Shattered glass

[adik]

Has anyone ever had this experience? I was holding an empty glass in my hand and it suddenly exploded, shattering into tiny pieces, luckily avoiding me.How did this occur,any ideas?

[EDDIE51]

Many glasses are made from molten glass that has been pressed into shape in a mould and cooled rapidly.
Such glass has a very high amount of internal stress, a tiny scratch or chip can suddenly spread and shatter the glass. Better quality glasses are made from 'tempered' glass , this means that the glass is cooled very slowly in an oven to allow the stresses to be eliminated. Tempered glass is much better at resisting breakage and when it does reak it does not 'shatter' into tiny pieces but breaks into a few large bits. The problem is tempered glass is a lot more expensive as it takes a lot longer to make.

[HowardKennitby]

something like this, perhaps

[Mosaic]

I've seen this happen to a glass on a table twice - once in France, once on my kitchen table. No idea why it happens - put it down to one of those things.

[EDDIE51]

HK That was a good example of high stress glass shattering, I have actually seen that done, you just snip off the end of the 'glass tadpole' and the entire thing virtually explodes.

[Old_Geezer]

Only when I sing.

[vivandorron]

I once made a stew in a Pyrex Glass Casserole and,having taken it from the oven, placed it onto a chopping board, which must have been damp from having been washed. Result was that the glass dish exploded apart and, whilst I escaped any possible injury, there was a real mess to clean-up in the kitchen.

Ron.

[HowardKennitby]

Thing is, for Prince Rupert drops, given that glass is not a solid, over time(say 200 years) surely the internal stresses would even out and the disintegration would not occur.

[splodge29]

the force is strong with you.......:-)