What is glass made of?

Glass - the oldest artifact, found and used by man. It was found, because not the person came up with and made the first glass. Most likely, the first appeared from volcanic lava many millions of years ago. This substance is now called obsidian.

People, gradually learning the nature, noticed that if you mix natural soda with sand and heat, a transparent substance appears. So they learned what glass consists of. At least, this is how the ancient Greek encyclopedist Pliny described this process. And the history of people's use of this product, which has become absolutely indispensable in the life of mankind today, began.

But there is another theory that explains what glass is made of. Some scientists believe that the vitreous material appeared as a by-product when firing clay products or smelting copper.

This remarkable product played an outstanding role in the life of mankind. It is impossible to overestimate its value. The acquisition of glass can be compared with such discoveries of a person as the invention of a wheel and the extraction of fire. Even in ancient Egypt from this substance were made various decorations, they glazed the dishes, then learned to make containers for the storage of various liquids.

Since the XIII century, glass production has increased dramatically. The center of its manufacture was Venice. The masters from this city managed to learn the secrets of the production of Oriental glass, and they developed and improved the technology of its creation. Glassmakers were able to achieve glass transparency, by adding various impurities to it, they learned how to make from it a variety of dishes, extraordinarily elegant and delicate. It cost a lot of money. In general, then the products from it were used more as decorations and luxuries, works of art. For these works, the glass-blowing masters of Venice paid with their freedom, prisoners on the island of Murano, they learned to make such products that the glory of the Murano glass spread all over the world.

Time passed, and people found this product for other uses. The technology of glass manufacturing was improved. Covering one side of the product with a reflective layer, amalgam, they came up with a mirror. Glass was used in construction, especially in the creation of temples and palaces. Having learned to make colored glass, the masters began to make wonderful beauty of stained glass and windows. Over time, glass was used in science. People have learned that it can disperse and concentrate light - invented magnifying glasses by making a microscope and a telescope. These inventions have made a giant step in the development of natural sciences - biology, astronomy, physics, medicine. Without this product, scientific activity is virtually impossible in virtually no scientific field.

What does glass consist of? As in earlier times, it is made of sand. The fact is that sand consists largely of silicon dioxide existing in it in quartz crystals. It heats up and melts. If it is cooled quickly, the minerals do not have time to form crystals, which makes them transparent. If you want the product to be colored, various metal oxides are added to it. What is glass made of to make it as transparent as possible? For this purify the sand so that it would consist of almost one quartz.

Today, there are many ways of processing, after which we obtain a product with a variety of properties from reinforced and tempered to armored and mirrored. What is glass made of today? The basis remained the same - simple sand. And what is encouraging is that the fact that what glass is made on the planet Earth is a huge quantity, and we are not threatened with the disappearance of this natural resource with time.