EzTeT~ments we~ perfo~ncd to study the strength of water under conditions of pulsed extension. which is typical of the interaction between a triangular compression pulse and a free surface.The tests were perfo~ned in a wide (40-1000 MPa) range of 'variation According to theoretical concepts, liquids can sustain considerable tensile stresses reaching 1()0-1000 MPa [1][2][3]. At the same time, much smaller values were obtained in static tests (see [4]) and in cavitation studies in an intense acoustic field [5--7]. This discrepancy is due to the fact that in real liquids, the presence of heterogeneous sites (interfaces, solid inclusions, g~/.s bubbles, etc.) gives rise to pore growth, which leads to fracture of the liquids. Ill water, for example, the total amount of heterogeneities with characteristic dimeiL~ions of 0.0(}1-10 #m is 10 ' -10 ~i cm -3 [8,9]. Of all the impurities in the liquid, only bubbles in the bulk and in small cracks of undiluted particles can have a considerable effect on its strength [7].The strength of tt'm liquid under (lynamic loading is closer to the theoretical value. Ill the present study. for dymunic extension of the li(luid, we use sI)alling phenomena that occur in tile reflection of compression pulses fronl the free. surface of the substance to be examined [10]. The advantage of this approach is that tlm fracture caused by 1-#see pulses is volume (the effect of tim boundaries is negligible) and occurs ill a thin layer of the substance. This leads to a decre~sed nunlber of heterogeneous sites that can influence the fracture of the liquid. Moreover, the precompression in the shock wave is likely to result ill the collapse of the pores, which also intensifies homogeneous nucleation.The pulsed extension of liquids under shock-wave loading was used to study the cavitation of glycerin [11][12][13], water [14][15][16], ethyl(me glycol [15], ethanol [16], and mercury [17]. Glycerin is most extensively studied, for which a relation between the spall strength and the temperature was (tetermined [13] and it was shown that at 20~ its strength is equal to 60 MPa for any (tefbrmation rate [12]. The vahms of the spall fracture of water obtained by different authors differ by several orders (from 3.9 MPa [15] to 400 MPa [18]). There are no reliable experimental data on how tile deformation conditions influence the character of fracture. At tile same time, the phenonmnon of cavit[ttion is of considerable practical interest, which stinmlates the study of tile behavior of water upon I)ulsed extension. In this paper, the results of experimental deterinimttion of ttm spall strength of water are given fi)r wide ranges of compression-pulse amplitudes and durations and tile question as to whether tile honlogeneous-nucleation model can be used to interpret tlle results obt~dned is considered.