What's the difference between GLASS and CRYSTAL?

Question

How is a "crystal" vase different from a regular glass in how it's made? The only method I know of to make a glass is glass blowing. How do they make sets of glasses all exactly the same size and shape?

These are fantastic answers. Very informative. Thank you!!

Answer 1

Glass is an amorphous solid that is created without any type of regular periodic bonding.

Crystal is a structured lattice of atoms or molecules that forms a regular periodic bonding pattern.

Now what we normally refer to as crystal is just glass cut with facet patterns and some impurities added, like lead, increase the light refraction index to make it sparkle more than ordinary glass.

Glass blowing is something of art, modern forming techniques are largely automated but rely of the same principles as glass blowing artisans to make them all the same size the blow the glass into molds.

Answer 2

Difference Between Glass And Crystal

Answer 3

Crystal can be a mineral (as in crystal balls) or a form of glass which is normally made with added lead oxide which makes the glass sparkle and bing with good tone.
Identical sets of glasses that are totally hand made are done by people who are very good and make dozens and dozens in a day. How ever most glasses today are made by a machine that blows into a mold and the top is cut off by a small hot flame, the machine having several molds and each mold making 2-3 a minute. In between these two, most glassblowers use molds to make the basic form when they are repeatedly doing something, then they modify that mold result, using calipers or a profile template to get the size and shape repeatedly.
I have watched a master glass blower lay out decorative rod in a rectangle and then blow a cylinder to pick up the rod and get it exactly right size to get all the rods without overlap or gap without measurement. In Murano when working, he probably has done that several dozen times a day every working day of the week for decades.

Answer 4

So-called Lead "crystal" is simple Flint Glass, with a little more lead salts in it so it will "sparkle" more. Lead Peroxide, I believe, increases the refractive index. It also makes it easier to work into complicated shapes . Almost All glass you see, outside of Pyrex or a laboratory, has Lead in it. It really isn't crystal at all. Crystal would have to be Pure Quartz, which takes a very high temperature to melt. EDIT: Glass Is. It is more a supercooled Liquid than a solid. It acts Weird. The windows in ancient chapels are thicker at the bottom than top. So, it actually "runs". Crystals are "grown" out of One substance, say, SiO2. They form distinctive shapes. Glass is a composite of several things. EDIT: "manufacturing process"? This is Impossible. The glass was cast flat and level, then cut to fit the lead frames. How can the manufacturer, then, have "oriented" the glass to be thick side down? He Couldn't...