Glass is a Liquid

[ccccpie]

Strange as it may seem, glass is a liquid. How can this be? It is surely a brittle transparent solid? But no, as surely as a dolphin is not a fish, glass is not solid but liquid. To understand this, it's important to see that liquids aren't all the same as each other. (But hang on a bit, this can't be right, can it? Note: Please read the whole page before passing comment on this!) Water, the obvious typical liquid which others are compared against, isn't the same as liquid nitrogen or liquid metal mercury. More notably in the strange business about glass, syrup and treacle are notably different to water. It's much more difficult to stir treacle. This property of being difficult to stir is known scientifically as Viscosity. Some liquids have a very high viscosity and flow so slowly that by the time a can of liquid falls over there is time to pick it up before it spills! The ultimate example of a high viscosity liquid is glass. The viscosity of glass is so high that even though it's a liquid it looks like a solid. But if you could see glass from the comfy seat of a time machine, you'd see glass flow like syrup.

If this seems too strange to be true, take a look at reflections in window panes and glass on framed paintings that are very old. Glass that's a hundred years old is rippled. Two hundred year old glass has a distinctively undulating surface. You can use this knowledge to tell how old some antiques are, and how old the glass in the windows are on some buildings.

Taken to its extreme, if you had a large cup made of stone which could be left undisturbed, if you put pieces of smashed glass into the cup and left it there, if you could come back in a million years, you'd find the glass had flowed and taken a form like ice frozen from liquid water.

Merry Christmas! and im out......

[TheMagnolia]

You're right.  Glass is an amorphous solid and it is formed when the glass is heated and cooled too quickly to prevent the crystal lattice from forming (making it a solid). 

[ra1n]

time machine? 

[IndyChav]

just..... lol =]

[phenomenal]

Also, when you heat it, i mean really kick in some heat, its a molten like liquid. Well so is everything that can melt really, except for solder.

[noah03ark]

yeah its funny how stuff works

[Slimby]

The rippled glass is a poor example. The further back we go, the more primitive we become, and so too do our glassmaking techniques. In fact, if you were in your time machine, you could follow your old house back to when the glass was put in, and see that the ripples, undulations and thicker-down-the-bottom, thinner-at-the-top is because that was how they were made. After all, it makes sense to put the thicker edge of the glass at the bottom, right? Do some reading, gents (and lady), and you'll see that the "liquid glass" is a faulty theory.

Slimby

EDIT: Hurrah, Google!

http://dwb.unl.edu/Teacher/NSF/C01/C01Links/www.ualberta.ca/~bderksen/florin.html

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/Glass/glass.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass

[spelman07]

haha thats cool i never knew that :p

[budgray19]

ok if u heast it it will melt
well so will rock
and every other soild

the definition of a liqid is any substance that can take the sape of its container
and its molecules are not uniforme like a solid
and glas as a unifome structure

like t his

.......
.......
.......
.......
as in a liquid it would move with each other
solids vibrate
ehh srry im not doin to good right now
i need to wait till school starts back up
my brai is on relax mode

[ccccpie]

ok if u heast it it will melt
well so will rock
and every other soild

the definition of a liqid is any substance that can take the sape of its container
and its molecules are not uniforme like a solid
and glas as a unifome structure

like t his

.......
.......
.......
.......
as in a liquid it would move with each other
solids vibrate
ehh srry im not doin to good right now
i need to wait till school starts back up
my brai is on relax mode

lies.

[Slimby]

Check it, yo, I always hit the tape with the rough road style, you heard the psychedelic and you came for miles, I keep it nice and thick like a Guinness brew so you could call me Black and Tan when I'm wreckin' a crew.

Slimby

[ccccpie]

Check it, yo, I always hit the tape with the rough road style, you heard the psychedelic and you came for miles, I keep it nice and thick like a Guinness brew so you could call me Black and Tan when I'm wreckin' a crew.

Slimby

ok.... That is good to hear.

[TheGrandPubaa]

Yeah, i've heard about the deformations in old glass windows. It's an interesting observation to consider. There's no way for any one person to ever test this themselves in a single lifetime, so we ultimately have to resort to observations and estimations to tell the tale for us.

[Slimby]

Unfortunately, the deformations in glass are to do entirely with the glass manufacturing methods of the time. It's been debunked many, many times. I seem to remember one video, where they made the glass to the older methods, trying to get it as flat and as perfect as possible, and yet one edge STILL was thicker than the other! Of course, they installed the thicker edge on the bottom. It's common sense. Same as why you pack your computer desk and put your computer on last, when you're moving house.

Slimby

[phenomenal]

is chewing gum liquid?

[4dP]

i knew this if you look at old church stained glass windows are actually thicker at the bottom then the top

[Slimby]

Read, then comment. I'm looking at you, 4dP.

Slimby