Hiking, backpacking, and exploring Michigan... all while doing math.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Wavy Window
There's this urban legend that glass is actually a liquid. Then again, some people say that old glass was just fundamentally wavy. Either way, this old window looks out into the courtyard at Kloster Irsee, Germany.
The idea that glass is a liquid is not an urban myth. It is a science-based statement of fact that glass is a super-cooled liquid. The reason it stays put in a window pane, rather than splashing onto the carpet like water would, is that its viscosity in this state is astronomically high.
3 comments:
I love this!
The idea that glass is a liquid is not an urban myth. It is a science-based statement of fact that glass is a super-cooled liquid. The reason it stays put in a window pane, rather than splashing onto the carpet like water would, is that its viscosity in this state is astronomically high.
Looks like the "supercooled liquid" statement too is incorrect: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-fiction-glass-liquid/
Regardless, the point of the statement in this post was to say that the glass looks wavy.
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