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Is glass a solid or a liquid?


Still Waters

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Is glass a solid or a liquid? This question, which has been vigorously debated by specialists in the field for some decades, has just been answered anew: "Glass is a non-equilibrium, non-crystalline state of matter that appears solid on a short timescale but continuously relaxes toward the liquid state."

"There are several definitions of glass, but most of them contain serious errors," said Edgar Dutra Zanotto, one of the authors of the new definition. "Many definitions say a glass is a solid, and others say it's an isotropic material [whose properties are the same in all directions], but many glasses are not."

https://phys.org/news/2017-10-solid-liquid-definition-glass.html

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This "glass as a 'slow liquid' is an urban myth. 

Edgar is mistaken: Glass is a solid. 

Edited by RoofGardener
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I mean seeing how my window seems to stay in place everyday I'm going t call it a solid lol :lol:

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Well let's see.....tap tap tap!   I gotta go with solid . If it "relaxes" into a liquid state by tomorrow , I'll change my mind.

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Well, over time glass 'flows'. You can see old windows in churches that have become thicker at the bottom, apparently.

What other solid flows? 

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1 minute ago, I'mConvinced said:

Well, over time glass 'flows'. You can see old windows in churches that have become thicker at the bottom, apparently.

What other solid flows? 

Ibelieve that is an urban myth. The glass in the old windows did not "flow" downwards... they where CAST that way !

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nothing is 'solid'.

that is a very convincing and persistent illusion based on how our perceptual/interpretive sensory organs operate.

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Just now, RoofGardener said:

Ibelieve that is an urban myth. The glass in the old windows did not "flow" downwards... they where CAST that way !

Could be, it was parroted at me years ago by my Chemistry teacher. Still, is it not true that left long enough glass changes shape? I thought this was what all the debate was about.

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10 minutes ago, I'mConvinced said:

Could be, it was parroted at me years ago by my Chemistry teacher. Still, is it not true that left long enough glass changes shape? I thought this was what all the debate was about.

I heard it at school... but I can't remember whether this came from a teacher, or whether it was just talk in the common room. 

I'm not sure that glass does NOT change shape over time ? 

(well.... unless you drop it ? :P )

Edited by RoofGardener
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I work regularly with old glass in antiques and old buildings.  Glass is always flowing down.

Ever check out the glass in seriously old structures in Europe?  They all bulge at the bottom where the glass is ever so slowly settling over time.

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2 hours ago, Still Waters said:

Is glass a solid or a liquid? This question, which has been vigorously debated by specialists in the field for some decades, has just been answered anew: "Glass is a non-equilibrium, non-crystalline state of matter that appears solid on a short timescale but continuously relaxes toward the liquid state."

"There are several definitions of glass, but most of them contain serious errors," said Edgar Dutra Zanotto, one of the authors of the new definition. "Many definitions say a glass is a solid, and others say it's an isotropic material [whose properties are the same in all directions], but many glasses are not."

https://phys.org/news/2017-10-solid-liquid-definition-glass.html

Its a super cooled liquid that is cooled at a rate too fast for it to crystalize into a solid.

Ice cream lollies are made the same way. The reason why you freezing a juice drink produces a block of flavoured ice not the texture ice lolly you would buy from the shops is you took too long to cool it. You let it become a solid! The ice lolly from the shop isn't a solid its a super cooled liquid.

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19 minutes ago, RabidMongoose said:

Its a super cooled liquid that is cooled at a rate too fast for it to crystalize into a solid.

Ice cream lollies are made the same way. The reason why you freezing a juice drink produces a block of flavoured ice not the texture ice lolly you would buy from the shops is you took too long to cool it. You let it become a solid! The ice lolly from the shop isn't a solid its a super cooled liquid.

That is what I was led to believe, back in the 1980's. 

However, I believe it is not the case ? 

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24 minutes ago, quiXilver said:

I work regularly with old glass in antiques and old buildings.  Glass is always flowing down.

Ever check out the glass in seriously old structures in Europe?  They all bulge at the bottom where the glass is ever so slowly settling over time.

That's a myth. Glass "flows" so slowly that, in order for glass in a window to bulge at the bottom, it would need longer than the current age of the universe to do it.

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Labels. Water is a liquid? Is ice? Define natural state. 

Lines are blurry on that one... Think we should have left the categorising at hard, soft or flowing.

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52 minutes ago, Black Monk said:

That's a myth. Glass "flows" so slowly that, in order for glass in a window to bulge at the bottom, it would need longer than the current age of the universe to do it.

And the age of the universe is how much again? 

6,000 years give or take? 

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1 hour ago, RoofGardener said:

That is what I was led to believe, back in the 1980's. 

However, I believe it is not the case ? 

It was still true in 2000 and I`m not aware of science having revised that since.

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According to Scientific American, it is an amorphous solid.... something I've never heard of before. But it IS a solid, not a supercooled liquid.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-fiction-glass-liquid/

However, it is a disorganised solid ! Something I've ALSO never heard of before, but to which I can entirely relate ! :)

 

Edited by RoofGardener
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If nobody new already there is In fact gaseous glass and it has a sound all it's own.

:)

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