kottke.org posts about 'glass'

Interesting explanation of Prince Rupert's Drops with accompanying video demonstration.

The very high stress within the drop gives rise to unusual qualities, such as the ability to withstand a blow from a hammer on the bulbous end without breaking, while the drops will disintegrate explosively if the tail end is even slightly damaged. When this happens, the large amount of potential energy stored in the drop's crystalline structure is released, causing fractures to propagate through the material at very high speed.

I did research on glass back in college but I never heard anything about this.

 Feb 19, 2008  •  tags: video science princerupertsdrops glass

Italian scientists have created glass made out of carbon dioxide. At high pressure, instead of forming a crystal (dry ice), the CO₂ forms a clear, hard, vitreous material. More info. (Little known fact: I did research on glass in college, rubidium and cesium borosilicates mostly. Here's a few citations on Google Scholar.)

 Jun 19, 2006  •  tags: science physics glass