it and break it over the pot just in case you do get one or two fragments come off. I have never broken a bundle of spaghetti like that so many bits fly off. You don’t need to twist it.

[@myusernameisthisduh]

Bold of you to publicly admit you break your spaghetti

[@grozaphy]

cant tell if this comment was suppose to piss people off about you breaking your spaghetti.

[@randomnpc445]

@@myusernameisthisduh I don't get what the issue with breaking spaghetti is? I've done it in situations where I can't find a pot big enough to cook the noodles un-broken. It's not like it changes the taste of the noodles or anything.

[@TheJerbol]

@@randomnpc445literally only pretentious Italians care, any video that features breaking spaghetti they throw a fit

[@Blink_____]

@@randomnpc445 I'm surprised nobody produces spaghetti noodles with a bend/fold in them, like ramen bricks are.

[@_Pyroon_]

Italy military: "quick write that down"

[@mumbo2875]

Dudes never going to be able to go to Italy ever again

[@forgthefrog77]

4:33 THERE WAS SMOKE COMING OUT OF THE PLASTIC MACARONI

[@buddharuci2701]

Did I hear you say that $8,000,000 tax dollars went into this research? I *love* the macaroni shooter! Can’t wait to try it. Absolutely Calvin and Hobbs worthy.

[@TheYallternativeNerd]

Great video!!

[@WinWin-pz9wq]

1905: discovering theory of relativity using math and physics. 2005: using math and physics to know why pasta breaks weirdly. 2023: using math to find out when will your dad come back with the milk. We’re evolving it’s just backwards.

[@fard2780]

4:33 the spaghetti launched so fast it created smoke

[@tlingitsoldier]

Breaking spaghetti in half before cooking is helpful so you don't have long noodles covered in sauce that flop around when you pick them up to eat. The shorter pieces are much easier to eat and a lot less messy.

[@youdontneedtoknow7548]

You just committed a war crime in Italy you know?

[@NeoShameMan]

It's not spaghetti, here we call that "vermicelle"

[@glasshalfempty1984]

​@@youdontneedtoknow7548🙄

[@JohnClark-tt2bl]

But then you don't get to wrap it around your fork into a big spaghetti ball.

[@NezzConstantine]

*Waves hands angrily in Italian*

[@NickRoman]

I always break my spaghetti when cooking it, but I push it into the side of the pot half filled with hot water. I never noticed getting a bunch of small pieces. I think that doing it that way under water prevents it. You should look into that.

[@momentary_]

The water dampens the vibrations after the break so that other breaks don't happen.

[@lauralindsay3198]

i love these videos

[@noahway13]

4:32 smoke from the spaghetti gun. I buy the newer, tactical smokeless spaghetti. Beretta will be making macaroni and various size noodles.

[@tommyfrerking]

And now we need The Slow Mo Guy to record this at a bajillion frames per second.

[@acomingextinction]

I'm a celiac and this is basically an AR-15

[@Wizbit-x]

The stuttering at the beginning killed me 😂

[@ErlendBarkbu]

“Say hello to my little friend” is the best reference for a small cannon :-)

[@Nova_Afterglow]

an exploding pole-vaulting pole sounds like a fantastic way to lose both your eyes

[@Atomchild]

I have always used bending & breaking spaghetti and breaking potato chips as an analogy for the difficulty in predicting earthquakes. You know it will break at some point, but not precisely. You can even estimate how intensely it may snap, but never with total precision.

[@briangirard4365]

"If you'd like to try this yourselves..." Bold of you to think I wasn't running to try this four seconds in to the video.

[@JR-kf5nu]

Mom: Stop playing with your food! Richard Feynman: We're gonna need more spaghetti...

[@jnnfrcyy____]

When the word spaghetti shows up, lionfield is the first thing that pops up on my mind😂

[@chir0pter]

I wish Action Lab videos were longer, or more numerous

[@bartolemu646]

It seems the less friction on the inside of the launcher the more linear force produced. That's why the printed launcher works better.

[@obitwizzle3766]

"We shall blot out the sun with our spaghetti" "Then we will fight in the sauce"

[@hctiBelttiL]

Weird knowledge acquired. Thank you.

[@SalemikTUBE]

This happens in engineering all the time. Drill bits especially do this and it is the random chunk that flies out from the middle section that takes your eye out.

[@grozaphy]

omg i saw a video about this yesterday!

[@hugoandre96]

So this is how the Italian mafia never seems to run out of bullets

[@jakobknoop7403]

Way more interesting than I expected it to be. Amazing 😢

[@robertrigby-jones2805]

Is the forward momentum not coming from the spaghetti flexing in the tube and returning to its original straight position once snapped, essentially getting longer, releasing it's built up elastic energy and pushing off the main length of spaghetti?

[@bluerendar2194]

Not enough frames in the video to say for sure, but it looks like at least on some of the breaks, the rear piece has not noticeably moved at all before the broken piece has already left. You'd need slow-mo, and ideally some force measurements as well, to know for sure.

[@ViraL_FootprinT.ex.e]

*Oohhhhh...* You mean *"Basghetti!?"*

[@Bob94390]

As a child I was told not to play with food. Then I grew up. Now I can play.

[@modernmanueee_]

As an italian, breaking bad.

[@SamBrickell]

Italians consider this a war crime.

[@Viki-zo1bc]

I wrote "spaghetti code" and it broke just like that.

[@davidgrady4516]

Italian ancestors crying right now from all the spaghetti breaking

[@velfaern1716]

This was the most interesting thing I’ve learned about pasta in a long time

[@ahmadhasan8607]

Interesting. I believe it's due to standing waves created on a spaghetti bar upon bending it. At nodes there are no or little forces, but at peaks there are enough forces which break the spaghetti.

[@marcc1]

im italian and this hurts my eyes to see this man break so many Spaghetti

[@rickybaldner5142]

Might just be me but I figured this all out as a kid. Slow twist, to easy. But, the macaroni Uzi.....that's pretty cool

[@nessa_amo8077]

I grabbed the spaghetti out of the pantry quick! 😅 It does work and it’s entertaining! Time to pick up little spaghettis off the floor now… 😂

[@FedeG86]

That's until mom finds out and goes crazy. 😅🤭

[@shoopdawhoop]

I think the explanation is quite easy. As the spaghetti stick bends strongly, there are a bunch of cracks forming on one side, but only one of them will snap eventually if you bend it to the extent. If you don't let it snap and then bend it to the opposite side, the cracks will propagate through the whole diameter, so it will break a lot easier this time. So, after the first crack is snapped, the spring force is released, and it will bounce backward, then it will lead to the secondary cracks snapping in a cascade as they have been weakened previously.

[@NGC-7635]

Mom: "Why do I keep finding bits of spaghetti all over the house?" Me: "I don't know. Must've been the cat."

[@roberthoffman4713]

Say hello to my little friend! LOL love it.

[@Ezio214]

I'm doing this with my middle schoolers this week. Thanks!

[@artyom_zdanek]

Matter of time until JeorgeSprave makes an automatic rubber powered spaghetti launcher, lol. 'Let me show you it's features'

[@knightsofthedraftingtable1961]

This is really interesting. I was cutting some spaghetti into measured pieces the other day, and whenever I completed cutting it (the knife was a bent, smoothly serrated blade), the piece I wasn't holding down would fly away a little bit. I wonder why, maybe the momentum is being reflected off the blade's edge like in the last section of this video.

[@Xray-Rep]

Every day I learn something new about our physical universe and it always amazes me!

[@LokirofRoriksted]

The future of space travel will have spaghetti engines

[@chrisraz8046]

Omg, so busy trying to find macaroni and spaghetti in the kitchen, I missed the science part of the video.

[@JamesSeale2575]

It’s interesting how fast it snaps and adjusts your hands

[@parsaludhi5871]

“Say hello to my little friend” James Bond “bruh”

[@AdolfZcoder]

Huh, I noticed the new style of editing or sounding, Great!

[@Aminashins]

back then we were questioning gravity and now were questioning why spaghetti breaks in 3 pieces instead of 2

[@ThomasHamm360]

American guy: Breaking spaghetti in an half. Italian guy: 🤌🏽🤌🏽