Science! That’s what comes to my mind when glass is mentioned.
Did you know that glass is made out of sand (plus lime and soda ash)? Of course, you did, but I remember how shocked I was when I learned that the first time. When the cartoon action hero He-Man needed glass in a pinch, he made it by wax-on/wax-offing his muscly arms over sand at super-speed. Voila! I started lifting weights after I saw that.
Did you know that nature creates glass all the time? It can form when lightning strikes sand, when meteorites impact the earth, and when volcanoes spew molten rock that rapidly cools. The latter results in a material called obsidian. Mah rabu ma’asecha Hashem.
Did you know that glass cracks at Mach 5? Glass can splinter at 3,000 MPH. Which means that it is also, like Superman, faster than a speeding bullet. Type “Does Glass Break Faster than a Bullet?” into YouTube to have your mind blown.
Did you know that glass is recyclable forever, but that its existence is finite? Its integrity remains no matter how many times it’s remade, but if left to its own devices, will finally disintegrate after about a million years? Isn’t that fascinating?
Did you know that the Museum of Glass in Corning, N.Y., houses the largest glass collection in the world? I’ve been there twice, and this exercise has inspired me to visit again. Road trip!
