| GLASS
FACT #1 -
GLASS IS ACTUALLY DEFINED AS A LIQUID OF A VERY GREAT
VISCOSITY
GLASS DEFINITION
Glass [1] (noun) [Middle English glas, from
Old English glaes; akin to Old English geolu yellow -- more at YELLOW]
First appeared before 12th Century
1 : any of various amorphous materials formed from a melt by cooling
to rigidity without crystallization: as
a : a usu. transparent or translucent material consisting esp. of a
mixture of silicates
b : a material (as obsidian) produced by fast cooling of magma
History of glass
Archaeological findings indicate that glass was first made in the Middle
East, sometime in the 3000's B.C. In the beginning glass manufacturing
was slow and costly. Glass melting furnaces were very small and hardly
produced enough heat to melt glass properly. In ancient times, glass was
a luxury item and few people could afford it.
An unknown person discovered the blowpipe in the 1st century B.C.
on the Phoenician coast. Glass manufacturing flourished in the Roman
empire and spread from Italy to all countries under Roman jurisdiction.
Due to mass production, glass become an everyday object and was removed
from the list of luxuries.
By the time of the Crusades, glass manufacture had been revived in
Venice as a result of good contacts with Byzantium. Equipment was
transferred to the Venetian island of Murano, where Soda Lime glass,
better known as cristallo was developed. Venetian glass-blowers
created some of the most delicate and graceful glass the world has ever
seen. Despite their efforts to keep the technology secret, it soon
spread around Europe.
After 1890, glass uses and manufacturing developments increased so
rapidly as to be almost revolutionary. The science and engineering of
glass as a material was much better understood, and in the late 1950's
Sir Alastair Pilkington introduced a new revolutionary production
method (float glass production), by which 90% of flat glass is
still manufactured today.
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