If you knock a light bulb it will shatter into tiny pieces. Glass can be very weak or very strong. Some glass shatters easily but glass can also be made strong enough to survive fierce knocks, wild winds and heavy hailstones!
This glass does not fly around when it is smashed.
Laminated glass is made like a sandwich with two layers of glass and a plastic filling. If laminated glass breaks, the pieces of glass stick to the plastic instead of flying around. This kind of glass is used on car windscreens for safety.
This canoe is partly made from glass.
Glass reinforced plastic is strong and hard. It is made by sandwiching glass fibre between layers of plastic. It can be easily shaped and is used to make builders’ hard hats, boats and the bodies of some cars and aeroplanes.
This rocket has a glass nose!
When a space rocket blasts into space, it gets extremely hot. Many materials crack at such temperatures. A special glass called glass-ceramic can survive these temperatures without damage. The tops of most electrical ovens are now made of glass-ceramic. Glass-ceramic was actually discovered when glass was overheated by mistake!
