What is glass?

You will laugh when reading this seemingly silly question, but so far physicists have not been able to answer correctly.

Learn about glass

Glass is a strange material, exists in a solid liquid and how it happens is still a mystery without an answer.

In the Middle Ages, it was thought that when standing up a piece of glass, the 'glass line' was slow, so the lower part would be thicker. However, it is a misconception because the glass production technique at the time was still incomplete. Currently, scientists have determined that glass is not a slow-moving liquid but it is a solid. However, it is called amorphous solid because it does not have a molecular structure like 'real solid' , but its molecular structure is not sufficiently uncertain to be classified as a liquid.

Glass is not a slow moving liquid but it is a solid.

However, not all properties of glass are clearly understood. The biggest question is how can it transform from liquid (when melted) to amorphous solid? When most materials undergo a transition between liquid and solid states, their molecules will immediately be rearranged.

When molecules are moving freely in the "hardened" liquid, they form a tightly bound structure. However, the process of switching from molten glass to a transparent, solid glass sheet does not occur. Instead of abrupt changes, the motion of the glass molecules slows down in the direction of temperature reduction, thereby retaining the disorder of liquid molecules but carrying the physical properties of solids.

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Therefore, how to treat glass is still an open question. Dr Hajime Tanaka of Tokyo University said: 'Every researcher gives a different explanation.'

One reason for this strangeness may be due to energy conversion . According to the law of thermodynamics, when heat exchange takes place within a system, different atoms will stabilize themselves by being the least energy-efficient. But in a system, the stability of atoms is different, so their steady state is different, some groups will fall into an unstable state.

However, this explanation does not explain why the stable behavior of atoms is different. However, Dr. Tanaka will continue to work with other researchers to find the answer. He said: 'Until now crystal formation and glass are often studied independently. But I believe that between these two states have a relationship with each other and by analyzing the geometric structure of the crystal, we can find similarities in glass. "