What is the state of Glass? solid liqiud or Gas?

Answer 1

Glass is technically a liquid because some of the atoms prevent crystal formation to allow it to become a solid. However, it is a very viscous liquid and (obviously) holds it shape quite well over an extended period of time. If you look at old glass widows however, the bottom is much thicker than the top.

Answer 2

What I am sure of glass is not a gas.

There is no clear answer to the question "Is glass solid or liquid?". In terms of molecular dynamics and thermodynamics it is possible to justify various different views that it is a highly viscous liquid, an amorphous solid, or simply that glass is another state of matter which is neither liquid nor solid. The difference is semantic. In terms of its material properties we can do little better. There is no clear definition of the distinction between solids and highly viscous liquids. All such phases or states of matter are idealisations of real material properties. Nevertheless, from a more common sense point of view, glass should be considered a solid since it is rigid according to every day experience. The use of the term "supercooled liquid" to describe glass still persists, but is considered by many to be an unfortunate misnomer that should be avoided. In any case, claims that glass panes in old windows have deformed due to glass flow have never been substantiated. Examples of Roman glassware and calculations based on measurements of glass visco-properties indicate that these claims cannot be true. The observed features are more easily explained as a result of the imperfect methods used to make glass window panes before the float glass process was invented.
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/Glass/glass.html


Scientists do insist that glass is a liquid (see addendum), because it has no melting point. A normal solid has a temperature at which it melts, from an obvious solid to an obvious liquid. As the temperature rises, glass just becomes less viscous. It behaves the same way that other, not quite so viscous, liquids do. They also become less viscous at higher temperatures.

Addendum:

I received several emails, informing me (and quoting sources, too) that the flow of glass, under normal temperatures, is a myth. And we find that the ripples in old glass, often taken as proof of flow, is caused by acid rain eating away at the glass, or maybe poorly made sheets of glass. By the way, we find that a glass does not have to be made of silicon dioxide. In fact, there are carbon-based glasses.

Take a survey of encyclopedias; what do they say? Well they say "Glass is a liquid," and "Glass is an amorphous solid," and "Glass is neither a solid nor a liquid." There is not a lot of consensus. There is an entire recent book called Glass, which apparently does not mention the words "solid" or "liquid" (according to the index). I can only deduce that "glass" is an amorphous word. I am leaning toward classifying glass as an amorphous solid, that is a solid that does not have a crystalline structure. And glass still does not have a well-defined melting point. That is still one of its defining properties.

http://www.jimloy.com/physics/glass.htm

Answer 3

There is a semantic confusion in the three choices you have provided. As the end product Glass has passed through the state of liquid and gas and air.However, in the final shape, glass is compressed fluid that also includes in cases compressed polymars.

Answer 4

Solid or liquid depending on the temperature

Answer 5

Glass is a uniform material of arguable phase, usually produced when the viscous molten material cools very rapidly to below its glass transition temperature, without sufficient time for a regular crystal lattice to form. The most familiar form of glass is the Silica-based material used for household objects such as light bulbs and windows.

Glass is a biologically inactive material that can be formed into smooth and impervious surfaces. Glass is brittle and will break into sharp shards. These properties can be modified or changed with the addition of other compounds or heat treatment.

Common glass contains about 70-72 weight % of silicon dioxide (SiO2). The major raw material is sand (or "quartz sand") that contains almost 100% of crystalline silica in the form of quartz. Although it is an almost pure quartz, it may still contain a small amount (< 1%) of iron oxides that would color the glass, so this sand is usually enriched in the factory to reduce the iron oxide amount to < 0.05%. Large natural single crystals of quartz are purer silicon dioxide, and upon crushing are used for high quality specialty glasses. Synthetic amorphous silica (practically 100% pure) is the raw material for the most expensive specialty glasses.

Glass ingredients
Pure silica (SiO2) has a melting point of about 2,000° C (3,632° F). It can be made into glass for special applications (see fused quartz), and other substances are added to common glass to simplify processing. One is soda (sodium carbonate Na2CO3), which lowers the melting point to about 1,000° C (1,832° F). However, the soda makes the glass water soluble, which is usually undesirable, so lime (calcium oxide, CaO), some MgO and aluminum oxide are added to provide for a better chemical durability. The resulting glass contains about 70 to 72 percent silica by weight and is called a soda-lime glass. Soda-lime glasses account for about 90 percent of manufactured glass.

As well as soda and lime, most common glass has other ingredients added to change its properties. Lead glass, such as lead crystal or flint glass, is more 'brilliant' because the increased refractive index causes noticeably more "sparkles", while boron may be added to change the thermal and electrical properties, as in Pyrex. Adding barium also increases the refractive index. Thorium oxide gives glass a high refractive index and low dispersion, and was formerly used in producing high-quality lenses, but due to its radioactivity has been replaced by lanthanum oxide in modern glasses. Large amounts of iron are used in glass that absorbs infrared energy, such as heat absorbing filters for movie projectors, while cerium(IV) oxide can be used for glass that absorbs UV wavelengths (biologically damaging ionizing radiation).

Glasses that do not include silica as a major constituent are sometimes used for fibre optics and other specialized technical applications. These include fluorozirconate, fluoroaluminate, and chalcogenide glasses.

In 2006 Italian scientists created a new type of glass using extreme pressure and carbon dioxide. The substance was named amorphous carbonia (a-CO2) which has an atomic structure resembling that of ordinary window glass [1].

Glass as a liquid
One arguably justifiable belief is that glass is a liquid of practically infinite viscosity at room temperature and as such flows, though very slowly, similar to pitch. Glass is generally treated as an amorphous solid rather than a liquid, though different views can be justified since characterizing glass as either 'solid' or 'liquid' is not an entirely straightforward matter [3]. However, the notion that glass flows to an appreciable extent over extended periods of time is not supported by empirical evidence or theoretical analysis.

A myth does exist that glass rods and tubes can bend under their own weight over time. To check it, in the 1920s, Robert John Rayleigh, son of the Nobel Prize winner John William Rayleigh, conducted an experiment on a 1 metre (~39 in) long, 5 millimetre (~3/16 in) thick glass rod, which was supported horizontally on two pins with a 300 gram (~0.66 lb) weight in the middle. Apart from the initial bending of 28 millimetre (~1.1 in), the position of the weight did not change until the end of the experiment, which lasted for 7 years. At the same time, another man, a worker of General Electric named K. D. Spenser, conducted a similar experiment independently. Two months after Rayleigh, he published his own results which also disproved the myth. Spenser suggested that the myth was composed before the 1920s, when the tubes were made by hand, and naturally some of them were curved to begin with. Over time the straight tubes were taken away, and only the curved ones remained. Some people probably thought it was the glass flowing.

There is no clear answer to the question "Is glass solid or liquid?". In terms of molecular dynamics and thermodynamics it is possible to justify various different views that it is a highly viscous liquid, an amorphous solid, or simply that glass is another state of matter which is neither liquid nor solid.

Answer 6

Glass is in the solid PHYSICAL form usually.. but it can be in the liquid when you add heat and melt it. It is whether it is physical state or chemical state. im not a chemist. haha

Answer 7

the state of glass is solid because the molecules are tightly packed.
thx bye

Answer 8

glass is a liquid with very high viscosity.
it can be proved by the fact that very old glasses have their lower part a bit thicker than their upper part.

Answer 9

it is an amorphous solid (amorphous means the elements of glass are not that much ordered as the elements ordered in the crystalls)

Answer 10

I've heard that glass is considered a liquid.