5 Interesting Facts about Glass
Glass has led to some amazing evolutions of mankind:
- When glass in Europe finally become cheap enough to be used as windows in the 1600’s it led to a revolution in hygiene by exposing filth and pests in plain sight during daytime.
- The invention of glasses allowed scientists to extend their research by an average of 15 years when they were invented back in 1200’s.
Ever wondered how quick a glass cracks?
According to scientists when a piece of glass is cracked the crack travels at approximately 3,000 mph. Here’s a video for reference:
Glass is in fact a solid
Have you ever heard the liquid vs solid debate over glass?
This myth started with old windows in Europe, they seem to imply that glass, over time, will melt downward naturally because it is a semi-liquid substance. This is in fact not the case, old European glass blowers often times had uneven molds for the glass windows and preferred to have a thicker edge on the bottom. Glass is an “amorphous solid”, meaning that is a non-crystaline solid that shares many of the same properties of polymers.
Humans have used glass since the beginning:
Early man used obsidian, which is a naturally occurring type of glass, to create tools for cutting and hunting.
Glass always had a purpose:
Although the Egyptians are credited for the first known glass artifacts on Earth, the Romans were the first to produce clear glass as a way for them to admire the colors of their wine.