Cracking may refer to:
- Cracking, the formation of a fracture or partial fracture in a solid material
- Performing a sternotomy
- Fluid catalytic cracking, a catalytic process widely used in oil refineries for cracking large hydrocarbon molecules into smaller molecules
- Cracking (chemistry), the decomposition of complex organic molecules into smaller ones
- Cracking joints, the practice of manipulating one's bone joints to make a sharp sound
- Cracking codes, see cryptanalysis
- Whip cracking
- Safe cracking
In computing:
- Password cracking, the process of discovering the plaintext of an encrypted computer password
- Cracking, the defeating of security devices in computer networks
- Software cracking, the defeating of software copy protection
Famous quotes containing the word cracking:
“All round and round does the world lie as in a sharp-shooter’s ambush, to pick off the beautiful illusions of youth, by the pitiless cracking rifles of the realities of age.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut.”
—Anne Brontë (1820–1849)
“Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)