How does glass become transparent if it’s made of sand. My lil brainy can’t make sense of small rocks (my knowledge of sand) becoming transparent by any process like melting or pressure.
In: Chemistry
Sand is basically transparent, if you look at an individual grain under a microscope, It is quartz, and pure quartz is perfectly clear. Sand appears white because it scatters light. If you smash up glass, the heap of broken glass reflects light in every direction. If you continue to crush it, and if you throw it in a cement mixer to roughen the surface, it will eventually look white like salt or sugar- which are also transparent crystals, if you look close. You can’t see through salt because of surface reflections- same with sand. Sand can also have a bit of dirt, and especially iron oxide in it. Glass is made from the purest sand possible.
Everybody is saying “Glass is sand”, but pure quartz melts at an extremely high temperate, and makes very brittle glass. [Common glass is only 63% silica sand](https://sciencing.com/make-window-glass-6168364.html)
Latest Answers