5 ms·
Silica is one of the most common substances on earth — the crust is more than half silica by mass. Pretty much all life can, by necessity, tolerate a good deal
by thfuran 2y ago
Silica is one of the most common substances on earth — the crust is more than half silica by mass. Pretty much all life can, by necessity, tolerate a good deal of silica exposure. You don't really want to breathe a lot of fine silica dust (or, frankly, any size of glass bits), but actively grinding it into dust that gets airborne is just about the only way it'll cause problems, other than cutting yourself.
- specialist 2y agoSo glassware is safer than plastics? I'm not going to get bits of glass in my brain just from drinking soda out of bottles?
- kstrauser 2y agoYes, glassware is vastly more stable than plastics. Ever microwave something in a plastic bowl and it comes out smelling kinda plasticky? That smell means it’s degraded and venting volatile compounds that are chemically reacting with your olfactory neurons. Smelling something doesn’t automatically make something dangerous, obviously. It does mean the molecules that were previously part of your plastic soup bowl are now knocking around in the open air. Glass doesn’t do that at common temperatures. It’s basically inert.