

The Curious Properties of a Molten Glass Blob Dropped in Cold Water - alexholehouse
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/03/prince-ruperts-drop-the-curious-properties-of-a-molten-glass-blob-dropped-in-cold-water/

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gvb
To apply a fairly abstract curiosity to the contents of your pocket, it is
closely related to Gorilla Glass[tm]. Gorilla Glass is chemically treated
"tempering" rather than heat treated.

Ref: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorilla_Glass#Manufacture>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toughened_glass#History>

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Natsu
This is true of all tempered glass, not just that dropped in cold water. The
side windows of your car can do the exact same thing because tempered glass is
under stress and, when something comes along to break it and release all that
stress, it explodes just like the sample pictured in the article, which is why
we have to cut and seam it before tempering it. (Your windshield is laminated.
Having it blow up like that sample pictured--a very real possibility--could
easily cause an accident.)

Normally you don't see windows explode because the edges are smoothed before
tempering and protected inside a frame. But if you happen to have a piece of
tempered glass and nick the corner against something, it will probably blow
up. Actually, tempered glass occasionally blows up all on its own, usually
during winter, but you probably won't see that unless you've worked for a cut
& temper operation.

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tzs
If you want to know a lot more about this, take MIT's 3.091x (Introduction to
Solid State Chemistry) from edx.org. It's quite a fun course.

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coditor
I like a glass of cold wate on occasion.

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mscarborough
"cold wate"

