29 Fun Facts About Glass And Its Uses Revealed For Kids

Glass is present anywhere and everywhere, it is a common material found on Earth available in all kinds of shapes and sizes.

Glass is usually available as a transparent or translucent object in different kinds of colors, and it can be used for construction, scientific works and also for decoration purposes.

Glasses have become a part of our lives; they are present in almost every other object but the journey has been a long one as glasses were considered pretty valuable ever since the earliest days of human civilization.

Did you know that glass was discovered in the Stone Age itself? The flintknappers had discovered a kind of natural glass called obsidian which they used to make sharp knives.

The manufacturing process of glass now takes place manually as they are made out of sand and several other elements but earlier, glass was naturally formed in lunar rocks or in the Earth's crust or in meteorites.

During the early days people were unaware about how to produce glass, it was thus considered as a precious but when people discovered that if heated, glass can change its shape, then its value began to fall.

Around 1st century BC, people came to know about the technique of blowing glass and glass was then produced in large quantities. Historians say that in the Roman empire, different kinds of glass was created for making bottles or vases.

It was also found that at the time of the Roman empire glass was made out of sand, lime and plant ash. Today, glass is widely used for glass bottles, glass windows, tempered glass for phones, glass containers and many more as well.

Let us take a closer look at them.

If you enjoyed this article, why not also read about bottled water facts and flashlight facts here on Kidadl?

Glass Chemical Composition

Glass is regarded as an amorphous solid. It has no periodic arrangement, it is pretty unique and surprisingly glass is made up of sand, however, not of any sand but particularly silica sand.

Although glass is available naturally as well, the increased demand and usage of glass has led to glass being produced by melting sand and combining with certain other elements.

• Sand begins to melt at extremely high temperatures of 3092 F (1700 C), one needs to provide intense heat to sand in order for it to reach this temperature and then turn into liquid sand.
• Once the liquid mixture cools down, it no longer returns to its old stage, and we see a new product which we regard as glass.
• Now while the sand is heated, it is mixed with lime, as well as soda ash. In terms of chemical composition, it is sand (SiO2 silica), soda ash (Sodium carbonate Na2Co3) and limestone (CaCO3).
• Glass manufacturers say that the ideal chemical composition of glass is 10% lime, 15% soda and 75% silica or sand.
• Ironically, we know that glass is colorless but in reality, glass naturally has a greenish color and in order to get clear glass, one must reduce the iron content present in the molten glass formula.
• Now you must have seen different colored glasses, but did you know that if you add certain minerals to the combination of lime, sand, and soda ash, it can make distinct kinds of colored glasses?
• One of the 'colorful' facts about glass is including minerals to the general composition of glass tends to change its color. For instance, combining nickel oxide with sand, soda ash and lime mix results in violet glass!
• Another way of producing colored glass is by adding electrically charged ions to the mix. The basic science here is, oxide additives which the manufacturers mix determine the color of the glass.
• Did you know that every particular glass color has its own characteristics and many of them are used only for specific purposes?
• For instance, you must have seen brown glass being used for storing food and in making drinking bottles and at times in windows, too. This is because the brown glass reflects UV light and prevents any further damage.
• Volcanic lava can form a kind of natural glass known as obsidian. It happens when lava cools down quickly post erupting, and the resultant product is natural glass.

Glass Uses In Everyday Life

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the modern day life wouldn't be possible without glass.

Glass at times goes unnoticed but it are is in every other item that we use in our life, ranging from tempered glass on our mobile phones to the window glass in our homes and offices.

In the recent years, there has been an emergence of a separate industry relating to glass products concerned with the production of new glass bottles and jars.

The usage of glass is so high that it is recycled endlessly, and the biggest benefit here is that glass can be recycled for any number of times without losing its quality.

• Tableware is one very common use of glass in the form of bowls, drinking glasses, cups, plates and all other cutlery.
• Optical fibers used for phones, TV and computers, which are essential for carrying information, contain glass.
• The renewable sources of energy including wind turbines and solar energy panels all use glass in someway or the other.
• Construction companies widely use glass in the construction of glass windows, glass doors, insulation, conservatories and for other reinforcement structures.
• As an interesting fact about glass windows; in England, they were invented only in the 1600s. Prior to the 17th century, people would use flattened animal horn in order to construct the windows of their homes.
• Furniture and interior designing employs the use of glass as well in making partitions, tables, shelves, light bulbs and most importantly mirrors.
• Glass is also used for packaging purposes such as glass bottles for storing a drink or a hollow glass container for storing food. Did you know, the glass container industry which uses a lot of glass is worth around $5 billion?
• The electric appliances industry uses quite a lot of this amorphous solid as well in the form of computer, TV, mobile phone screens, as well as for oven doors and cook tops.
• A large amount of glass is used in the automobile industry in backlights, windscreens and some other light weight glass in ships, cars and aircrafts.
• Did you know the tempered glass which is used in various electronics hardly ever cracks? This is due to a process called super cooling.
• In the process of super cooling, the glass is initially heated to extremely high temperatures of 1112 F (600 C). Due to this process, the outer layer of the glass cools faster than the inner layer which increases the strength of the glass.

Invention History Of Glass

Glass is not something new to humans as several documents show evidence that humans used natural glass or obsidian in prehistoric times as well. At that time, its use was quite different from the way it is used in the current times as people then used glass as a form of weapon mainly spears.

Let us delve deeper into the history of glass and how it has evolved ever since its discovery.

• Several archaeological documents say that humans have been making glass ever since 3600 BC, the first ones were perhaps manufactured in Egypt, Syria or Mesopotamia.
• Human-made glass came into existence only after people came across the natural glass forms of obsidian glass. By experimenting and learning, people released that it was liquid sand which turned into glass.
• Did you know that even though people manufactured glass since 3600 BC, the first hollow glass container was manufactured in 1500 BC? In fact, it was the Romans who had developed the art of glass blowing in the 1st century.
• Eventually, colored glasses were produced and as glass became more popular, and even the common people could now access it. With the downfall of the Roman empire, the Middle-East and Europe carried on the art of glass blowing.
• With the advent of the 17th century, people in England could afford using glass windows in their homes which led to a more hygienic lifestyle.
• Did you know, the Portland Vase, one of the most valuable pieces of glass art to currently exist was made back in AD 1 to AD 25 in Rome? Currently, the Portland Vase is kept in the British museum where it has been for the past 200 years.
• As one of those fascinating facts about glass, the first-ever glass factory in the United States was established in Jamestown, Virginia in the year 1608.
• Back in the 13th century, King Charles VI of France suffered from a strange glass delusion and believed that he was made of glass. The king carried iron pieces in his clothes for protection as well.

Types Of Glass And Their Different Uses

While learning about the various facts about glass, we came to know that the human civilization has been using glass in various ways for centuries now. Which has led to the invention of different kinds of glasses. Interestingly, these glasses do not only look different, they have their own particular strengths and features.

• Beginning with perhaps the oldest ones, the regular glass is a type which naturally has a greenish color for a fact and is widely used in making glass windows, and at one point of time, windshields too but not anymore.
• Frosted glass is a kind of glass which is mainly used in making light bulbs, and its key feature is it distributes the light which passes through evenly. Additionally, frosted glass is also used in making doors if necessary.
• Next up is the laminated glass which is arguably the toughest of all kinds of glasses as it doesn't shatter even after considerably heavy blows. Multiple layers of laminated glass are used to make the famous bulletproof glass.
• Stained glass is another type of glass which was widely used in the Middle Ages in making beautifully designed glass windows. Stained glass is believed to have been first used in the windows of churches. Interestingly, the process of making stained glass is the same as it was ages ago.
• Tempered glass, just like the laminated glass, is one of the strongest glass types as it hardly ever shatters and is uniquely manufactured by a process called super-cooling.
• All these glass types are 100% recyclable and all countries must look at recycling glass because studies show that it takes round one million years for glass to decompose making it not the most eco friendly substance. Data shows that in the US, 3.1 million ton (2812 million kg) of glass was recycled in 2018.
• For a fact, we manufacture a lot of glass, in 2020 a total of 690 billion glass bottles and containers were manufactured in the world. As this glass can be recycled into any glass material, so it makes sense to recycle and reuse.
• Not all glass can be recycled. Glass can be recycled into containers, fiberglass insulation, glassphalt, and more and melts at 2552-2912 F (1400-1600 C).