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At least broken glass doesn't stay sharp for long when exposed to the elements.

goldenkey 9y ago
How sure are you about this? The walk I had barefoot on a street in Brooklyn ended in a multitude of sharp embedded glass and other objects. And this was a clean street..without people dropping bottles on the ground constantly. EDIT: to all those downvoting me, a fucking veteran glassblower says that glass takes forever to erode.. https://www.quora.com/How-long-does-broken-glass-take-to-break-down-in-the-woods https://www.quora.com/How-long-does-broken-glass-take-to-bre...
- allannienhuis 9y ago
  A nice soft forest floor described in that link is a completely different environment than an urban street/sidewalk. Glass would erode completely differently in those environments. Of course even in an urban environment the average piece of glass would still take a long long time to have its sharp edges smoothed. I can't disagree with the idea that walking around barefoot in the city is not the best idea ;P
- code_duck 9y ago
  Depends on the environment, of course. In the ocean or Lake Superior, sharp glass gets rounded to smooth pebbles within 100 years. I’d estimate the sharp edges take 20-30 years to disappear. Sitting still on a street, of course, not much will happen. As far as areas of expertise, I am a veteran (20 years) glassblower, but I am not an expert on how glass decays at all. I’m skilled at making it into things.
dTal 9y ago
Why wouldn't it? Archaelogists find obsidian blades thousands of years old that still have an edge.
- icegreentea2 9y ago
  Anything out on a (well traveled) sidewalk is going to be constantly moved around by traffic (and weather) causing it to abrade against the sidewalk itself (and whatever else is around) causing it to 'weather' away (round off). Pretty much anything old we find like those knives are pretty much guaranteed to have been essentially buried all at once, and then left more or less undisturbed from that moment on. Minimal physical movement, minimal abrasion, minimal dulling of edges.
- justin66 9y ago
  Archaeologists look in places where objects have not been exposed to the elements.

How sure are you about this? The walk I had barefoot on a street in Brooklyn ended in a multitude of sharp embedded glass and other objects. And this was a clean street..without people dropping bottles on the ground constantly. EDIT: to all those downvoting me, a fucking veteran glassblower says that glass takes forever to erode.. https://www.quora.com/How-long-does-broken-glass-take-to-break-down-in-the-woods https://www.quora.com/How-long-does-broken-glass-take-to-bre...

allannienhuis 9y ago
A nice soft forest floor described in that link is a completely different environment than an urban street/sidewalk. Glass would erode completely differently in those environments. Of course even in an urban environment the average piece of glass would still take a long long time to have its sharp edges smoothed. I can't disagree with the idea that walking around barefoot in the city is not the best idea ;P
code_duck 9y ago
Depends on the environment, of course. In the ocean or Lake Superior, sharp glass gets rounded to smooth pebbles within 100 years. I’d estimate the sharp edges take 20-30 years to disappear. Sitting still on a street, of course, not much will happen. As far as areas of expertise, I am a veteran (20 years) glassblower, but I am not an expert on how glass decays at all. I’m skilled at making it into things.

dTal 9y ago

Why wouldn't it? Archaelogists find obsidian blades thousands of years old that still have an edge.

icegreentea2 9y ago
Anything out on a (well traveled) sidewalk is going to be constantly moved around by traffic (and weather) causing it to abrade against the sidewalk itself (and whatever else is around) causing it to 'weather' away (round off). Pretty much anything old we find like those knives are pretty much guaranteed to have been essentially buried all at once, and then left more or less undisturbed from that moment on. Minimal physical movement, minimal abrasion, minimal dulling of edges.
justin66 9y ago
Archaeologists look in places where objects have not been exposed to the elements.