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2007-02-25 09:01:11 · 3 answers · asked by kracker3977 3 in Education & Reference Other - Education

3 answers

You need sand plus a chemical agent that'll lower its melting point so that you can melt them. One good choice is to mix sand with limestone and sodium carbonate, which gives you something called soda-lime glass. You still need a high temperature to get it melted and properly mixed.

If you try to melt sand to make glass, what you'll generally come up with is hot sand. You need exceedingly high temperatures to melt sand directly, and what you get if you succeed is called 'fused quartz,' a very fine and expensive product that's heatproof and generally swell. Usually we make it by just making soda-lime glass and then chemically extracting everything but the silicon dioxide of the sand.

2007-02-25 09:09:00 · answer #1 · answered by 2n2222 6 · 1 0

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Making glass
Question: How do you make glass?


Answer:
The basic building block of glass
is silica which is the major component of everyday sand.
It is possible to make glass by melting sand. Natural glass can even
be found near volcanos and is called obsidian. This was sometimes used to
make tools and weapons in the same way as flints and cherts have been.
Glasses of differing characteristics are produced by removing impurities
and by adding specific compounds. The existence of different types of glass
is a major obstacle to economic glass recycling. Most communities that
have recycling programs will not accept light bulbs, window glass, mirrors
and perfume bottles beause this glass can contaminate food and beverage
container glass. Some of the incompatibilities are differences in melting and
solidification temperatures and changes in strength and flexibility. Mixed
glass waste can be used as a supplement in road repair but I know of no other
use. Call your local recycling manager and ask!

2007-02-25 17:23:46 · answer #2 · answered by iraqidesertmp 3 · 1 0

You take sand and you melt it and cool it rapidly and then you have glass.

2007-02-25 17:04:15 · answer #3 · answered by Lady Ettejin of Wern 6 · 0 2

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