Glass is the most ancient object that was found by man and is still used. It was found because the person did not invent it himself and made it for the first time. Most likely, the first glass appeared many thousands of years ago from volcanic lava. Now this substance is called obsidian. How to make glass? Let's go back to the times when it was not there. Gradually, people became aware of the surrounding nature and noticed that when mixing natural soda with sand and subsequent heating, a transparent substance appears. That is how they became aware of this new type of material. This process was described by Pliny, an ancient Greek encyclopedist. From that moment, the history of the use of glass began, which has become completely indispensable in our life today. After all, now it is used everywhere.
However, there is another theory regarding how glass is made, or rather, how it was made before. Some scholars have decided that vitreous material was identified as a by-product of smelting copper or firing clay products. In human life, this product has played a truly outstanding role. It is difficult to overestimate its significance. Flat glass production is comparable to discoveries such as fire mining and the invention of the wheel. In ancient Egypt, it was customary to make all kinds of jewelry from it. Later, they learned from it to produce containers for liquids. Since the thirteenth century, there has been a sharp increase in the number of manufactured glass. Venice became the center of its production. The craftsmen became aware of the technology for creating oriental glass, after which they began to develop and improve it. The transparency of the glass was made possible by the addition of all kinds of impurities. Masters began to make different dishes out of it, which was very delicate and elegant. In those days, glass products served more as luxury items and decorations.
If you are still interested in the question of how glass is made, then you can talk about how it found more and more new applications. The technology of its production was improved. A mirror was invented, this was done by applying an amalgam on one side. During construction, too, began to use glass. Usually it was used in the construction of palaces and temples. And after the craftsmen learned to make it color, they began to decorate them with windows, making beautiful stained glass windows. And now glass for fusing is widely used. And in science, over time, began to use glass. Thanks to the discovery of his ability to concentrate and scatter light, various lenses were created, telescopes and microscopes were made. These discoveries were a giant step in the development of the natural sciences - medicine, biology, astronomy, physics and others. In no scientific field without activity is any activity impossible.
How to make glass? As before, made of sand. At its core, sand contains silicon dioxide, presented here in the form of quartz crystals. When heated, it melts. If you quickly cool it, then the minerals will not have time to crystallize, becoming transparent. To give the product any color, oxides of different metals are added to it. To give the glass maximum transparency, the sand is cleaned so that it contains almost one quartz.
At the moment, there are many ways to obtain a product with different properties: reinforced, hardened, mirror, armored. As the basis, and now serves as simple sand, which is being processed. It is important to say that there is still enough sand on the planet, so glass will not soon come out of our everyday life.