Glass popping

DallasDonna said:

So... I dropped and broke a glass top to a skillet. And it wasn't hot.
As I was sweeping it up, the glass was popping, kinda like popcorn.

Why?

Click to expand...

query said:

Because it is tempered. Tempered glass is heated and cooled in a specific fashion to get it to crystallize in specific, very strong ways. Like similar things in metallurgy there are always trade-offs. Add carbon and steel becomes harder and stronger, but also more brittle.

What you are hearing is those tiny crystalline structures being torn apart now that the tension is released. That has a lot to do with tensile strength.

That is also why "safety glass" breaks into not-sharp, little cubes.

Click to expand...

query said:

Because it is tempered. Tempered glass is heated and cooled in a specific fashion to get it to crystallize in specific, very strong ways. Like similar things in metallurgy there are always trade-offs. Add carbon and steel becomes harder and stronger, but also more brittle.

What you are hearing is those tiny crystalline structures being torn apart now that the tension is released. That has a lot to do with tensile strength.

That is also why "safety glass" breaks into not-sharp, little cubes.

Click to expand...