How Glass is Made | From Mining Silica to Wonders of Glass!

[@ramachandran8666]

One of the best presentations of a rather complex set of operations to make a variety of glass products that we all take for granted. No annoying music or distractions with only a crip explanation of all the vital steps from mining to making the most sophisticated products like fiber optics and lenses

[@roqua]

Agreed. Was a bit perplexed they didn't mention units at 20:27 when talking about optical fiber tensile strength of "100,000 per inch" (pascals maybe?). Still a cool doc.

[@brokenrecord3523]

It was an advertisement, but still informative

[@smeggeruk]

Aside from the fact that it is probably an almost perfect AI generated voice (certain words like fAHRenheit prove this), yes

[@moiraatkinson]

@@roquapounds per square inch?

[@roqua]

@@moiraatkinson Yeah, upon further research, lbs/inch^2 makes most sense.

[@quantumleap359]

Extremely well done documentary. Using glass as a data storage medium is a stroke of genius and could ensure that digitized motion pictures and sound would be archived for centuries. Almost totally immune to temperature and moisture contamination, this medium would be ideal for very long time storage and retrieval of historic film and sound recordings. Thanks for posting!

[@CawKee]

Yes, yet again Star Trek got the future technology spot on. Data crystals

[@d.jensen5153]

I know they said Hitachi developed this in the early 2000s but, as an intern at IBM in 1983, I worked with a research scientist on exactly this.

[@christianhoffman7407]

@@CawKee In the 1978 Superman the Kryptonians and The Fortress of Solitude used crystals to store data. I don't know if that was taken from an earlier appearance in the comics though.

[@CawKee]

@@christianhoffman7407 hi, ST DS9 "In the Pale Moonlight" featured a data crystal. Truly outstanding episode, Captain Sisko at his best

[@postal_the_clown]

Darn, you mean we won't get the rings like in Zardoz? My only question is if future people will be able to retrieve the info. That is, if we've gone from 5 inch floppies to 2TB microSD in a little more than a dog's lifetime or from film strips to layered glass in mine, how archaic will that be by the time of DS9? Will the warnings on nuke waste sites be as cryptic as hieroglyphics before it's safe to enter? With a growing trend to encouraged ignorance, how can we know our collected knowledge won't go the way of Alexandria?

[@marstondavis]

My family was involved in the making of glass bottles & jars for many years. You might say we had glass in our blood. I was familiar with all but the last part of this video presentation. The glass fiber optical method I have seen before. However, the last part about data storage just blew me away. That is the new age of glass. Exciting times lay ahead. This is a great video.

[@samwoodworth3424]

Absolutely superb documentary on every level! Thank you!

[@richlevenson6605]

My job as an ISO assessor afforded me the opportunity to go to many glass plants; however, these were for glass fibers of all types. Only one was a bottle plant for medical applications. Most fascinating of operations. Great video.

[@Trag-zj2yo]

Glass, one of the greatest inventions ever.

[@MikeK2100]

Very well done and I could never figure out how to make plate glass, never thought of floating it on tin. This should be standard course material in primary and secondary education.

[@livinginvancouverbc2247]

In the 70s as an apprentice glazier I went on a tour of a float glass plant. It blew me away how big it was. When our class was visiting the furnace was in transition from clear to bronze glass. The current glass was unusable as it was somewhere in between proper clear or bronze. As soon as the glass was cut at the end of the line the huge sheets of glass fell down a chute to go back to the furnace. The sound of 10' x 12' sheets of glass falling, about one per second without pause, down a huge steel chute was INSANE.

[@malcolmharing3744]

I took two semesters of "Glass" in college many years ago. While we were required to blow at least one vessel, i.e. cup, vase, bowl etc., once i satisfied that requirement i focused on casting the glass into molds i made sand. I made some beautiful pieces of art which I sold. I wish i kept them 😊 A glass studio is amazing and i respect the artistry.

[@SACHINSRINGERI-o4j]

I just got blown away..., Wonderful🙏

[@delroyrichard1529]

Really appreciate it and enjoyed it thoroughly well done I've learned so much from this article

[@robinknox-grant3072]

The manufacture of glass: very interesting and well produced.

[@wayne9518]

I had a few float glass factories as clients that I visited regularly. Watching float glass go from sand, etc. to cut stacked sheets was fascinating. Although there no aluminum was allowed as if an aluminum can or even just a pull tab it would leave fish eyes in the final product.

[@arulkumar4682]

Amazing work!

[@ImagesOfCountries]

Excellent stuff ! ... 👍

[@bhupendersingh8427]

A Great video. Thanks and illuminating on the latest usage of glass. Glass memory? Wow!

[@OlakunleAkanni-gp8ww]

Wonderful video.Thanks

[@LulaLong-s3b]

Very informative,WOW!!! Some of those words were so long,I have to look them up in a dictionary. But I'm glad to know that humankind are making so many advances in technology😊

[@francofava8818]

Fantástico

[@jadezx974]

Wow!!! Something that we use everyday that seems so common goes thru such a journey to be born!!!

[@Leon88788]

Thank you very much for this video best glass making video I have seen 😀...

[@anivictor4452]

Very wonderful documentary 😊

[@ophthojooeileyecirclehisha4917]

thank you so much for your science, generosity, and kindness

[@aspendesign]

Wow. That was a mind blowing documentary. Thank you.

[@beethao9380]

no. They're lying that sand supply is going down. Nothing more than propaganda to keep using plastic.

[@nelsonr.flores9123]

I really did enjoy this video. I didn’t know that it took so much material to make glass, but I learned something new and it’s very fascinating. The way these products are made.

[@scottprather5645]

Fascinating

[@IhabFahmy]

_The robo voice is annoying. There are scientific mistakes in the explanations. And the explanations are very surface-level shallow. Nice images, though._

[@t0mn8r35]

This was really very interesting.

[@oneshotme]

I very much enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up

[@jonathanbuyno9461]

I love the blue factory, beautiful

[@-sawal]

that's a documentary 🙌

[@beethao9380]

no its not. They're lying that sand supply is going down. Nothing more than propaganda to keep using plastic.

[@jeankipper6954]

Marvelous! Fascinating!

[@muhammadebnuhu406]

Thank you for this wonderful presentation

[@AnnieHyams-uo9pm]

Thank You So Much For Sharing Your Excellent Beautiful Very Interesting Video And Audio 👍👍😀❤️❤️

[@xochitl9161]

So informative and beautifully presented. Excellent work ! Thank you.

[@leehale5828]

Making the glass is an amazing process but the process of the machinery and equipment design and then the manufacture and install of the equipment might be even more amazing.

[@elainevankat5353]

Wow! Amazing video!👏

[@kowalityjesus]

absolutely sick video, thanks Lord Gizmo

[@samwisegamgee4659]

Great video! Well worth the time for the information on this vital product.

[@merrillalbury8214]

Super interesting.

[@Dragon1111-q2b]

Silicon is the most abundant material that makes up the Earth.That's why it's so widely mined

[@dereckwolfyakah1851]

Never complaining over the prices of lens 🙏🏿

[@SteveViator-w6t]

Glass is Wonderful in manufacturing glass ware, ( such as Scharum's, Bong's & Water pipes, for smoking CANNABIS, AMEN 🙏 🙏 🙏! 😊

[@007tallguy]

Interesting stuff for sure, thanks for the upload! 👍👍

[@stevespectra2719]

A very well put together video of the complete process of glass making. Interesting and informative. Only one complaint. The narrator, whether it be a real person or an AI is speaking with a British English accent, (basically perfect non-accented English that everyone can understand). Why then would the word alum-in-ium be pronounced as aloo-min-um?

[@abebeejigu3161]

This is the best presentation even though I am strange for this glass making process. Now I am interested . How can you help me ???

[@christopherkims]

Wonderful use of glass indeed! Awesome tech 👍

[@BrianYoung-cy9xp]

Abrogation of lenses! Master class stuff right here! Nerds will know..:)

[@edp5226]

LORD GIZMO!!!

[@scottfranco1962]

Nice.

[@ManuelisraelRuizsoto]

I can't wait to store all my pictures and information into a piece of glass 😅

[@cesarvidelac]

Subscribed!

[@Shytot-1]

Sir Alastair Pilkington (1920-1995), a British engineer and businessman, invented the float glass process in 1952 and announced it in 1959. Pilkington and his R&D team at the UK-based Pilkington Glass company developed the process to replace the traditional grinding and polishing method for making plate glass.

[@benjaminmatte5225]

Make more

[@عليالريح-ح1خ]

Ok 🆗🆗🆗 OK ok 👌👌👌👍👍👍❤❤❤

[@jasonruetz2306]

Cool.

[@blazesedzikowski1071]

Oh Jesus ! Did not expected it is so complicated and extreemly refined

[@revvvwhackofficial]

.........absolutely BLEW MY MIND with the storing data on glass. the science of it made zero sense to me but awesome none the less

[@Rhiannon-m1h]

ＧｏｏｄＭｏｒｎｉｎｇ， Yokohama！

[@bryanpetersen1334]

A lot of the glass we use is very happy, due to being blown professionally

[@malcolmanon4762]

What metals contaminate the sand? Fe or REE's like Sc and Y?

[@roqua]

Obviously some ferromagnetic metals, given the magnetic sorting station in the helical slide washer/separator.

[@microdesigns2000]

We are Cardinal's customer. Someday I hope to visit their float line.

[@markrindt8730]

17:55.. 200 year's.. yeah, yeah, yeah.

[@andreweppink4498]

Interesting. But l stiIl don't understand how parting lines are avoided in products ultimately formed in split molds.

[@edgeofentropy3492]

0:42 Sand, as it is found in nature, is NOT used in concrete. That particular sand is manufactured from rock. Sand in nature, is too rounded for use in concrete.

[@roqua]

They got to that a bit later on, when they show the industrial sand-making process and sorting for various uses such as concrete, glass, paint, toothpaste, etc.

[@donaldcarey114]

Not true, sand mined from river beds is prized for use in concrete - there is a huge environmental impact from this in many places.

[@edgeofentropy3492]

@@donaldcarey114 I thought the same thing until I watched a documentary of how sand is made.

[@roqua]

@@donaldcarey114 Seems like an instance of what normally happens vs the occasional edge cases. It is true that wind and water weathered sand is generally not fit for use in concrete, but there are bound to be exceptions to the general rule. My guess is that most construction sand suppliers source from a rock crushing and sifting operation, though you will also find the river-bed mine, etc. operations out there occasionally.

[@cv4wheeler]

Enormous effort when they could start with beach sand. Presumably, much cheaper this way.

[@bozhijak]

Learn something new every day. Thank You!!!!

[@beethao9380]

no. They're lying that sand supply is going down. Nothing more than propaganda to keep using plastic.

[@SirHackaL0t.]

According to ‘some’ experts? Really? Which experts don’t think this?

[@The1belal]

subscribed

[@lyleslaton3086]

Ah yes, a big thank you to the experts who said that plastic was better than glass. Chocking the planet was non recyclable waste. Return to glass.

[@darylhoskins919]

So many people are saying we should dump plastic and go glass for all our containers. After seeing this video I wonder if they realize the complexities of doing so, not to mention the cost of retooling and the change in the supply chain for these companies.

[@gibbogle]

The lenses in mobile phones are much smaller than the camera lenses shown here. The quality of mobile phone images is astounding. It would be good to hear something about those lenses.

[@AndreeewP]

Modern cellphone cameras use injected-molded, plastic lenses with aspheric surfaces (think of a lens with ripples on it). They do this because light passes into the lens as a different angle as you travel away from the center. Making these aspheric surfaces can lower the overall lens count. The lenses are plastic injected-molded for mass production and weight savings.

[@ronjon7942]

I’m not sure if I’m remembering this properly, but back in the day, say, in the 20s and 30s (I’m basing this on the age of my house - 1936 - and some of the original stained, leaded glass windows) I thought I remember window glass was first molded into large, hollow cylinders somehow, the glass being the thickness of the window pane, then scored, heated and unfolded flat. It was interesting in that it had some swirls or imperfections on its surface, but was obviously clear enough to not notice them in daylight. When I had to fix some broken panes with today’s perfect flat glass, it just didn’t have that antique look that was so desirable in keeping that craftsman-like look that went so well with the rest of the house’s hardwood floors and trim, plaster work, and so on. Laf, they also leaked like crazy, not optimal during Wisconsin winters. We ended up replacing the windows with today’s perfectly constructed windows, but for some windows, I was able to move the original glass ‘inside’ the original wood windows, placing the modern units on the outside. Those couldn’t open of course, but at least from the inside I was able to maintain a few of those beautiful windows. But what a difference - no more draftiness, major improvement in noise isolation, easy to wash, etc. If anyone can correct me on my cylinder recollection, please correct me. A wonderful documentary, thank you.

[@bernarddavis1050]

You are correct about the cylinder method of making window pane glass in earlier times. I have seen a lot of this kind of glass in my career as a home renovator; the optical imperfections, air bubbles etc in these old windows give them a charm and a character quite lacking in modern float glass. However, if you wait around for a few centuries, you will see optical distortions appearing in today's windows. Glass is actually classified as a semi-viscous solid, so over time (a LONG time) gravity will cause a vertical pane to gradually thicken at the bottom as it thins at the top.

[@jf5124]

50 years ago ! 2001 a space odyssey Stanley shows Dave pulling clear HALs glass memory slabs from data hall shutting him down

[@K_Isla]

Amazing glass of endless applications including its transformation into our secondary eyes. 🤿

[@stevengill1736]

Not aluminum, but alumina (aluminum oxide) is the ingredient mentioned at 6:01 And of course if boron oxide is used with less lime & soda borosilicate or Pyrex is obtained.... didn't know that germanía (germanium oxide) is used in fiber optics cable!

[@mikeadler434]

👍👍

[@victormbaakanyi3069]

Canopy the globe in glass

[@brucewoods9377]

I believe that the UN wouldn’t know shit from clay

[@marstondavis]

They don't know shit from Camel cigarettes. That's why you'll never send them to the store for your smokes.

[@PhilipVanOlphen]

Glass was first made in Persia thousands of years ago. The art and skills were a major source of economic strength for Palistine in the time of Christ, and the tomb from which he rose belonged to a wealthy glassmaker who later became a missionary Christian and founded the Christian colony of Glastonbury, England, Joseph of Haran/Athena.

[@HandyMan657]

That's amazing. There's a lot of automation in there, how long before they don't employ any humans?

[@mrnnhnz]

Interesting. Not sure I'll be back on the channel though, as the AI voice presenter is, whilst mostly pretty clear, a) devoid of humanity, and b) still making quite a few mistakes. I guess you have your name inscribed on the middle to prevent knock-off artists ripping off your work (assuming it is yours?) but it's a shame, as it does lessen the viewing enjoyment. But I appreciate all the work you did on research and presentation (assuming, as I say, it was done by you.) Sorry to be a downer. Perhaps you really are genuine, but I've encountered a few channels that seem to have trouble like this recently, which makes me a bit cagey about this sort of presentation.

[@moiraatkinson]

💯 agree. Even though this is one of the least annoying AI voices. Some are horrendous - it’s still tomorrow’s technology.

[@MacroEido]

Agree, the AI voice and its mispronunciations is quite distracting.

[@SlyNation]

Glass breaks too easily for data storage unless sealed in a device. Fused Quarts or, better yet, sapphire would be a better option. Man-made sapphire is now fairly easy to create. Currently they can make a 15" solid cube of sapphire relatively easily. It just takes a little time. Slice those into cubes and you will have truly unbreakable millennia-long storage.

[@6AK5W-JAN]

Limestone is crushed to make silica?? Is this an A.I. generated video?

[@roqua]

The limestone would be for the calcium carbonate ingredient, a minor component compared to the quartz sand (from sandstone, mentioned starting @ 1:25 ) containing most of the silica. This isn't an AI generated doc, though I do have a gripe with later section on fiber optics.

[@roqua]

I amend my prior statement. The outro was suss as hell.

[@gkeithrussell]

Sounds like AI to me. The unusually stressed words are artificial decorations rather than rhetorical gestures though it is superior to most AI. And then there are weird accents sprinkled in random ways.

[@truthinesssss]

👍

[@EloyClaude]

¡What! The optical fiber was not developed by this man but by a doctor physic student from other side of the planeta.

[@edp5226]

make one on silicon wafers!!

[@charlesseymour1482]

No comments on glass data fiber for digital commication

[@sdrc92126]

A square 20 miles on a side x 10m deep hole is 50billion tonnes

[@bernardoapsan1587]

How is the fiberglass flexible and not brittle?

[@jeremymackevincaylor5041]

Different kind of glass

[@hime273]

Fiberglass is mostly Epoxy Resin.

[@williamstearns7490]

Correction: Kapany was just one of the many physicist at the time experimenting with it. Years before, in 1920, Baird and Hansel already had patents for fiber optics, with Heinrich Lamm using them to transmit the first images in 1930, with Moeller and Van Heel improving transmission capabilities. About the only thing truly pioneering Kapany did was claim that he coined the term “fiber optics”. If you want a true “father” of contemporary fiber optics it’s Charles Kao’s whose work on fiber optics communication and data transmission in the 60’s made modern fiber optics as we know and use them possible. But it’s all based on a long history starting from Tyndall’s early work in the 19th century and has been steadily advanced by the great minds and hard work of many scientists for over 100 years.

[@patbullard9276]

Oh boy, who would have ever thought, a sand shortage. I guess I should start hoarding buckets of sand just in case. You wouldn’t want to be caught without sand when you really need it.

[@quinholzken7051]

Heel veel meer dan verwacht🥸

[@bwhog]

Glass is not something that can be recycled endlessly. If you add coloring to it, you can never make it transparent again. If you add additional chemicals to it to get specific properties (such as in fiber optics), you can't extract them--and they can't even be reused for additional fiber optics because the chemicals are primarily in the core, not the body of the fiber. Pure, transparent glass can be recycled, yes, but as soon as there are any contaminants in it, you're done. It can only be used as a lower grade product that doesn't require any specific degree of purity.

[@Well_I_am_just_saying]

So you would agree with the statement that glass can be recycled infinitely as long as it is recycled into a colored lower grade glass?

[@billhenrikson1555]

Same problems recycling plastics too

[@pamelanadel3787]

There’s a reason the glass is recycled by color. Putz

[@stuffguy]

No you're wrong, you're talking about completely different things. Glass can be recycled infinitely. Colored glass can be melted as colored glass again and again and again. if we're talking about "glass" itself, it definitely can be recycled forever. Besides, colored glass are sorted by color (brown-amber, green or transparent) in the recycling facilities. Glass is a material that you can recycle endlessly.

[@ryanburbridge]

No one should give two fucks about the big recycle lie!

[@joefin5900]

Nickle Sulfide inclusions are what destroys tmpered float glass. No stainless tools are allowed anywhere near the raw materials prior to floating.

[@mr.bill.8236]

I have a Meade LX90 telescope; now I know why it costs so much.

[@Fossilsunleashed]

whats on the archives ? stored?

[@larspardo4309]

is there anything special about nuclear waste stored in glass? great documentary thanks...

[@CalGcastglassnz]

Ai loves ai

[@glennkrieger]

They forgot to say that if you break it you might lose a finger.