How Glass is Made

In general, the production of stuff is pretty awesome to watch.

The act of sand becoming glass, however, is just a miracle.

I really like this video because it starts with sand in silos and follows the process through the furnaces - with very, very slow melting - onto liquid tin and onward through the annealing oven.

• Along the way (at 4:35, to be specific), we get to see how flexible the still-hot-but-solid glass is.
• Please tell me, though, that at 0:55 he didn't call sodium carbonate and calcium carbonate elements. Maybe he just means 'ingredients' not truly 'elements.'  Language matters, dude.
• At 5:15, they 'haul glass'...it's a funny, doncha see, boy, a funny...
• They show off some fashionable kelvar suits at 5:35 to - as they say at 5:50 - protect your...uh...leg areas.

You can see an animation of the process after the jump...

Making Marbles

I'd been told that marbles were made using shaker tables to round the blobbed, swirled glass 'drops' into spheres. So I went hunting for a video to see that.

That clearly is not how this company makes their marbles.

Instead, this looks to be some sort of screw drive processing as the glass cools followed by a really long run to - I assume - keep the marbles round while they're cooling further.

If anybody finds a marble production video using the shaker table method, please share it.

DEMO KIT 11 01 2013

If you're ever wondering what to get your friendly neighborhood Materials Witness blogger for his birthday (April 28th if you were curious), a demo kit of d3o would be the perfect gift.

Sadly, I haven't been able to find one on ebay, and the d3o website is less than helpful toward educators and students...

Due to an extremely high number of enquiries, we are unable to respond to requests from students, schools, or universities. We are also unable to supply samples of any D3O materials (or “goo”).

A bunch of d3o videos

I haven't the foggiest idea what you need to do to be safe on a motorcycle. I guess my first step would be to not get on the motorcycle, but that's your call.

The above video goes through the advantages and disadvantages of the various materials used to provide protection in a motorcycle jacket: silicon (1:09), thermoplastics (1:40 - though the description of thermoplastics leaves something to be desired), foam (2:32), and viscoelastic materials (3:27) like d3o (SAS Tec, TFArmor, APS Air [though I think that's basically an airbag]- other brands he mentions).

The host's description of d3o is, however, outstanding. He does mention 'grade three' which is a giveaway that he's Canadian.

Markus Kayser - Solar Sinter Project

This doesn't look quite ready for prime time just yet, more of an art project/proof of concept stage for now, but...

The concept of 3d printing using sand (assumedly very pure sand, maybe not the stuff that's surrounding the 3d printer in the open desert) is pretty outstanding there, and the bowl looks awesome.

Mostly similar video but with slightly different edit after the jump...

Robotic ray is part animal, part machine

Frankenstein, here we come.

Or Frankenstein's monster if you'd rather.

Or just Frankenstein if you really want to be pedantic.

I caught this video from the Science journal article that goes into more detail than does the above, silent film video (sadly lacking a mustache twirling badguy). In all honesty, the idea of tuning heart cells to contract in response to light stimulus - which is then designed to create waves of motion within the 'string ray' - is pretty phenomenal.

Making Materials That Heal Themselves

I'm thinking we don't need more sciency-people wearing button-down, plaid, short-sleeve shirts. That's sort of like a dorky stereotype there.

Am I wrong?

One of the common drawbacks of polymers that I always mention in class is that they can't be easily repaired. Maybe someday I'll be able to stop saying that.