The Atlantic:
Without glass, the world would be unrecognizable. It’s in the eyeglasses on your face, the lightbulbs in your room, and the windows that let you see outside. But despite its ubiquity, there’s still some debate within the research community about how to define “glass.” Some tend to emphasize its solid qualities, others its liquidity.
Unanswered questions abound, like what makes one type of glass stronger than another, or why certain mixtures produce their unique optical or structural properties. Add to this the nearly infinite varieties of glass—one database lists over 350,000 types of currently known glass, though in principle the number of mixtures is limitless—and you get a surprisingly large and active field of research that regularly produces astounding new products.
Glass has shaped the world more than any other substance, and in many sneaky ways, it’s the defining material of the human era.
I had no idea glass was so complex.
Fun article; glass is pretty great stuff. This is the sort of subject I loved James Burke’s “Connections” series for exploring.
I loved that show. I wish someone would update it.
“Come back, zinc! Come back!”
His historical timelines are still insanely interesting, regardless of where in the 1970s they end up. And his enthusiasm is undeniable.
He did complete two sequel series for TLC in the 90s, but they were somewhat limited in budget compared to the BBC’s.