The status of architectural glass as a liquid and a solid has still been hotly debated. The story is that glass is liquid which is super cooled. This means that it was once static and rigid but has not changed molecularly between its melting and solidification stage into the desired shape. The glass is one of the most versatile substances there is on earth and can be used widely for many applications and also in a variety of forms. There are some plain clear glasses to tempered as well as tinted varieties and many more.
Glasses which are naturally occurring is being created when rocks that are high in silicate melt at very high temperatures and then cools down before they form into a crystalline structure. Volcanic glass or obsidian is a very good example of glasses which are naturally occurring. Others can be formed with a lightning strike on the beach and these glasses formed contain silicate-rich sand. The early forms of glasses were probably riddled with impurities and are subject to cracking and into other methods of instability. However, there were examples of jars, beads and eating materials that were first found in the ancient culture of Egypt.
When the glass is manufactured by people, it becomes a mixture of soda, silica and lime. There are also other materials that are added into the mixture to cloud or frost the glass and add color to it. The elements or materials are then heated to at least 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. The resulting liquid can now be poured into molds or are blown into different shapes. When they are allowed to cool down, the glass is a strong and a minimally conducting material which does not interact with the materials that are stored inside the material. Because of this characteristic, glass is frequently used in different scientific experiments and laboratories in order to minimize inadvertent chemical reactions and also to insulate the power lines.
Silica is found in different varieties of natural sources which include sand. Sodium carbonate or commonly known as soda is used to lower down the fusion point of silica, which makes glass workable and light. Soda is also called a flux since it lowers down the melting point of soda. Lime is ground coming from limestone which makes the mixture much more viscous. Lime also is less susceptible to the various erosive qualities of acids and water.
A very strange substance
Glass is not solid, not gas and not even quite clear if it is liquid. Generally though, it is being classified as a rigid liquid which still has its liquid properties while still acting like solid at the same time. Heat returns it to a workable and liquid form making it very easy to recycle and reuse.