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Well, glass is still a liquid, which was the most counter intuitive claim to me, whether or not the flow is humanly perceptible. In fact it is even more counte
by yters 6y ago
Well, glass is still a liquid, which was the most counter intuitive claim to me, whether or not the flow is humanly perceptible. In fact it is even more counter intuitive now, since glass is an even more solid liquid.
- Pulcinella 6y agoIt makes more sense (to me at least) to think of glass as an amorphous solid and expand the concept of “states of matter.” It doesn’t have a repeating crystalline structure. I think expand the concept of states of matter is key. It really helps make sense of a lot more things when you move beyond just solid, liquid, and gas (and plasma). A good example are liquid crystals, in LCDs yes but also cell membranes. What state of matter is the cell membrane? It makes more sense to create a new phase to categorize it. The lipid molecules are arranged in a certain orientation to each other (crystalline) but are also free to shuffle past each other (liquid). This is not just academic. Your body uses cholesterol to modify the fluidity vs. crystalinity of your cell membranes so they don’t “freeze) (stiffen too much) in the winter or melt in the summer.