What is glass

Glass is an amourphous solide. Also it is not crystalline. And it can be used as a window. While other typical uses are optics and tableware. And it is made by quenching. And that means that the molten form of usually silica is rapidly cooled. While 90 percent of all manufactured glass is Soda-lime glass. As this type of glass is ideal for glass recycling. It is not as protected from thermal shock as glass made from fused quartz. Which is typically used in semiconductor production. But its melting temperature is lower. And so it is easier to work with. And while the glass made almost of pure silica is well for the transmission of ultraviolet and infrared wavelength this is usually not necessary for common glass. Unless you want to make lenses. So to the fused quartz sodium carbonate is added. And this is an inorganic compound. And this lowers the melting point. But also it makes the glass water-soluble. So to enhance the chemical durability calcium oxide is also added. Which is usually taken from limestone and therefor called lime. And also aluminium oxide and magnesium oxide is added as both those substances enhance the durability of the glass. And the naturaly appearing form of aluminium oxide is the mineral corundum. While as lime dolomite is preferred as it aleady contains magnesium oxide. And then also sodium chloride and sodim sulfat is added. The whole mix of materials is called batch. And the batch is then heated in a glass furnance. And then it is cooled. And from this process you get glass.

And glass is used in a lot of applications. As from glass you can for example make a drinking glass. But of course also you can make glass bottles. And then there is glass tableware. And those would include a glass candy dish. But also packaging is often made of glass like a glass honey jars. And also glass flacons. And also of course applications like an hour glass are made out of this material. And then you have technical utilities like a light bulb. And of course there is one of the most prominent use of this material as a glass window. And as such it is used as the glass front of a skyscraper for example. But there are more use cases for glass as a building material. And then there are even more uses for things like a glass chess. And of course it is used to create glass christmas balls. And of course there is a very artistic use of glass as a building material. And this is a rather old technique of using glass for architecture. And this is using it for glass church windows.