Glass is one of those everyday materials that we use everywhere and it is taken for granted a lot of the time. We use it in our cars, buildings, light bulbs and wine glasses, but few people know exactly how glass transforms from raw materials into the functional molded end products. Here are the stages of glass production.
1.) The raw materials of glass are sand and some additional elements. Not any old sand will do and most often Silica is used, in combination with certain amounts of soda ash and also limestone. The amount of each component used has quite a big impact on how the glass turns out, and additional elements are often used to alter density and colour etc. For example, a glass blower might add a small amount of red dye to the mix to make pink champagne glasses.
2.) This mix of minerals is heated up to approximately 1800oC. At this temperature the minerals in the mixture all become liquid and blend together. Very large furnaces are needed to generate the heat to melt glass. Traditionally the glass mix was heated in coal-powered furnaces, however electric furnaces are increasing in number all the time. In its molted form, glass can be manipulated very easily and can be blown or moulded into pretty much any shape desired. The skills involved in manual glass making takes years to learn and are often passed on through generations.
3.) Once the glass has been shaped it is left to cool down. This cooling period directly effects how the hardened glass will end up in terms of how strong it is, how it reacts when broken, and how refractive it is. For example, whisky glasses are often cooled slowly as this makes them less susceptible to scratches, although the refractive index is slightly lower than other types of glass
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