Some Imp Chemical Compounds-Glass

Glass is an important chemical compound. It is not crystalline in nature and often exists in a transparent form. It is an amorphous solid, and it can be used for a wide variety of purposes. One of the major methods that are used for the formation of glass is the quenching method in which the molten form of glass is cooled rapidly, which helps in the solidification process.

Certain types of Glasses occur naturally. Volcanic rocks are one such example. One of the most common types of Glass that is widely used and has been used for a long time is silicate Glass. 

What is Glass?

Silicate Glass is the type of glass that is most commonly used for a variety of purposes. It is made up of silica, which is also the major component of sand. Soda-lime Glass is a type of silicate Glass that is majorly used as various manufactured Glass commodities.

Although the term Glass is mostly used to signify the material that has a higher amount of silica in them. However, there are several non-silica Glasses, and they are majorly used in building modern communication technologies. It is often seen with various commodities such as Glasses used for drinking and also used in the making of spectacles, which are so commonly made of silicate Glasses that they are even referred to by the same material. Although the material is very brittle, it can remain intact even if it is left buried and undisturbed for a long time.

Glass has been used to produce various commodities for a long time. The first product that was apparently made by using Glass were beads. Due to its ability to easily transform into a variety of products, it is vastly used in the production of various vessels. In its most solid form, Glass is also used as a paperweight and even as marbles. Since Glass also possesses good reflective, refractive, and transmission properties, it is widely used to produce optical lenses.

Microscopic structure:-

The scientific definition of Glass is any material that is converted into its solid form by a process of rapid cooling; however, the term Glass is mostly used in a much broader sense. It is often used to describe any amorphous solid that shows a Glass-like transition while being converted into a liquid. Glass is a non-crystalline solid.

On a microscopic level, the structure of glass resembles one that of a supercooled liquid; however, it has the mechanical properties of a solid substance. An amorphous solid such as glass has no periodic arrangement, even microscopically. During the process of quenching, if the temperature of cooling is adequate, then the substance does not reach a crystallisation point and rather converts into an amorphous solid. Glass is also sometimes considered as a liquid because it lacks a first-order phase transition.

Types of Glass:-

Glasses are broadly divided into two major categories, namely silicates and non-silicates. As the name suggests, silicates are the type of Glasses that have a high concentration of silica, and non-silicates do not. Soda-lime, borosilicate, aluminosilicate, and fiberGlass are some examples of silicate Glass. Chemical compounds such as boron and phosphate are often used for the formation of non-silicate Glass. There are several metal oxides that can be added to Glass to give it varying colours. A single metal oxide can provide different colours depending on the chemical composition of the Glass that it is being mixed with. 

There are some other types of glass :- 

Soda-lime glass

Lead glass

Borosilicate glass

Aluminosilicate glass

Ninety-six percent silica glass

Fused silica glass

Conclusion :

Hence, it can be concluded that Glass is a very important chemical compound that is used due to its multiple properties for various industrial purposes. Glasses can be divided into multiple categories depending on their chemical composition. Glass is an amorphous solid; however, its microscopic structure is similar to that of a fluid. The formation of Glass takes place by rapid cooling, also known as quenching, while it is in its liquid form. It is used to form tableware, laboratory equipment, optical equipment, art, etc.