Foo - Glass spontaneously breaking

I was just sitting here at my desk. Next to me is a plain tall glass that I recently finished drinking a lukewarm ice tea drink from. It was empty. I heard a *ping* and I noticed a crack around the bottom of it, just above the base. I picked it up and the bottom came off.

Never had that happen before. Glass spontaneously breaking.

A quick internet search shows that this happens sometimes to all sorts of glass. Resonance frequencies, or imperceptable stresses to the glass.

Time to get a new glass. Maybe a plastic one this time.

If you're superstitious it means someone you know has died, or will die soon, or very bad news coming your way, if you're not superstitious it means you do indeed need a new glass.

Bought a crystal ring holder for a cousin as a christmas gift many years ago.
We're all sitting around opening gifts...she opens hers....she loves it....places it on the table in front of her. About 10 minutes later, as the festivities are proceeding...boom! That ring holder just shattered....no one was near it. Still no clue what caused that.

Not superstitious. Guess I just need a new glass.

Not superstitious. Guess I just need a new glass.

Consider yourself a religious person? or do you believe in Darwins theory?

Too much fracking for natural gas in the area, too many bad vibes.

Too much fracking for natural gas in the area, too many bad vibes.

He's not superstitious.

So one day I'm in my kitchen washing dishes when I hear a sudden snap of breaking glass. Figure some water must have splashed onto the hot globe of the tube light under the cabinet above the sink and caused it to burst, bend down to check but it is fine and dry. Turn around and see that the glass plate over an old Deco exit sign that I was using as a wall sconce was cracked in two. As my jaw drops in dismay I again hear a snap, turn around and the globe over the sink is in pieces. Oh, what a world!

I was just sitting here at my desk. Next to me is a plain tall glass that I recently finished drinking a lukewarm ice tea drink from. It was empty. I heard a *ping* and I noticed a crack around the bottom of it, just above the base. I picked it up and the bottom came off.

Never had that happen before. Glass spontaneously breaking.

A quick internet search shows that this happens sometimes to all sorts of glass. Resonance frequencies, or imperceptable stresses to the glass.

Time to get a new glass. Maybe a plastic one this time.

Do you have a pissed-off co-worker named Clark Kent near you?

Having blown glass off-hand and been involved on the periphery of mass produced glass this is not unusual.

Glass is a constant liquid even though it seems solid. For the best chance at stability it must annealed (cooled from a really liquid state to apparently solid) properly.

There is generally a certain amount of thermal stress in all glass, more so in hand produced and batch annealed ware. I've had pieces I made in college develop fatal cracks that eventually failed over time. That said there are some ancient pieces of glassware.

Glass, because it is always liquid, evolves over time.

Here's a real example of what thermal stress can do to a flaw in a glass surface: I got a stone chip in a windshield and was meaning to get it mended by one of the mobile services for that kind of damage. Procrastinator that I am I didn't and I woke one morning to a snow filled windshield. "Ah," I thought, "I'm in a big hurry this morning so why don't I just clear my windshield by spraying it with water?"

As I sprayed the water and cleared the snow I watched a crack start from the stone chip and extend from one end of the windshield to the other.

Too much fracking for natural gas in the area, too many bad vibes.

That could very well be.

That could very well be.

Or poltergeists.

Having blown glass off-hand and been involved on the periphery of mass produced glass this is not unusual.

Glass is a constant liquid even though it seems solid. For the best chance at stability it must annealed (cooled from a really liquid state to apparently solid) properly.

There is generally a certain amount of thermal stress in all glass, more so in hand produced and batch annealed ware. I've had pieces I made in college develop fatal cracks that eventually failed over time. That said there are some ancient pieces of glassware.

Glass, because it is always liquid, evolves over time.

Here's a real example of what thermal stress can do to a flaw in a glass surface: I got a stone chip in a windshield and was meaning to get it mended by one of the mobile services for that kind of damage. Procrastinator that I am I didn't and I woke one morning to a snow filled windshield. "Ah," I thought, "I'm in a big hurry this morning so why don't I just clear my windshield by spraying it with water?"

As I sprayed the water and cleared the snow I watched a crack start from the stone chip and extend from one end of the windshield to the other.

This. I work in optics, and some glass types are no fun near any kind of thermal difference. The glass you had tea out of is likely the crappiest cheapest glass out there, unless of course you were drinking out of expensive glass.

I will drink out of glass before plastic. Though 50% of the day I drink out of my Nalgene bottle...

I have the opposite story.

Once a bunch of my family were on my grandmother's porch 12 floors up. My step-sister had an empty glass in her hand. It slipped and began to plummet to the stone below. We held our breath, because there was no way of knowing if someone might walk out from below.

The glass hit the pavement and bounced. It rolled a little and stopped.

I ran to the elevator and got it as fast as possible.

Not even a chip or a scratch. Everyone was amazed. We didn't know what to do with it afterwards. So we finally put it in the dishwasher.

Look for something like this:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zx5W0lGbUqc/TrS-K5rD3fI/AAAAAAAAAe8/Rdy_FqzHTRE/s1600/Tintin+Panel.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Calculus_Affair)