How Glass Blowers Make Glass
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. Lets take a look at the required procedures for making glass.
1.) The raw materials of glass are sand and some additional elements. The most common form of sand used is called Silica, and this is combined with specific amounts of soda ash and limestone. The quantities of the ingredients effects the qualities of the glass, and other materials can be added to change the colour of the glass or alter its strength etc. For example, a glass blower might add a small amount of red dye to the mix to make pink champagne glasses.
2.) The mixture is heated to a temperature of around 1700oC. At such a high temperature all the elements become liquid and all flow together into one mix. In order to achieve this heat, huge furnaces are needed. Electric powered furnaces are on the increase, although traditional glass blowers still prefer to use classic coal fires. When glass is in its molten state it can be shaped however the manufacturer wants, and molds are often used to speed up production. This is a skill that takes years to master and is very easy to get wrong.
3.) The glass is cooled after it has been shaped, sometimes forcefully and other times naturally. This is a very important step as the rate at which the glass cools has a large influence on the refractive index of the glass and the density of the glass. 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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