The Editorial team

493 views

0 likes

You will need to sign in before you can comment or like.        

   Making glass from sand - as eerie as it is, modern glass really is made of sand. Actually, it's the silica in sand which is used. Pure silica has an extremely high melting point (1600 degree Celsius), with no ordinary flame being able to convert it to glass. Lime and soda are mixed with silica to reduce its melting point, used for making bosttles, windows and drinking glasses. Mixing 10-15% boric oxide would produce a glass much more resistant to sudden temperature fluctuations, used in ovenware. And adding lead oxide would produce a shiny and glittering heavy glass. Glass tends to break instead of stretch, which makes it strong but fragile. Plastics, on the other hand are flexible, but not that strong. By combining these materials with their respective properties, we get Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic or laminated glass, used in bulletproof vehicle windscreens. Laminated glass is actually a layer of plastic sandwiched within two layers of glass. Impacts shatter the glass, but the splinters remain stuck to the plastic. Aircraft windshields are designed to withstand extreme pressure and temperature and impacts from flying birds, therefore, they are composed of layers of glass fused with vinyl. This glass also protects pilots of military warplanes.

History of Glass
There is much controversy over the discovery of glass, is it Mesopotamia or Egypt? Archeological evidences are found in North Syria, where the two civilizations overlapped. Glass production started quite late compared to others in Southeast Asia (1730 BC). Ancient European glass was found to be used in funerary and domestic uses, in the manufacture of vessels, beads, and jewelry.

Comments