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As you look around your house, your work, and anywhere else you might happen to be, you will see that glass is used in many places. You can see glass in the windows, in the refrigerator shelves, on the face of your watch, on a flat top stove, and in the cups in your cupboard. Glass has many uses and is the preferred material for many of the objects that we use every day. Human beings have been using glass in different ways for thousands of years. Scientists are always looking at glass for future uses.

The word “glass” technically refers to several different materials, all with the characteristics of being brittle and at least partially transparent. The most common glass is made from silicon, which is found in quartz sand. The sand is mixed with a few other ingredients and heated to a high temperature. The ingredients melt together to create molten glass. The glass is then shaped through a number of methods, such as blowing or pressing to create jars, mirrors, windows, and everything else made of glass. Specialized glass products start out with this process, and have some kind of extra ingredient added at the end to give it the desired property, such as bulletproof glass, anti-reflective glass, and windshields.

Man, in one form or another, has used Glass since before history was recorded. Stone Age man was using obsidian, a volcanic glass, for weapons and cutting tools. The Egyptians and Mesopotamians were the first civilizations to turn glass into an art form, starting with simple beads and growing to glass pots, pitchers, and sculptures. As civilizations grew and faded, the art was lost and found again several times, being taken up by the Greeks, the Romans, and then coming to modern times. Before mass manufacturing, glass windows and other products were reserved for the wealthy and powerful. After the industrial revolution, glass making became easy to do on a large scale, and glass was suddenly available for anything it might be needed for.

Glass has come a long way over the centuries. Today, glass can be made in the laboratory to be almost absolutely transparent (well beyond what the human eye can detect), or can be given other properties to focus lasers, pass certain colors of light, or do anything else required for precision instruments. Glass can be shaped to magnify objects or can be given coatings or backings to make mirrors. Glass is used in some electronics components for its conductive properties. The most advanced techniques allow glass to be worked with at the microscopic level.

Glass is found almost everywhere you look. Glass is an extremely useful material that cannot be replaced in some instances. The material has played an important role in human history, giving artists and artisans a medium to create works of art and the window, which allows us to see through walls without having to be exposed to the elements. Just look around. You will see clear as day that glass is abundant.