How Does Glassblowing Work?

Reactions took a trip to McFadden Art Glass to learn about the chemistry of glassblowing.

If you’ve ever tapped a screen to send a tweet, opted for the bottled soda because it tastes better, or drooled over art glass in a gallery, then your life has been changed for the better by the transparent yet durable combination of sand and simple chemicals we call glass. We visited McFadden Art Glass in Baltimore, Maryland, to learn about the chemistry of this ancient material.

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Producer:
Elaine Seward

Writer:
Alexa Billow

Executive Producer:
Adam Dylewski

Scientific consultants:
John C. Mauro, Ph.D.
Darcy Gentleman, Ph.D.
Kyle Nackers

Music:
Sam Leopard - To the Point
Sam Leopard - You Are My Vidence

Sources:

Ever wonder why dogs sniff each others' butts? Or how Adderall works? Or whether it's OK to pee in the pool? We've got you covered: Reactions a web series about the chemistry that surrounds you every day.

Reactions is produced by the American Chemical Society.

[MattJasa]

As a glass worker myself I highly recommend borosilicate, specially if your just getting started. It's less likely to crack from thermal stress, along with a large reduction in small & sharp debris. It prefers to break into larger chunks.

[VictorbrineSC]

Reactions: "Glass is made out of sand. Yep that's right!"
People: "Huh? What... but how?"
Minecraft players: *I have infinite knowledge*

[charlottekamauf]

What talent Tim has. I’ve been to McFadden Art Glass 3 times and came out with something to be proud of. Plan on going back many more times.

[VetteTTV]

Correction! Pyrex glassware is NOT boro-silicate glass in the US, it's basic soda-lime glassware! Only the made in Germany Pyrex with it being stamped or etched "boro-silicate" is actual boro-silicate glass. However, most lab Pyrex is made in Germany and sold here in the states, but as far as kitchen dishes are concerned you have to pay a pretty penny to get the good stuff from Germany. Do some research on this, this happened when corning bought Pyrex back in the 80's or 90's because soda-lime is far cheaper to produce.

[oxnd]

I have and absolutely love it., Was taken to McFadden Art studio for my birthday and made a rocks glass which turned out amazing. Now starting in Oct I'm taking a intro class 🤪

[brandonbaldini]

I really only was interested in melting and shaping metal but now I would love giving glass blowing a try.

[notraidenshogun]

Reactions.... Finally!!!
U made me love physical chem

[HachiMatt]

Hey! I love y'all -- thanks for coming to hang out in Baltimore!

[davidfrischknecht]

Another awesome glassblowing channel is Corning Museum of Glass.

[shamsulalam]

I liked this video.i wish they make a video how cement is made

[omermagen]

I like my lime soda in a soda lime glass

[GrimLocke]

I guess my favorite doom metal band should be called (Boron) Bong.

[CarolynSvellinger]

One thing completely ruined this video, which I was using to show my students for education purposes: the sudden image of a human face being melted off. It shocked my kids and they were so distraught about it that they retained nothing about the actual content. Why would anyone insert something so gruesome into what would otherwise be a really great video about how glass is made? I’m disgusted.

[jeremiahbalius]

Super nice video, why put in the gross melting man??? I was going to use this for 2nd grade, not now. super sad.

[westonhuffman]

Well, I wish I could do this because I can blow up a balloon.

[Nertez]

90 degree day? How are you guys still alive?

Seriously though... stop using anything but metric system and Celsius (or Kelvin) in science videos, anything else is stupid.

[nicktohzyu]

wtf you used both celsius and farenheit 😡

[science_and_anonymous]

How ironic is it that I just got into glass blowing lol