The Explosion Test: A Scientific Experiment Gone Wild

We had always been curious about how well our iPhones could withstand explosions, so we decided to put them through their paces. We set up an experiment with three identical iPhone 11 devices and placed them at varying distances from a controlled explosion. The objective was to see which case would provide the best protection for each phone.

The device that had survived three feet away from the explosion let's have a look, sorry the little kit well the kickstand just came out but it's ooh it's fine Wow damage wise they look pretty intact yeah I think we have a little bit of cracking in the camera module this is like the Big Daddy this is the Big Daddy of protection so it is a little bit of a crack there in the camera module that's rad you see that yeah this one looks okay this obviously some shrapnel and debris we should clean them off yeah let's pull them out.

As we examined the phones, we noticed that the device with the most expensive case had suffered significant damage. The Big Daddy case, which was designed to provide maximum protection, had cracked in several places, including the camera module. However, despite this damage, the phone itself seemed to be functioning normally. On the other hand, the iPhone that had been placed in a Pelican case, which was considered one of the best cases available, looked brand-new and unscathed.

We also examined the mid-range case, which had performed reasonably well considering its price point. However, it had suffered a significant crack down the back, which could have potentially damaged the camera or other internal components. The cheap case that we had used was surprisingly effective, with no damage whatsoever. It seemed that this case's flexibility had allowed it to absorb the shock of the explosion, protecting the phone inside.

One interesting anomaly in our experiment was a strange device that appeared on one of the iPhones after we finished testing. When we checked its time, it showed that it was 30 minutes late from the other devices. We were unsure what to make of this phenomenon, but we decided to leave it for now and focus on our results.

After conducting the explosion test, we were pleased to find that all three phones had survived with minimal damage. The mid-range case had performed reasonably well, while the cheap case had exceeded our expectations. However, the device with the most expensive case, which was designed to provide maximum protection, had suffered significant cosmetic damage. Despite this, the phone itself seemed to be functioning normally.

To put these results into perspective, we decided to conduct another test on all three phones 24 hours after the initial explosion test. We wanted to see if any of the devices would still be working properly and if the damage would have been more extensive than initially thought. Thankfully, our suspicions were proven wrong, as all three phones continued to function normally.

One final surprise came in the form of the strange device that had appeared on one of the iPhones after we finished testing. When we checked its time again, it was still showing the correct date and time, which seemed like a miracle. We couldn't explain this phenomenon, but it was certainly an interesting development.

The explosion test was a fascinating experiment that revealed some surprising results about the durability of iPhone cases. While none of the devices had been completely immune to damage, our findings showed that certain cases were more effective at protecting the phone than others. The most expensive case had suffered significant cosmetic damage, but the phone itself seemed to be functioning normally. On the other hand, the cheap case had performed incredibly well, while the mid-range case had done reasonably well considering its price point.

We hope you enjoyed our experiment and learned something new about iPhone cases. If you did, give it a thumbs up and let us know in the comments below. We'd also like to thank our bomb experts for their help with this project and the Science Channel for airing The Explosion Show on their channel.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwe know that phone cases are pretty tough but are they tough enough to withstand an explosion I'm Lexi CBDs from sea nut and I'm Tory Belleci from the explosion show and today we're gonna be blowing some stuff up three two one oh my god Nitori you have probably what is one of the coolest jobs in the world as the host of the explosion show in the Science Channel tell me all about it what do you guys do so it's kind of like dirty jobs but it's explosive jobs so we just go around talking to people who work in an industry where they're using explosives and we're just having pun intended so what do you want to do today you said you wanted to come up and blow some stuff up yeah okay so phone cases are so tough like we torture test these and they survive drops mean crazy and mount height like 20 feet plus so we thought well how much further can we take it explosions why not so you want to see if these are blast proof let's see if they're blast proof so we've got three different cases at different price tiers so first up is the auto box it's one of our most expensive ones it's the defender then in the mid-range is the spigen tough armor and at the lower end of the scale the less expensive is the Pelican rogue so they're kind of different constructions take a feel which one do you think is gonna make it and so you have real phones that we're putting up against our explosives I mean this one seems pretty tough mm-hmm and you know the issue is with shockwaves if it's a flexible material it's probably gonna do better again see the explosive that's a rigid material it's gonna be taking all that you know energy so my bet is probably gonna be on the cheaper one that's kind of around that I'm so intrigued okay well now we have a friend set up I want you to tell me a little bit about the actual explosives like what are we gonna use on these so we're gonna be using cast boosters about a quarter pound it'll give us a good wallop but I think what we'll do is we'll start maybe at 15 feet and move them in incremental e until we get to a point where the phone's fail exactly we want to give them a fighting chance because this isn't a scientific test and this is not a real-world situation just what happened fast you love this so we have our chart set so that's ground zero do you think they're gonna survive I think that I have a good shot this is a quarter pound so if there's someone that has no idea about explosives quantify that like how much force are we talking the fact that we've laid the charge on top of the soil we're not really gonna be throwing any rocks or debris so it's all shockwave all right JD we are ready when you are oh my god I kind of feel like I felt that for my whole body all right so they're all standing which is a good sign but wait one of the cameras oh but one's been shut off the cheap one we rolled all these but the chlorines all work so it down at some degree I mean a lot of debris from the ground is actually hitting human faces but the blast wave itself didn't really seem to do much damage and then all three phones you see they're all went over my stuffs are working fine so should we move in closer yeah we better take it closer you just want to destroy us bones no I want to see how far we can take them sorry to give these cases all a fighting chance in the next round we're actually gonna swap them out with brand new one sorry I'm gonna take care of these two now Tori I want a challenge you can you swap this one out see how easy it is for you well I like let's just do it so basically what you're saying this is like Charles protis 8 I just want to say how easy it is being looks like a two part it's like a two part that took me like five minutes to work that out okay okay good luck all right the moment of truth okay do we have any fallen soldiers I think I see two however yeah the two on the sides fell over Wow maybe I just didn't put them in the dirt better enough like you have an AR the middle ones you don't want super cording yeah did we get the footage I'm scrubbing through now oh no no it fell over from the explosion so there there's the shot there yeah as soon as the charge goes yeah that's crazy so that is a lot of force yeah this is being subjected to but let's look at the cases again like this can you see any damage to any of them no and the fires are still working perfectly he's working good I think we need to move in closer I'm gonna do it even five feet five feet you feel like we're gonna really start to season damage then five feet it just destroys all together which I'm okay with if you are look we've paid for them so let's move in closer we are ready ready 3 2 1 Wow what do you think I think the phone survived like I could see the flash of light that was intense alright let's go see how the food ic1 still standing well we didn't tell you at home was that we actually moved them a little closer than 5 feet we actually made was about three because they were doing so well so we feel it well let's see what would happen the clothes we move it but wow wow so they're still they still intact it looks like they all look like they survived ok so this is still rolling so is this one okay look I got the camera man Wow okay so all of these have survived three feet away from the explosion let's have a look sorry the little kit well the kickstand just came out but it's ooh it's fine Wow damage wise they look pretty intact yeah I think we have a little bit of cracking in the camera module this is like the Big Daddy this is the Big Daddy of protection so it is a little bit of a crack there in the camera module that's rad you see that yeah this one looks okay this obviously some shrapnel and debris we should clean them off yeah let's pull them out so what I noticed on this phone when I was trying to look at the footage is that it actually stopped recording as soon as the blast year so it basically goes wide so if you hit play right up to the blast and maybe the the force or the charge stopped it from recording but the phone itself is still seems to work and cause medically Oh actually now we take the case of let's look at the cosmetic damage that we see here look at the crack big crack right there and there's a crack is it that's some damage there yes there is a crack there and on the camera motion yeah but it's actually just wine that's a huge crack and it's a big but however if you run your finger over it's a little under the surface so it's actually like the glass on top is fine the guest was the cheapy take it out let's take it out you're just doing the honors there's look at this this is the cheapest case right the cheapest case of the lot and arguably the one with the least amount of protection because it is just so flexible yep no damage look at that that's incredible that looks like once we rinse that off see sometimes it's better to go cheap that's incredible okay this is what you were thinking before that there trees the one that's the most flexible would be able to withstand the blast for small yeah because it's not it's it's absorbing all that shockwave that's crazy it worked unbeliev protect what the heck get the cheap wood the cheap there's like $20 case probably less than that what's that and the case itself is fine you know what I was actually concerned when you proposed this idea I wasn't sure we were gonna get a definitive answer right we did we did so I was scared that it was gonna be no result at all and they would all be totally fine or they would all be destroyed on the first blast yeah but it actually looks like we got a really significant result and a difference in the result - sorry the most expensive we got a crack across there the camera module but the camera itself seems to be fine the mid-range case there was a big long crack down the back of it again camera still seems to be fine and the cheap case came out the best no damage whatsoever he had his money on the cheap case yeah right amazing okay so I do have a little anomaly I feel like this phone is going back in time why would it because it says look at the time it's literally 30 minutes late before the other two just invented time travel explosives maybe a time traveler that's crazy Doctor Who it get hot out seriously so I'm gonna go clean this all off and never check that everything works but Tory this has been an absolute blast thank you for coming out I'm glad we got a result I'm actually really surprised and happy me too and when can we check out the explosion shot so the explosion show is gonna be Wednesday night on Science Channel we're blowing stuff up do you like explosions check it out so it's been 24 hours after our explosion test and I wanted to do one final check to make sure that the phones were still working okay and the visible cracks are there on these two phones the camera module is a little bit beat up on both of them but if you run your finger over the surface it you can't feel it it's simply underneath that glass and I've tested the cameras on all of three and they're still working fine so it does seem to be just a simple cosmetic issue on these two phones however on this phone which was on the Pelican case which was the least expensive case it looks like brand-new and all of them are still working fine still take a charge nothing has popped up so far so time may still prove that there might be something else but if anything changes I will let you know in the comments oh and that little time travel bucket that we noticed as soon as we got it on Wi-Fi again it was fine it synced and it's keeping the time perfectly so that's been our explosion test testing out some tough cases for the iPhone 11 I hope you liked it if you did give it a thumbs up big thanks to our bomb experts for helping us out and to the science channels the explosion show we had so much fun make sure to check it out onewe know that phone cases are pretty tough but are they tough enough to withstand an explosion I'm Lexi CBDs from sea nut and I'm Tory Belleci from the explosion show and today we're gonna be blowing some stuff up three two one oh my god Nitori you have probably what is one of the coolest jobs in the world as the host of the explosion show in the Science Channel tell me all about it what do you guys do so it's kind of like dirty jobs but it's explosive jobs so we just go around talking to people who work in an industry where they're using explosives and we're just having pun intended so what do you want to do today you said you wanted to come up and blow some stuff up yeah okay so phone cases are so tough like we torture test these and they survive drops mean crazy and mount height like 20 feet plus so we thought well how much further can we take it explosions why not so you want to see if these are blast proof let's see if they're blast proof so we've got three different cases at different price tiers so first up is the auto box it's one of our most expensive ones it's the defender then in the mid-range is the spigen tough armor and at the lower end of the scale the less expensive is the Pelican rogue so they're kind of different constructions take a feel which one do you think is gonna make it and so you have real phones that we're putting up against our explosives I mean this one seems pretty tough mm-hmm and you know the issue is with shockwaves if it's a flexible material it's probably gonna do better again see the explosive that's a rigid material it's gonna be taking all that you know energy so my bet is probably gonna be on the cheaper one that's kind of around that I'm so intrigued okay well now we have a friend set up I want you to tell me a little bit about the actual explosives like what are we gonna use on these so we're gonna be using cast boosters about a quarter pound it'll give us a good wallop but I think what we'll do is we'll start maybe at 15 feet and move them in incremental e until we get to a point where the phone's fail exactly we want to give them a fighting chance because this isn't a scientific test and this is not a real-world situation just what happened fast you love this so we have our chart set so that's ground zero do you think they're gonna survive I think that I have a good shot this is a quarter pound so if there's someone that has no idea about explosives quantify that like how much force are we talking the fact that we've laid the charge on top of the soil we're not really gonna be throwing any rocks or debris so it's all shockwave all right JD we are ready when you are oh my god I kind of feel like I felt that for my whole body all right so they're all standing which is a good sign but wait one of the cameras oh but one's been shut off the cheap one we rolled all these but the chlorines all work so it down at some degree I mean a lot of debris from the ground is actually hitting human faces but the blast wave itself didn't really seem to do much damage and then all three phones you see they're all went over my stuffs are working fine so should we move in closer yeah we better take it closer you just want to destroy us bones no I want to see how far we can take them sorry to give these cases all a fighting chance in the next round we're actually gonna swap them out with brand new one sorry I'm gonna take care of these two now Tori I want a challenge you can you swap this one out see how easy it is for you well I like let's just do it so basically what you're saying this is like Charles protis 8 I just want to say how easy it is being looks like a two part it's like a two part that took me like five minutes to work that out okay okay good luck all right the moment of truth okay do we have any fallen soldiers I think I see two however yeah the two on the sides fell over Wow maybe I just didn't put them in the dirt better enough like you have an AR the middle ones you don't want super cording yeah did we get the footage I'm scrubbing through now oh no no it fell over from the explosion so there there's the shot there yeah as soon as the charge goes yeah that's crazy so that is a lot of force yeah this is being subjected to but let's look at the cases again like this can you see any damage to any of them no and the fires are still working perfectly he's working good I think we need to move in closer I'm gonna do it even five feet five feet you feel like we're gonna really start to season damage then five feet it just destroys all together which I'm okay with if you are look we've paid for them so let's move in closer we are ready ready 3 2 1 Wow what do you think I think the phone survived like I could see the flash of light that was intense alright let's go see how the food ic1 still standing well we didn't tell you at home was that we actually moved them a little closer than 5 feet we actually made was about three because they were doing so well so we feel it well let's see what would happen the clothes we move it but wow wow so they're still they still intact it looks like they all look like they survived ok so this is still rolling so is this one okay look I got the camera man Wow okay so all of these have survived three feet away from the explosion let's have a look sorry the little kit well the kickstand just came out but it's ooh it's fine Wow damage wise they look pretty intact yeah I think we have a little bit of cracking in the camera module this is like the Big Daddy this is the Big Daddy of protection so it is a little bit of a crack there in the camera module that's rad you see that yeah this one looks okay this obviously some shrapnel and debris we should clean them off yeah let's pull them out so what I noticed on this phone when I was trying to look at the footage is that it actually stopped recording as soon as the blast year so it basically goes wide so if you hit play right up to the blast and maybe the the force or the charge stopped it from recording but the phone itself is still seems to work and cause medically Oh actually now we take the case of let's look at the cosmetic damage that we see here look at the crack big crack right there and there's a crack is it that's some damage there yes there is a crack there and on the camera motion yeah but it's actually just wine that's a huge crack and it's a big but however if you run your finger over it's a little under the surface so it's actually like the glass on top is fine the guest was the cheapy take it out let's take it out you're just doing the honors there's look at this this is the cheapest case right the cheapest case of the lot and arguably the one with the least amount of protection because it is just so flexible yep no damage look at that that's incredible that looks like once we rinse that off see sometimes it's better to go cheap that's incredible okay this is what you were thinking before that there trees the one that's the most flexible would be able to withstand the blast for small yeah because it's not it's it's absorbing all that shockwave that's crazy it worked unbeliev protect what the heck get the cheap wood the cheap there's like $20 case probably less than that what's that and the case itself is fine you know what I was actually concerned when you proposed this idea I wasn't sure we were gonna get a definitive answer right we did we did so I was scared that it was gonna be no result at all and they would all be totally fine or they would all be destroyed on the first blast yeah but it actually looks like we got a really significant result and a difference in the result - sorry the most expensive we got a crack across there the camera module but the camera itself seems to be fine the mid-range case there was a big long crack down the back of it again camera still seems to be fine and the cheap case came out the best no damage whatsoever he had his money on the cheap case yeah right amazing okay so I do have a little anomaly I feel like this phone is going back in time why would it because it says look at the time it's literally 30 minutes late before the other two just invented time travel explosives maybe a time traveler that's crazy Doctor Who it get hot out seriously so I'm gonna go clean this all off and never check that everything works but Tory this has been an absolute blast thank you for coming out I'm glad we got a result I'm actually really surprised and happy me too and when can we check out the explosion shot so the explosion show is gonna be Wednesday night on Science Channel we're blowing stuff up do you like explosions check it out so it's been 24 hours after our explosion test and I wanted to do one final check to make sure that the phones were still working okay and the visible cracks are there on these two phones the camera module is a little bit beat up on both of them but if you run your finger over the surface it you can't feel it it's simply underneath that glass and I've tested the cameras on all of three and they're still working fine so it does seem to be just a simple cosmetic issue on these two phones however on this phone which was on the Pelican case which was the least expensive case it looks like brand-new and all of them are still working fine still take a charge nothing has popped up so far so time may still prove that there might be something else but if anything changes I will let you know in the comments oh and that little time travel bucket that we noticed as soon as we got it on Wi-Fi again it was fine it synced and it's keeping the time perfectly so that's been our explosion test testing out some tough cases for the iPhone 11 I hope you liked it if you did give it a thumbs up big thanks to our bomb experts for helping us out and to the science channels the explosion show we had so much fun make sure to check it out one\n"