This chapter is about glass. Miodownik starts the chapter by explaining that he was in a car crash and went through his windshield, this was the moment he realized how intriguing glass is. He then goes into stating that when sand is melted into a liquid and then cools down, it forms a crystal, being glass. This leads into a discussion that talks about a rare sand in this desert that was mostly quartz, making the most beautiful glass crystal. Towards the middle of the chapter, Miodownik informs the readers of the glass that was created by the Romans.
Nothing was necessarily unclear from the chapter but there is something confusing to me that is related to the chapter in a way. I was wondering how color was added to make stained glass, precisely …show more content…
There is this one spot in that desert that is mostly pure sand, which appears white. When a person is to melt this particular sand and then allows it to cool, it will transform into a centerpiece crystal, the Trinitite Glass. I found this pretty interesting because of how amazing nature can be.
A topic from this reading that I would like to further explore is the procedure of sand transforming into glass. I feel like this would be a fascinating lab to complete in chemistry classes. This would be so interesting to test out in a classroom, melting a pile of sand and watching it remodel into a crystal glass.
A connection between this reading and an outside class is the mention of sand turning into glass. I know I am mentioning this topic a lot but I find it an interesting fact. When I was younger, around seven years of age, my dad would always watch shows along the line of How It's Made and such. One time when he watching a show, it was revealing the making of glass. In addition, I remember this one time at the beach when my cousin had dropped his phone in the sand. However, he said it was fine because the grains of sand will just fill the crack on his phone