why was the discovery of how to make glass important for progress in science?
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It helps to spy on the neighbours when they have their windows closed
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A better safety feature would be to view the chromatogram from behind a sheet of glass.  Glass is opaque to almost all frequencies of UV.
749839
You're going to have to elaborate some more.  What is a Newton's Glass?
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As you've realised, glass isn't totally transparent. It lets through most frequencies of light in the VISIBLE region of the spectrum, but blocks UV. \n\nSo glass is just like a blue piece of transparent plastic. The plastic is blue because it only lets through the blue visible light and blocks everything else. The only difference with glass is that it blocks the UV and lets most of the visible spectrum through.\n\nAt the atomic level, transparency occurs because atoms, and the electrons whizzing round them, have particular (or "discrete") energy levels. Only light of the correct frequencies can actually interact with atoms, and excite the electrons to a higher energy level, in which case the light of that frequency is absorbed. \n\nThe energy levels that exist in glass are such that UV light can excite the electrons and therefore gets absorbed, whereas for visible light there aren't any electrons that can absorb that frequency and get excited, so the visible light effectively passes straight through.
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The Columbia Encyclopedia on Yahoo! notes\n\n"The processes of glassmaking have remained essentially the same since ancient times. The materials are fused at high temperatures in seasoned fireclay containers, boiled down, skimmed, and cooled several hundred degrees; then the molten glass (called metal) is ladled or poured into molds and pressed, or is blown (sometimes into molds), or is drawn. The shaped glass is annealed to relieve stresses caused by manipulation, then is slowly cooled. The glass, formerly annealed on shelves in a melting furnace, is now usually carried on rollers through annealing ovens (lehrs).\n\nAlthough today most hollow vessels such as light bulbs or containers are machine blown, fine ornamental hollow ware is still made by gathering a mass of glass at the end of a long, iron blowpipe, blowing it into a pear-shaped bulb, which is rolled on an oiled slab (marver), shaped with tools, and then reblown, often into a mold; the glass is reheated periodically in a small furnace (glory hole). It is finally transferred to an iron rod (punty) attached to the base of the vessel, and the lip is shaped and smoothed. Methods of decoration include cutting, copper-wheel engraving, etching with hydrofluoric acid, enameling, gilding, and painting."\n\nYou can gain more information here.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass\n\nAs well as here \n\nhttp://www.cmog.org/
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Glass is made up of mostly silica sand.  In order for the sand to become glass, it must be heated up to a super-hot tempature of 1,982°C/3.600°F.\nUsually white sand is preferred when making glass, because of lower concentrations of iron, which turns the glass a greenish color.\nSometimes lead is added to sand to make a softer type of glass with exceptional clearity.  Max. lead content can only be 33%.  It is more complex to work with, but easier to cut.\n\nTwo natural glasses that occur are: obsidian, a natural by-product of volcanic eruptions; also, fulgrites, which are formed when lightning strikes sand or rocks, super-heating then cooling, forming glass.
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One is the simple physics of collisions. Rutherford Back Scattering is used today to measure thin films. It is just bouncing balls so is not affected by chemistry.\nThe physics of elastic collisions was well defined by others. (billiard balls with balls of different masses) People used radioactive sources and understood the nature of alpha particles. So when the very thin film of gold didn't stop most of the particles, there was no surprise. The ones that did, were the surprise and the interesting/useful part of the experiment.\nNewtonian physics, elastic collisions, alpha particles, radioactive sources were available.\nThis should be a start.
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Teacher is wrong. This is a popular misconception, but the usually cited "proof", that old windows are thicker at the bottom, only proves that old glass was irregular in thickness. A smart glazier would install a pane thick edge down for better strength.\n\nEvidence to the contrary includes the fact that large telescope mirrors and lenses, which must be figured  to within less than 100 nanometers (4 micro-inches), maintain this figure indefinitely. Telescopes over 100 years old are still in use. Also, glass artifacts over 3000 years old still hold their shape.\n\nThis misconception arises because glass, being an amorphous, as opposed to crystalline solid, has no clearly defined melting point. However, at temperatures below the glass transition temperature, glass is most definitely solid. Actually, metals exhibit more "liquid" behavior than glass does, because they will creep under load, something glass does not do.
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Contrary to what some science teachers and tour guides may say, glass is NOT a "slow-moving liquid". That's an urban legend.\n\nMany years ago, the method of making glass panes involved spinning a glob of glass on a flat disk until the glass flattened, which caused the outside edge to be thicker than the center. When the disk of glass was cut into panes, one edge was always slightly thicker.\n\n"Estimates of the viscosity of glasses at room temperature run as high as 10 to the 20th power Scientists and engineers may argue about the exact value of that number, but it is doubtful that there is any real physical significance to a viscosity as great as that anyway. As for cathedral windows, it is hard to believe that anything that viscous is going to flow at all.\n\nIt is worth noting, too, that at room temperature the viscosity of metallic lead has been estimated to be about 10 to the11th power, poises, that is, perhaps a billion times less viscous-or a billion times more fluid, if you prefer than glass. Presumably, then, the lead caming that holds stained glass pieces in place should have flowed a billion times more readily than the glass. While lead caming often bends and buckles under the enormous architectural stresses imposed on it, one never hears that the lead has flowed like a liquid."\n-Dr. Robert Brill, Corning Museum of Glass\n\n\np.s. \n\n1. The more viscous a liquid, the higher its resistance to flow - not the other way around. \n\n2. It's "Newtonian", not "Neutonian".\n\n3. Although glass exhibits characteristics of both liquid and solid, it's categorized as an amorphous or "pseudo" solid.
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Learned the art of blowing glass.  such as vases, bowl and platters.
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Glycerin, motor oil, honey...\n\nOh, and Robert R below is wrong about glass, the claim that glass is a very viscous fluid has been dispelled a few years ago, but the announcment thereof was seemingly not as popular as the original claim -- I was saying that myself until was shown the evidence.  Glass is an amorphous solid, and recent materials created by super-quencing metals or inhibiting crystaline formation have created a whole new class of material called glass-metals with unique properties -- do a search on vitralloy.\nBut ordinary glass will now flow over time.
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For my science fair, I grew crystals.  My dad teaches at the high school I went to, and the physics teacher there told him about it.  Here's a neat site that explains how to do it.  I found it fascinating!\n\nhttp://www.sdnhm.org/kids/minerals/grow-crystal.html
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the world needs more Glass.... all that sand, heat from a few nuclear explosions... viola, more glass for the rest of the world
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A crystal shape is the arrangement of the molecules in a compound...carbon fiber is a crystalline structure since it is arranged in a pattern when observed under a microscope. Glass, however isn't a crystalline structure, and will be disorganized. Also, a quick fact is that glass will always be in motion due to it's non-crystalline structure. The bottom of a pane of glass will be thicker than the top after many years :) A high melting point means that it will take more heat to induce a state change... Metal is frozen at room temperature and has a high melting point, as opposed to water, which has a melting point around 33 degrees farenheit.
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No one invented it.  Mendeleev recognized the similarity of the group--and several other groups of elements--and arranged things into the periodic table...\n\nLike many other areas in science, finding the right classification scheme helped rocket chemistry into new insights and new developments.
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/glasscollectors/\nTry my yahoo glass group for help.
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Fiberglass or fibreglass is material made from extremely fine fibers of glass. It is used as a reinforcing agent for many plastic products; the resulting composite material, properly known as glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) or glass-fiber reinforced epoxy (GRE), is called "fiberglass" in popular usage.\n\nGlassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of fiberglass was only made possible with the advent of finer machine-tooling. In 1893, Edward Drummond Libbey exhibited a dress at the World's Columbian Exposition incorporating glass fibers with the diameter and texture of silk fibers. What is commonly known as "fiberglass" today, however, was invented in 1938 by Russell Games Slayter of Owens-Corning as a material to be used as insulation. It is marketed under the trade name Fiberglass.\n\nFormation\nGlass fiber is formed when thin strands of silica-based or other formulation glass is extruded into many fibers with small diameters suitable for textile processing. Glass is unlike other polymers in that, even as a fiber, it has little crystalline structure (see amorphous solid). The properties of the structure of glass in its softened stage are very much like its properties when spun into fiber. One definition of glass is "an inorganic substance in a condition which is continuous with, and analogous to the liquid state of that substance, but which, as a result of a reversible change in viscosity during cooling, has attained so high a degree of viscosity as to be for all practical purposes rigid." [1]\n\nThe technique of heating and drawing glass into fine fibers has been known to exist for thousands of years; however, the concept of using these fibers for textile applications is more recent. The first commercial production of fiberglass was in 1936. In 1938, Owens-Illinois Glass Company and Corning Glass Works joined to form the Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation. Until this time all fiberglass had been manufactured as staple. When the two companies joined together to produce and promote fiberglass, they introduced continuous filament glass fibers.\n\nChemistry\nThe basis of textile grade glass fibers is silica, SiO2. In its pure form it exists as a polymer, (SiO2)n. It has no true melting point but softens up to 2000°C, where it starts to degrade. At 1713°C, most of the molecules can move about freely. If the glass is then cooled quickly, they will be unable to form an ordered structure. [2] In the polymer it forms SiO4 groups which are configured as a tetrahedron with the silicon atom at the center, and four oxygen atoms at the corners. These atoms then form a network bonded at the corners by sharing the oxygen atoms.\n\nThe vitreous and crystalline states of silica (glass and quartz) have similar energy levels on a molecular basis, also implying that the glassy form is extremely stable. In order to induce crystallization, it must be heated to temperatures above 1200°C for long periods of time. [1]\n\n \nMolecular Structure of GlassAlthough pure silica is a perfectly viable glass and glass fiber, it must be worked with at very high temperatures which is a drawback unless its specific chemical properties are needed. It is usual to introduce impurities into the glass in the form of other materials, to lower its working temperature. These materials also impart various other properties to the glass which may be beneficial in different applications. The first type of glass used for fiber was soda-lime glass or A glass. It was not very resistant to alkali. A new type, E-glass was formed that is alkali free (< 2%) and is an alumino-borosilicate glass [3]. This was the first glass formulation used for continuous filament formation. E-glass still makes up most of the fiberglass production in the world. Its particular components may differ slightly in percentage, but must fall within a specific range. The letter E is used because it was originally for elec