How to Break a Window With a Spark Plug
Introduction
It’s a metal device placed inside an engine to improve combustion. Its function is to provide good, strong, and reliable sparks that ignite the cylinder’s fuel. A spark plug does not look like any other object because it’s been designed that way for its special purpose. In addition, other objects can be used as replacements for a spark plug (a piece of metal or wood), but they don’t work in the same fashion.
The essential difference is that a spark plug has a hole drilled through it, and this hole provides more contact surface area between it and the air/fuel mixture than a solid object would – thus improving efficiency. Sometimes in terms of emergencies, you might need to break a window with a spark plug. So today, I will discuss a process on how to break a window with a spark plug. So let us get started.
Step-wise Guide on How to Break a Window With a Spark Plug
Step 1. Find a Spark Plug:
This is the most difficult step, as spark plugs are not common and one has to look hard for them. Alternatively, use anything heavy you can find lying around in your house or office – bricks, stones, even tables can be used as long as they have a flat surface. If you live in rural areas (or the suburbs), try asking at local garages if they have any spares lying around unused.
Step 2: Find Something Metal and Pointy Enough to Stick Into the Hole of The Spark Plug:
Although there are some dielectric tools out there available in the market specifically designed for opening windows without breaking glass pieces into shards all over your car’s interior space (and they are very effective), there’s no harm in using a thin and sharp object like a screwdriver, knife or even an old razor blade. It will be comparatively easy to use – jam it into the spark plug hole as far as you can comfortably stick it in without breaking the glass itself. Then apply some force and pull your AC/DC converter out of your car.
Step 3: Set The Spark Plug On The Window:
This is where most people fail when attempting this method. You cannot just throw away something heavy from inside a moving vehicle while traveling at high speeds on highways! Instead, try to get off the highway or find a place where you can safely stop, park your car, and set an AC/DC converter on your car’s window.
Step 4: Start The Engine:
Once everything is in place, switch on the engine and wait for a while until the exhaust inside the converter starts emitting strong heat. This will make your work easier when it comes to breaking the glass.
Step 5: Use A Hot Surface To Directly Tap On The Window:
As soon as you hear a dull thud, tap vigorously around the window using anything that can withstand high temperatures. It will be much easier to break the glass now as it will not take much force to crack a spark plug-heated surface! Note: Glass shrapnel can fly off in every possible direction once it breaks, so try steering away from the path of the flying bits.
Step 6: This Works Better On Side Windows:
In the case of backseat passengers, use a sharp object to poke through the glass at your preferred position and then break it using the method described in step 5. For side windows, you can take a long sheet of paper and tape it over half of the window pane so that it covers up most of your vision while seated inside the vehicle.
Now gently push outwards on both sides of this makeshift paper mask, so one side starts peeling off. Keep doing this until you have peeled off enough paper to see through but still cover enough part of your field of vision so as not to make things difficult for yourself when handling hot exhaust gases.
Precautions while Performing How to Break a Window With a Spark Plug
- The window should be closed tightly, and the “Drapery” should be drawn for better effect.
- While throwing the spark plug, ensure that you are at a safe distance from the window, i.e., 6 to 8 feet away, to avoid any mishap or injury due to broken glass pieces/debris falling on you.
- One might think that aiming is difficult here, but the physics behind it is actually quite simple. Still, its effectiveness in breaking a window should never be underestimated. This has been proven by many incidents (like Car Break-Ins) in the past years, where breakers have used this trick successfully to break windows of their cars while they were driving or parked somewhere else with people around them. Since no one would ever expect someone to try breaking a window with something like that, no one would notice or expect it at first.
- Some people prefer using a ball-point pen instead of a spark plug, but the efficiency is still debatable and not as effective as a spark plug, so I suggest using a spark plug which can really do the job in a few tries!
- For better effects, you may use two dry cell batteries wired together through some wire (i.e., cut out the negative terminal of the first battery from its cover, attach them both, i.e., the positive terminal of the second battery with the negative terminal of the first battery) and connecting it to a car door electric lock opening mechanism by attaching the wires to its terminals then while aiming at the window throw the spark plug towards it and as soon as it hits the glass, turn on the switch (i.e., connect both wires to the positive terminal of the battery) which will generate a powerful electromagnetic pulse through the wire attached to door’s electric lock thus creating an intense magnetic field causing the severe voltage in the spark plug triggering an electric arc which would melt/burn its insulator/s producing a flash of dazzling light followed by loud explosion or bang sound like a gunshot.
Why Does the Spark Plug Work So Well at Breaking Shattered Glass?
To understand why a broken spark plug is so good at breaking glass, we must first understand how the spark plug works. The spark plug usually has an electrode gap of about .030-inch (.76mm). High voltage and high temperatures are generated when current flows from the ignition coil through this small gap.
A breakdown of the air between the electrodes occurs, producing an ionized path for electricity to flow called a streamer. If any combustible material is within .030-inch (.76 mm) of either side of these terminals, it will ignite. Unfortunately for automobile technicians, most automobiles have dozens or even hundreds of these spark plugs – ready to break apart with relative ease when they fail (burn out).
How to Break a Car Window to Save A Life:
There will be two vertical metal strips on each side, running from top to bottom. They usually run about 2″ back from the edge of the window itself. Looking at them, you should see that they angle in toward where the rubber seals are for the doors when closed. Where they meet those seals is a spot that’s easy to break with almost anything, including your hand if you’re strong enough and have some protectors on so you don’t cut yourself accidentally.
Before attempting this method, be sure there isn’t any other way into the car: windows not rolled up properly or openable vents, etc… If there is no other way in then it’s time to break the window. Using a standard glass-breaking hammer [the ones you see cops use to smash windows in movies], tap on each of the vertical strips one or two times in quick succession. If there are no horizontal bars, then this is all that’s needed!
As long as your hand is in contact with the top of the strip and not touching any other part of the glass, you should be safe from getting cut by flying glass when it breaks. In fact, holding onto it will keep it from shattering too far out into the car, making it easier to remove from inside. Once it broke off about 2″ (make sure you didn’t hit any metal framework underneath), loosen your grip and let gravity pull the rest out.
Safety Tips While Using Spark Plug:
- Keep your hands, face, and other body parts away from the mouth of the spark plug while it’s running.
- Always wear safety goggles to avoid eye injury caused by flying metal shavings during its operation.
- Never try to insert a new plug without taking out the old one first; this will damage or break the insulation on the ignition wire case if you hit that with a mallet resulting in a short circuit inside the spark plug hole, causing sparking within the engine compartment which may cause an explosion!
- Never try to remove a new spark plug without taking out the old one first; this will damage or break the spark plug body and ignition wire insulation due to misalignment during its removal.
- Rubber gloves are highly recommended, especially in military, police, and law enforcement agencies, whenever handling of Spark Plug takes place because accidental short circuits on internal metal parts can cause explosions.
- Always keep your hands dry and clean while working with spark plugs so that you don’t accidentally short circuit any live wires leading to sparking, which might harm you unknowingly!
Conclusion:
I hope you have learned how to break a window with a spark plug properly. Ensure proper safety while performing the process. Thank you, and have a nice day!
Louis Wein
Louis has always been fascinated by cars. He loves the way they look, the sound of the engine, and how they make him feel when he's driving. He is always keen to learn more about different mechanics of cars and how the engine contributes to other aspects of the car. As an automotive technician with over 10 years of experience, he knew how they worked and loved taking them apart to see how they went back together. He was especially interested in the mechanics of combustion engines and loved finding ways to make them more efficient. He loves to work on cars and help people keep their vehicles running smoothly. As a senior editor, he enjoys contributing to Diy quickly because it allows him to share his knowledge and expertise with others.
