Teaching through discrepant event activities increases student interest in science. In this article, I will introduce a well-known 19th century demonstration, the Tissandier experiment, to stimulate curiosity among students learning the concept of inertia. In this demonstration, a hard object (e.g. a wooden rod) placed on fragile supports is broken into two halves with a hammer. Curiously, the supports stay intact provided the strike was swift enough. The factors involved here are: short impact time, huge peak force and the inertia of the rod.