3 ms·

Wouldn't the curtains break if you punched or flexed them a bit?

• denton-scratch 3y ago
  Glass is a fluid; glass fibres are bendy. It's not crystalline. It can flow like treacle. Glass fibre doesn't shatter, if you spin it thin enough. [Edit] I think it's referred to technically as a "supercooled fluid", i.e. it was cooled too quickly for the formation of crystals to be possible.
  • RGBCube 3y ago
    Glass isn't a fluid, it's a solid. But it isn't crystalline either as you said. Found a video that explains it well: https://youtu.be/c6wuh0NRG1s https://youtu.be/c6wuh0NRG1s
    • denton-scratch 3y ago
      Hmmm. Wikipedia agrees with you that it's a solid. But the explanation of why it's not a fluid is handwavey; their strongest claim seems to be that experiments show that it doesn't flow on any reasonable timescale. But presumably that's at standard temperature and pressure; the article doesn't mention the conditions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass#Formation_from_a_supercooled_liquid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass#Formation_from_a_superco... Like, glass is definitely liquid if you get it hot enough. But it doesn't have a melting point; there's no discernible transition from hot glass to cold glass.
      • RGBCube 3y ago
        Yes, it doesn't have a melting point because the molecules slowly fall apart as glass gets heated; the hotter it gets, the liquider it gets (up to a specific level). Glass at room temprature has enough bonds to stay solid, though.