Glassblowing - Periodic Table of Videos

Conor Howell-Bennett is a Scientific Glassblowing Technician at the University of Nottingham's Chemistry Department.
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Video by James Hennessy and Brady Haran
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From the School of Chemistry at The University of Nottingham: bit.ly/NottChem
This episode was also generously supported by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation
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[@U014B]

Before annealing, it's a stressed swan, but after annealing, it's a loosey goosey.

[@spwicks1980]

We had an amazing glass blower at UMIST back in the early 2000's - Big Eric. The guy was a genius. He could make anything you could dream of. He'd work from anything from CAD drawings to the fevered scribblings of over stressed PhD students. He could make the very large like complex vacuum distillation rigs to the very small such as the Scheludko-Exorowa cells i used. He was so critical to so many students' work. Such an important person to have at a Chemistry department.

[@RZ350NC]

My university listed a scientific glassblowing course in the catalog, but they never offered it. The skills needed to make some of the glassware I have used really impress me. And practicing is what keeps your skills in tune.

[@disorganizedorg]

Yes... much better to consume some relatively inexpensive materials in practice than blowing (pun intended) a complicated job at the end.

[@aub9608]

Yep sadly the same, they just skipped it for us after the hype telling it's out of syllabus.

[@gaussianvector2093]

Yeah capillary tubes and beurettes are easy enough, but how do you make round bottoms and separatory funnels? I assume you guys were ochem, you get a bit of glass heating and shaping but no blowing, in undergrad anyway.

[@jerryarmitage206]

When I was at Durham in 1979, the college put on a production of Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie" for which we needed some glass animals. The late Dr Mike Weston asked the glass blowing department to make the animals and they did a splendid job. I still have some of those animals.

[@stevenbergom3415]

When I was in college I got a tour of the glass-blowing room in the chemistry department and from then on I've always thought about the unsung, skilled technicians that make our scientific discoveries possible.

[@rgfrw]

Ernest Rutherford made many of his discoveries using some equipment that must have required fantastic glassblowing skills

[@calmeilles]

Would love to see some working pieces made for the department, sort of an illustration of why a Chemistry Department keeps a glassblowing tech on staff.

[@gullyfoyle2615]

He should have his own youtube channel. Very interesting and relaxing to watch.

[@jwbowen]

Yeah, he has a very soothing voice

[@Gimbar83]

This is a fantastic episode! Please make more episodes with Conor! His presence is so calming and relaxing 💜

[@disorganizedorg]

He does seem like a really cool guy.

[@stamfordly6463]

I don't suppose that it's a job that suits the excitable or easily distracted sort of chap.

[@itsmeithink9670]

Yeah he’s a really nice guy, me and a mate are chemistry students at Nottingham and we always chat when we see him. He showed us round the workshop, and some of the impressive pieces of glassware he’s made. Really cool guy.

[@PaulSteMarie]

Oh wow, he's a young guy. Major kudos for preserving a highly skilled art. I was expecting a wizen old expert-the sort of expert artisan in a narrow niche whose inevitable future retirement inspires dread in the entire chem department.

[@odindimartino597]

The most impressive thing I saw in glassblowing and handcrafting was a homemade CRT in a homemade oscilloscope from somewhere in the 50's to the 60's

[@root42]

There is someone in the Czech republic handcrafting new Nixie tubes this way. Maybe someone will make a manufacturing of small CRTs. Would be cool.

[@emislive]

@@root42 Dalibor Farny and his eponymous business have a channel here showing a lot of the process and work that went into it.

[@tttITA10]

11 years later and I still have a glass swan the high school teacher of mine made as a demo for the class and then gave me. It's a nice gift, specially when you see it being made.

[@spaminbox]

the Corning Museum of Glass has a great youtube channel featuring artistic glassblowing, but they don't really cover scientific glassblowing, so i'd be really, really interested in seeing more about this!

[@Nosirrbro]

Thanks jorji

[@stini334]

I would love to see a video of his process when someone from a lab requests something unique to be glassblown.

[@FLODDI100]

That would be really awesome!

[@disorganizedorg]

Conor's goggle might make an interesting sidebar; I believe that bluish tint is designed to absorb the yellow light of the torch (Sodium ions from the glass?). I think the glasses are simply glass doped with a transition element. I want to say Erbium but it's not.

[@tylermiller4182]

Didymium: praseodymium and neodymium

[@Muonium1]

They used to be made of didymium like the comment above says, but now it's far cheaper and easier just to make them from dyed plastic lenses. The laser blocking goggle companies have a wide variety of plastic dyes they use to block the many laser lines commonly in commercial use, and you can for instance get from NoIR their DY4 lenses which selectively notch out the sodium D line doublet just as well as actual Nd Pr doped glass does, if not better. Their absorption spectrum is far less interesting though, being just a single somewhat narrowband absorption peak at 590nm, whereas the real glass lenses show a wide array of narrow peaks attributable to the many f orbital transitions in rare earth elements, and could be used as a spectroscopy lesson in their own right.

[@disorganizedorg]

@@Muonium1 That's really cool, but I have to wonder if the cost of that sort of lens *for a single frequency** would still be cheaper than doped glass with similar characteristics tuned to multiple laser frequencies. I assume they have a shorter lifespan due to the lenses being less scratch resistant. Even polycarbonate (I believe used in prescription lenses) wouldn't last terribly long being donned and doffed frequently in a shop environment. --- *It strikes me as much more difficult to achieve multiple deep notches in the pass-band when using glass, but I can't say that with any confidence. Perhaps I'm inferring that from the lower melting point of plastic making a wider range of colorants feasible.

[@PavlockProducts]

Bradey, the shot at 0:45 is just awesome man. Thanks for taking the time to add that one in

[@paulbrooks4395]

He’s so in tune with the glass and the flame. When he’s done the first thing he says is about it’s physics, as any scientist would. A great blend of art and science. So cool

[@Peter_S_]

Awesome video! More of these please! Scientific glassblowers are unsung heroes of science!

[@erikbrendel3217]

That was a nice video, very calm and relaxing, but still with very interesting things to learn. Really like the style, keep it up! :)

[@pscheidt]

Lovely! More like this, please.

[@Sixta16]

Who doesn't know, there is a very special glassblowing youtube channel named "glasslinger", so if you do not know, have a look there. That is one crazy persona ;)

[@travismiller5548]

Love that channel, He really gets the work done... but as a glassblower of 18 years, watching him do the glassblowing is so much cringe. All his tools are haggard and everything is wonky and off center, loose and generally sketchy. Gets some really cool stuff made by the time it's over tho.

[@fishnsyd]

Please make more of these! I’d love to see a video of him making something for an experiment.

[@Russo-Delenda-Est]

The music, editing, and calm, quiet tone in the video are all fantastic. Glassblowing is like magic to me, it's beautiful.

[@shmanielshmlane2359]

What a wonderful and wholesome way to end the week. (I’m watching this late on a Friday lol)

[@sonaxaton]

Loved the production in this one, beautiful!

[@orroz1]

Can you please make a video that shows him making some scientific glassware?

[@darylcheshire1618]

At Caulfield TAFE I did a years Scientific Glassworking, less emphasis on glassblowing. I made a J shaped glass barometer tube and filled it with mercury. A frustration is that everything has to be heated or cooled evenly, you do this elaborate construct and then you hear a “ckkk!”.

[@pianochannel100]

What a chilled out video

[@eli3163]

Glassblowing is so fascinating. When I was in primary school a glassblower once came to visit and show what he could do with glass. I still remember that being on of the best days of primary school and have found this art form extremely interesting and impressive ever since

[@jupa7166]

Oh, once you try it - you're hooked, working with glass is super nice and super challenging at the same time. Wish I could do even the simplest pipe t-junction, never really managed it.

[@MakeItWithCalvin]

This is incredible and for everyone whining about him using the resources for swans and stuff, you got to keep your skill up somehow. Also, could have been bits headed for the tip 😎.

[@kylegonewild]

Glass can also be melted down and reused.

[@roygfs]

Plus I'm sure the University of Nottingham is mostly powered by renewable sources and recycles all of the glass sand.

[@rarewhiteape]

Not only that but this video has driven an interest in some hitherto unknown areas and may provide a benefit greater than KZbin views.

[@davidvb3754]

I'm amazed to see how Conor does all of that art without even wearing a glove. It's something amazing to look at. It's some kind of magic....

[@Lagrange00]

Such a calm and relaxing video

[@robbybobbyhobbies]

Excellent video, thanks for a really gentle start to the day.

[@clef-is-futile]

this video must have brought me to my annealing point as well - all my stress is gone too!

[@olavl8827]

Fantastic video, I'm hooked already! I want to know so much more about Conor's work.

[@36gih]

This is awesome footage!

[@electronicsNmore]

Really cool. Loved the video!

[@peterjackman1507]

More of this please

[@roybm3124]

Amazing skills and beautiful music!

[@colinpovey2904]

After getting my BS in Biology in 1978, prospects for a job were poor. I had taken the University glassblowing course, and really enjoyed it, so I went to the only school in hte US that taught Scientific Glassblowing. 32 hours of lab per week, and it was tough, but graduated, got a job, and did pretty well, but the field was slowly dying, because chemists had discovered mini-computers (years before the PC), and could do much of their work on hte computer, spending less time (breaking things!) in the lab. There are fewer scientific glassblowers in the US today than there were in 1980's. Most interesting thing I ever made was a scale model of a human heart and circulation system (heart to head)

[@deelaneenn6677]

such a calm tone to this vid love it

[@kuba27kuba27]

More like it please.Awesome !

[@Nighthawke70]

It is such a rare but incredibly necesary art in any field. But so obscure.

[@benjaminsmith3625]

That was a very nice video to watch. I always love seeing the bespoke and unusual tools people use. In hindsight a *binocular* polariscope is an obvious way to make it much more useful and comfortable to use!

[@GunBreaux]

The professor has been around since my first day on youtube. Love the gent!

[@rgfrw]

In graduate school I borrowed a quartz spectrometer cell from a Professor that was jacketed for cooling to low temp. And it CRACKED as I slowly added liquid nitrogen! I took it to our glassblower and he was able to repair it. Working with quartz is not easy. I returned it without incident!

[@thehyperscientist1961]

Mesmerising. It's really craftsmen like Conor who create the devices to make science possible, especially back in the day, when most stuff was analog

[@jmannUSMC]

Would love to seen more vids on Conor and the work they do at the university!

[@atomicreactions9201]

Wow this video really caused me to just relax and enjoying the handmade art. 👍👍

[@ionkill43]

Cool Video! Didn't know there was an optical device to see mechanical stress in glass. 🤓

[@MiniMackeroni]

They should make a video on how it works and what applications you can use it for.

[@castform57]

I mean, you can do that with a polarized lens too. The device they used is called a polariscope I believe.

[@Muonium1]

the technique is called photoelastic imaging analysis. stress in a transparent material alters its birefringence.

[@felixthehuman]

I think that's why you see a checkerboard pattern on the rear window of a lot of cars when you have on polarized glasses- you can see the stresses the tempering puts in.

[@T3sl4]

Yup, doesn't need fancy equipment, just some polarizers. Neat fact: LCD screens are polarized, so, say you use one to backlight an item (like uh, I have some molded plastic safety glasses handy, that show internal stresses), and look through another polarizer (special sunglasses maybe, or, you'll just have to get a sheet of polarized film), you'll see the rainbow effect. If you have two sheets of course, you can use any source, illuminate the object through one polarizer then look at it through another.

[@_infinitedomain]

This is so relaxing

[@federicon.5085]

This is so interesting, i'd love a much more deep dive onto this. Or maybe, just more glass-blowed animals.

[@donaldklopper]

Respect. I just love watching glassblowers work.

[@zlm001]

It'd be cool if there was a mini series on this, or even lab equipment in general. With glass blowing I would like to know how he make complex glass contraptions and how they get more exact sizes and shapes. Also, how the stress and other considerations dictate what can and can't be made and how they get around some of the problems.

[@Artichoke4Head]

Nice, like to see prince Rupert's drop under that instrument now! also, is it possible to remove the stress from them by heating them as mentioned?

[@travismiller5548]

Yes.

[@Idlehampster]

Aww, I thought we were going to get to see the annealing process and the stress colors after annealing.

[@DraigBlackCat]

That really should have been done to complete the video. Eg how long the annealing process takes (heat up, anneal, cool down) then show the de-stressed swan.

[@TheCrewExpendable]

So it the glass basically goes into a dry sauna and that relieves all of its stress!

[@Lavamar]

I like this style of video

[@pieboy107]

Watching this video reminds me that I have taken for granted that I live down the road from one of the largest glass blowing facility's in the world; the Corning Museum of Glass.

[@BackYardScience2000]

Finally! I get my periodic video fix!

[@richardsidler]

Marvelous! 🙏

[@KingLich451]

i do love this video.

[@thedenial]

Putting me in an oven at 560 degress would release all my stress too.

[@CallMeMimi27]

Theres an old Spanish saying "no es soplar y hacer botella" referring to something that is harder than it seems.

[@legend528]

from sand to glass to swan Nice one

[@social3ngin33rin]

Very cool idea to use your thermal camera :)

[@hectorh.micheos.1717]

I love this.

[@santialtamirano8621]

I want to learn how to work with glass so bad

[@doctorpex6862]

Very nice thermal camera.

[@EwingTaiwan]

We desperately needs some Interstellar music for 00:45

[@Mallchad]

Wow I love this

[@gcm4312]

everybody from that Uni that is showcased seems very chill and cool

[@jasonremy1627]

Mesmerizing

[@chrisspires130]

Could you possibly do a video and talk about the difference between molybdenum disulfide and molybdenum trioxide?

[@Torby4096]

Used to see highly skilled glass blowers making beautiful things at shopping malls.

[@jonathandevries2828]

i think you did intend the pun and it was brilliant!!! ....i just love puns soooo much....

[@FeistyKant]

man that start of the video startled me

[@darrillramirez5847]

Dope vibe

[@roberthill9946]

Really beautiful and , clearly a passion for being able to encapsulate peoples attention so easily in this fast paced world. Such splendid , meticulous fine works of art. With Much Respect , From Robert Of Australia 🇦🇺.

[@arcanics1971]

I was just getting ready to make that pun! But then I learned to pun from my dad. Like feather like son. Sorry that was fowl. Anyway, that's my tern over. I think on that we're all a grebe.

[@19TheChaosWarrior79]

*Cliff Stoll* enters the comments. KLEIN BOTTLES!

[@MatthewBester]

That was great. Such skill. I thought he was just making an ampoule or syringe at first.

[@among-us-99999]

The only thing i can do with glass blowing is make crack pipes. found that out when trying to make a gas discharge tube. I don’t even smoke drugs :/

[@hideninja1546]

Hello professor einstein can you content what is the most stronger balistic bullet proof armor and what is best fiber glass for helmet thanks you professor

[@rastislavzima]

This is a job for a very skilled, patient and flegmatic person. 🙂

[@djdrav]

I love hearing a Nottingham accent on KZbin...

[@JerryBiehler]

I took a scientific glassblowing course at a graduate school while I was in high school. I still have the CO2 laser tube I made.

[@cameronwebster6866]

You going to build a cutter with it?

[@JerryBiehler]

@@cameronwebster6866 Nah, I have much nicer co2 lasers that I have built around, I am currently building a large cutter with a 225w Rofin CO2. There is some video on my KZbin page of the old one I built and the Rofin.

[@ianmcnaney6528]

Where can I buy one of those glass swans?

[@benjaminshropshire2900]

IIRC the bright yellow flame is vaporized Na coming from the glass. And the reason Na is included in the glass in the first place is to make the glass easier to work. That kind of suggests that the longer you work glass, the less Na it will have and the harder it should become to work. Is that true? Or does the Na boil off to slowly to actually make a difference?

[@andrewfleenor7459]

All I know for sure is it doesn't take many ions to make a really bright color in the flame. I'm guessing the glass loses Na too slowly to notice.

[@jacobs83133]

That's a very interesting video.Unusual and nice.If anything is smart on this KZbin, that's surely your Channel and your videos.Cheers :)

[@SylviaRustyFae]

"glassblowing for fun" At least to me, glassblowin is always gonna be fun; even if done in for work instd. Theres something rly special about doing a thing where you get to turn a bunch of rocks or powders into a completely different thing thanks to the powers of chemistry and reactions. Glassblowing, metalsmithing, brewing, and baking are all grt examples of such to me and i always find those tasks to be fum even if im doin it for more of a work reason.

[@evilplaguedoctor5158]

Any idea where one would get the torches they use? (Seems to have multiple nozzles going into one flame or something..)

[@SylviaRustyFae]

@@evilplaguedoctor5158 internet probs :P

[@travismiller5548]

@@evilplaguedoctor5158 that's a Carlisle CC with a top marver from The Blast Shield. Carlisle Machine Works, Millville NJ.

[@evilplaguedoctor5158]

@@travismiller5548 thank you very much!

[@imir8atu321]

If All goes well, simply perfect

[@Sigilstone17]

"I'm gonna pull it's neck now." "You mean the glass, right?" "The what?"

[@fakexzvo9479]

Who knew glass could be so pretty!

[@Wanttofanta]

I can tell you’ve never been a stoner :P

[@SylviaRustyFae]

Most religious folks too alrdy knew, alongside us stoners.

[@h0verman]

who's been making the music for brady's videos lately?

[@donaldinnewmexico]

Hi, Professor. SiO2, CaCO3, Na2CO3

[@Noukz37]

That was so... medicinal! Better than ASMR videos XD

[@Thomas-jq2im]

Imagine being a scientific glassblower and purposefully making bubble trash.

[@experimental_chemistry]

An art that is beautiful to look at, but at the same time it makes me a little sad: my father once worked as a glassblower and died decades later from the carcinogetic dust in the glassworks... 😞

[@karrachr000]

This reminds me of the old swan-shaped glass barometers that my mother used to have.