#57244
02/24/2002 12:17 PM
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Bob, they 'ironed' lead? Did that make it stronger?  Wow, sometimes your puns are panefully transparent... And yes, definitely good to see you again, Ladymoon! I'm sure your former boss was right about customers buying more when they see glass blown. It looks magical. Dick Francis' last book had a glassblower as the main character. This book, like all of his, has some informational material on whatever the character's trade is.
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#57245
02/24/2002 1:52 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
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Check your Email, Jackie!
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#57246
02/24/2002 4:23 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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Many years ago there was a glass factory in Sandwich, MA, near east end of Cape Cod Canal. They made very attractive cut glass formal table ware. My mother had a very fragile glass cabinet of pitchers and goblets. Many scoldings I got for running through the dining room, because the vibrations might damage one of the goblets. They were just for looks. I don't remember their ever being used.
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#57247
02/24/2002 4:33 PM
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Posts: 2,891
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My son does not believe me about this whole glass being a super cooled liquid thing. Does anybody have a web site they can refer me to so that I can say "et vlan."
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#57248
02/24/2002 5:29 PM
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Posts: 5,400
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a more common liquid, that has some of glasses properties, is silly putty!
it is more liquid, but if you give it a sharp snap, it pops, and breaks "clean". think about? does liquid water ever snap and break clean? no! there are lots of others liquids that behave "unliquid-y"!
trouble is, your son thinks all liquids follow the "general rules" for liquids..(ie the rules first noted by Newton, i.e., liquids flow, (they don't hold there shape) they take the shape of what ever contains them, there viscosity is effected by tempature (actually this is true of glass at high heat, but not at "room temperature", and so on.)
for example... think what would happen if you put an electric mixer (turned on!)into a full bowl of water-- a shower! (a common liquid, acting as we (and Newton!) expect.
but take an other liquid (here you have a choice-- egg whites, or STP motor oil treatment!) turn the mixer on, put them in the bowl.. and no shower.. in fact, rather than being flung away (as water and most liquids would be) egg white and STP cling to the beaters! (that why STP works in your engine, the actions of the engine actualy attract the STP, and increase the lubrication effect!)
Glass is not a common liquid, and it doesn't obey the general rules. but "non-newtonian" fluids are fairly common.. send me a PM for more interesting "kitchen science" experiments!
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#57249
02/24/2002 5:44 PM
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Dear belMarduk: I searched Yahoo for "Physics glass supercooled solution" and got this URL. It is very hard reading, but at least your son can gather that the idea is scientifically accepted.: http://www.ttu.edu/~chem/faculty/quitevis/quitevis.html
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#57250
02/24/2002 5:57 PM
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Dear belMarduk: if your son likes to do simple experiments, here is one about glass he might enjoy. Prince Rupert (let your son look him up) was a scientific dilettante, and is credited with discovering that if a glass rod is melted in a burner flame, and allowed to cause drops of molten glass to fall into the water, the resulting "tadpoles" have the peculiar property of breaking into tiny pieces if the tail is broken. http://www.thecure.com/robertpages/princerupertsdrops.html
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#57251
02/24/2002 6:44 PM
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Posts: 5,400
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Yeah, the cause is similar to "silly putty" it has to do with how the molocules are aligned, especially under stress.
Under stress, silly putty's molocules align at right angles to the stress, so a sharp pull, results in a clean, almost sliced surface.. (where as gentle pressure cause it to stretch.)
dropping hot liquid glass into water, causes a sharp cooling effect, which lines up stress in the glass..
depending on your utility service you might be able to do it over a kitchen stove..
Starting in the 1950's Con Ed added water vapor to the natural gas, so you get few BTU out of a given volume. (you used be be able to melt lead, for plumbing work over the stove!) now you need to use a butane torch.
an other cool liquid, is a suspention of corn starch.. add enough corn starch to about two cups of water (about 1 cup) to make a fluid about as thick as cream.
pour into a pie pan, or some other flat shallow dish.
Rapidly, and hard, smack the fluid! No, no splashes! it too, aligns its self under stress. and a hard smack causes the liquid to behave like a solid! leave your hand there for a moment or two, and you can feel it return to liquid state, and you hand will gentle sink in!
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#57252
02/24/2002 6:57 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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Quite a while ago, there was a thread that mentioned thixotropism. When penicillin was first used, it was in a watery solution. But then a creamy liquid concentrate was developed that looked as though it would not go through a fine needle. But it had the property of becoming much less viscous when drawn into a needle. This is called thixotropism. I don't know how it was achieved.
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#57253
02/24/2002 7:09 PM
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Posts: 3,439
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Why wasn't Science classes this much fun and interesting?
Great thread.
Thank you all.
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#57254
02/24/2002 7:50 PM
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I don't specifically about thixotropism but chemisty is interesting--the more i learn about structure, the more interested i am
carbon (wonderful stuff!) pure carbon can have its molocules aligned one way, and they are collapsed, flattened, and then slide over each other almost like grease(graphite)
aligned an other way at rigid angles and you have a crystal form-- diamonds!
We tend to see solid things as solid-- but on a molecular level, things are not the same..
a classic fun "magic trick" is to take an equal volume of water and alcohol.. (say one cup of each) Use a measuring cup! then pour both liquids into a 2 cup vessel-- You end up with just over 1.5 cups of liquid! (you do need a high proof alcohol, but it can be "denatured" tax free undrinkable stuff!)
Its an amasing trick! the alcohol molocules fit into the empty spaces in the water. Its hard to imagine a solid as dense as water has having empty space.. but it does!
thixotropism is a property of gels and emulsions to become liquid when aggitated or under stress. sort of the opposite of the corn starch water mixture.
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#57255
02/24/2002 8:08 PM
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A couple months ago there was a thread about mudslides from volcanoes and solifluction from earthquakes. Another source of homes being destroyed is "quick clay" which with only slightly greater than usual rain can cause a previously stable slope to collapse catastrophically.
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#57256
02/24/2002 8:11 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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A use of "liquid glass" a hundred years ago was to preserve eggs for baking. A surplus of eggs immersed in it could be used months later. I suppose it worked by excluding oxygen.
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#57257
02/24/2002 8:18 PM
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An extremely important form of carbon is what used to be called "activated charcoal". In organic chemstry it was invaluable for its power of removing small amounts of impurities from crude synthetic product.
Probably its biggest use it removing molasses color and taste from sugar. It can also be used to remove some pollutants from water. I don't know how the "activation" is achieved.
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#57258
02/24/2002 8:47 PM
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A use of "liquid glass" a hundred years ago was to preserve eggs for baking.
Good grief, Bill--how did they get the eggs out, do you know?
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#57259
02/24/2002 9:03 PM
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The liquid glass was just a syrupy solution of sodium silicate. It rinsed off readily. If I remember right it was called water glass.
PS from my dictionary, water glass, definition 4:
sodium silicate or, sometimes, potassium silicate, occurring as a stony powder, usually dissolved in water to form a colorless, syrupy liquid used as an adhesive, as a protective or waterproofing coat, as a preservative for eggs, etc.
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#57260
02/24/2002 9:18 PM
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Posts: 2,636
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I have never done this, but someone I know put liquid glass in the engine of his dying car so that it wouldn't be obvious to the unsuspecting buyer that the car had serious engine trouble. It worked. He sold his car.  Poor baby that bought it. You can still find liquid glass in some pharmacies.
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#57261
02/24/2002 9:25 PM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 55
newbie
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newbie
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 55 |
of Troy--Thanks for the water/alcohol trick. Wonder which other liquids would give the same sort of results?
Consuelo--how did pouring liquid glass into the car's engine conceal its flaws?
How much heat to melt a window before your very eyes?
OrB~
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#57262
02/24/2002 9:28 PM
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OB- I'm not real sure, but I think it had a cracked engine block and the liquid glass sealed the crack. He changed the oil and the radiator fluid. I don't think it was a permanent fix, though.
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#57263
02/24/2002 9:43 PM
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Posts: 5,400
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You can melt glass with a butane burner.. the same kind you use to solder pipes. thats what glass crafters use at fairs, plain glass tubes, clear or colored, that the melt and form into little glass animals.
My microwave came with a double tiered rack, and when one of the insulating covers on the foot broke, my son melted some scrap glass and fashioned a new glass insulator in a week or two. (sometime i am amazed that my kids never blew up the house, or burned it down!)
as for the water/alcohol trick, yes, i am sure there are others.. i just don't know any off the top of my head. that one works well because both water and denatured alcohol are easy to buy and reasonable cheap.
there is an other, one, a simple salt (not table salt, but some other salt) that turn water pink/red, add something else, it goes clear, and other salt, and now the water is blue..
(i was made to do recertations as a child, and i made my kids do something come the holidays.. my son did magic tricks.. he got quite good at them.)
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#57264
02/24/2002 11:11 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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Dear of troy: is the material that turns from red to blue by any chance "litmus"? I did not know until I just looked it up that it is produced by a lichen. It turns pink in acid, and blue in alkali. Sometimes "litmus test" is used as a figure of speech meaning a simple test for a desired condition. It used to come on little strips of paper, and was very easy to use.
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#57265
02/25/2002 1:03 AM
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Ooo, I remember those little pieces of paper. Dipping them in test tubes to see if something was acid or alkaline. I have heard the "as a sort of litmus test" expression, but very seldom. People usually say "let's see if it pans out."
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#57266
02/25/2002 2:21 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866 |
I'm guessing, but I reckon a cup of sugar, or a cup of salt (and many other soluble things) would produce less than two cups of fluid once added to a cup of water.
Mind you, I don't know if you can dissolve one cup of sugar in one cup of water - it may not go......
stales
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#57267
02/25/2002 9:51 AM
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Dear Stales,
Just heat up that sugar in water, stir it slowly, and you'll at least get somethin' you can pour over your engine when you want to sell your broken down car. of Troy taught me that trick!
Best regards,
DubDub
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#57268
02/25/2002 11:51 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
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Regarding Helen's cornstarch trick - If you take that concoction in your hand, and squeeze it, it feels solid, but then let your hand relax, and it runs out of your hand. Quite something! I used to do demonstrations for elementary school classes about chemistry, and that was always a fun one. They call it "Magic Mud" up here. There's a kids' magazine about science called OWL Magazine, and in it, Dr. Zed (not Zee!) has an experiment every month. One of his most famous is the Magic Mud.
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#57269
02/25/2002 1:20 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027
old hand
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old hand
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Hi Helen,
sometime i am amazed that my kids never blew up the house, or burned it down!
when I was a youngster, my parents must have had similar apprehensions about my "laboratory" in the basement, e.g. when I heated sulfuric acid, and the vapors floated up the stairs. I also made glass on a little home-made furnace where a blower pushed burning coals up to 1500 degrees centigrade. Ruby glass uses a tiny amount of gold chloride, so it is not especially expensive from that point of view, but the color only develops on tempering the glass when it has first cooled down, and that's where secret art comes in.
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#57270
02/26/2002 6:38 PM
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
veteran
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veteran
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There was a story about it in the Saturday Evening Post almost sixty years ago.
I must've missed that one, wwh.
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#57271
02/26/2002 9:48 PM
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Posts: 4,189
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Here's a description of uranium glass from the Museum link I provided above (actually a link on the link). If you click on the url below you'll see a great picture of uranium glass, and when you drag your cursor over the pic you get the florescent view.
Yellowish-green
transparent glasses are
known as vaseline, canary
or uranium. Popular for
pressed glass novelties
and tableware during the
1880s and 1890s, this
glass utilized uranium
oxide as its colorant.
When subjected to
ultraviolet (black light), it
fluoresces lime green. Clicke here for photo: http://www.wheatonvillage.org/museum/uranium_glass.html
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