The Glass in Your Car: A Closer Look at Safety Features

When you're driving, you should feel pretty safe, surrounded by a metal cage that's been designed to protect you. But what about the glass? The glass in your car is different from the glass we find in everyday life. In this article, we'll break down why it's so special and how it makes all the difference on the road.

The Glass in Your Car: An Overview

Glass is a clear solid thing that comes from sand. Sand is high in an element called silica, which melts together when heated. However, glass is not a solid at room temperature; it's more like the slowest flowing liquid you could ever imagine. To make glass, the sand needs to get up to 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit, a process that's similar to forging metal.

Making Glass: A High-Tech Process

The process of making glass is harder than it looks. The sand does melt and form into a shiny surface, but windshield glass is different from regular glass. Modern windshields are so strong that they can withstand over 2,000 pounds of force, playing a crucial role in the structural rigidity of your car.

Safety Glass: A Breakthrough

In 1903, a French chemist accidentally dropped a beaker covered in nitrate plastic, which broke but didn't shatter into pieces. This led to the invention of safety glass. If you've ever broken a windshield or seen one break in the movies, you'll notice that it shatters but doesn't go anywhere.

The Glass in Your Car: A Two-Ply Wonder

The glass in your windshield is actually two pains of glass, with a layer of vinyl separating them. The vinyl helps to keep everything stuck together and prevents the glass from shattering all over the place and sticking to your neck or face.

Tempered Glass: A Key to Safety

The glass in your side windows is different from the windshield glass. It's strong because it's been tempered, which involves heating and forming the glass to create a compressive force on the inside of the glass. This compression creates a tensile force when the glass cools, making it up to 10 times stronger than non-tempered glass.

Breaking the Glass: A Force to Be Reckoned With

Tempered glass is super hard to break, even with a hammer. To break it, you need something sharp enough to get in between the glass molecules and release all the compressive and tensile stress. When this happens, the glass will actually explode from itself, using its own energy to destroy itself.

Conclusion

Cars are amazing, and everything is amazing. You're amazing too! The glass in your car may seem ordinary at first glance, but it's a remarkable piece of technology that's designed to keep you safe on the road. Next time you're behind the wheel, remember how dynamic and incredible the glass in your car really is.

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WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- When you're driving,you should feel pretty safe.After all,you're surrounded by a medal cagethat's been designed to protect you.But what about the glass?The glass in your caris different.Where does it come from?Why is it different than this glass?(glass shatters)Let's break some windows.(hip hop music)Pop!This is carsdown to the atom.Science.(hip hop music)In order to understand the special glassthat makes up your car,first,we need to understand regular glass.Now, you probably know thatglass is a clear solid thingthat comes from sand,but if you don't,glass is a clear solid thingthat comes from sand.Sand is high in an element called silicaand when it's super heated,it melts together andit dries pretty solid,but what if I told you it's not a solid.Glass is what's called an amorphous solid.It's kinda like it's theslowest flowing liquidyou could ever imagine.It's like when you pee aftera night out of heavy drinking.For sand to melt,it's gotta get up to2800 degrees Fahrenheit.Holy (beep).At that temperature,sand is a liquid and it can be molded,stretched or blown to give it any numberof different properties.This is a forge I made,I looked it up on YouTube and you can too,but don't,because it's stupid.(light classical music)(banging)Hey!Turns out making glassis harder than I thought,but the sand did melt and it's shiny.As you can imagine,you wouldn't want thismaking up your windshield.So how are the windowsin your car different?Well, first let's talkabout the windshield.Modern windshields are so strongthat they can withstandover 2,000 pounds of force.They even play a rolein the structural rigidity of your car.In 1903, a French chemistaccidentally dropped a beakerthat was covered in nitrate plastic.When it hit the ground,it broke but it didn'tshatter into pieces.And safety glass was born.If you've ever broken a windshieldor seen one break in the movies,you'll notice that it shattersbut won't go anywhere.(bang)(beep)The glass in your windshieldis actually two pains of glass.It's got a layer of glass,layer of vinyl,and another layer of glass.The layer of vinyl makes surethat everything sticks together.It doesn't shatter all over the placeand stick in your neck and kill you.(beep)(bang)- Down here?- We're gonna get fired.(laughing)The glass in your sidewindows is different.It's strong because ofthe way it's cooled,it doesn't have any vinyl in it.When it breaks,it smashes into pebble sized piecesso it does less damageto your face and family.The process of making glassharder is called temperingand that's the key to makingyour side windows safe.Tempered glass is heated and formedmuch in the same waythat the windshield is,but when it's cooled,it's super cooled.The surface of the glassis cooled so quicklythat it shrinks.This creates a compressiveforce on the glass insidemaking it stronger.Kinda like pressing on the outside canskeeps the middle ones from falling.The glass on the inside iscooling at a different rateand it's trying to expandagainst the shrinking edges.This creates a tensile force,further improving strengthas the glass cools.These pulling and pushing forcesmake the glass up to 10 times strongerthan non-tempered glass.Kind of like the contrastingforces of good and evilkeep our universe from falling apart.- Avada Kedavra!- It's super hard to break,even with a hammer!(bang)What?The hammer didn't work becausethe force wasn't focused enoughto break the tension thatkeeps the glass together.To break it, you needsomethin' sharp enoughto get in between the glass molecules.This is a bit of porcelainthat I cracked off a spark plug.And I got plenty ofspark plugs lying around'cause I'm a car boy.When the porcelain shatters,it's edges are super super sharp,like micron sharp.When this hits the window,the force will be so focused,that all the compressiveand tensile stresswill be releasedand it'll break.The window will actuallyuse its own energyto destroy itself.Just like James Pomphrey.(banging)(glass shatters)(beesp) nuts.(laughs)You can see thatthat force is still being released.The glass is actuallyexploding from itself.There's so much energyin the tempered glassthat it's like it's alive.That is nuts.I mean, it's just glass,but when it's in your car,you can really see how dynamic it is.Now you know not just thatthe glass in your car is differentbut why it's different from other glass.Cars are amazing.Everything is amazing.You're amazing.(beep)It's super hard to break,even with a hammer!(bang)(laughter)Thanks for watching everybody.Subscribe to donut,comment, like and share.I like to break stuff.Tell me what else you wanna see me break.What do you wanna learn about?If you like the shirt I got on,go to shop.donut.media.We've also got stickers.Go and rep your donut pride.Okay, don't tell my wife I did this.I'll see you guys next week.