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What makes glass transparent?
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Glass is something we use every day, a transparent material produced by melting a mixture of sand, calcium, oxide, and other raw materials and then cooling the resulting product. But have you ever wondered what makes glass transparent? Why can we see through window and not through the frame that enclose it?
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 In general most liquids and gases like water, air, natural gas, cooking oil, or rubbing alcohol are transparent, while solid materials like wood, metal, ceramics, etc. are opaque. That is because of a difference between the molecular structure of solids, liquids and gases. When a substance is in its solid state, molecules are ordered in a regular lattice just like bricks stacked neatly on top of one another, being virtually impenetrable for light waves. The molecules of an substance in the liquid stage are disordered and are not rigidly bound. This causes the disordered stacking of the molecules, creating gaps and holes that allow portions of light waves to pass through. The greater the gaps in molecular organization the easier it is for light to pass through. As glass in neither liquid nor solid, because its molecules are motionless (like a solid) but random in configuration (like a liquid), glass exists in a solid yet transparent state.
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Photos: glaverbel
Last review: March, 2002 |
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