My Science School

 

 

 

Your glass milk bottle may be made from old glass! Much of the glass we use is made from glass that was used before. Old glass can be melted down and made into new glass. Glass is one of the easiest materials to re-use. This is called recycling.

 

 

 

 

 

Recycle glass to help care for our planet.

We need to recycle glass to save energy. It uses up lots of energy to dig sand, limestone and soda from the ground and take them to factories around the world to make glass. But broken glass, called cullet, melts to form new glass. It uses up less energy and fewer resources than making new glass.

 

 

 

 

Different colours of glass are recycled separately.

If you go with your parents or carers to the recycling bins, make sure you do not mix different coloured glasses in the same bin. Different ingredients are used to make different coloured glass so they must be kept separate.

 

 

 

Continue reading "Recycled glass"

 

Today, some glass is mixed with other materials to make it lighter and stronger. Lighter glass is better for our world as it uses up fewer materials. Also, less energy is used to make modern lightweight glass. New types of glass are still being invented.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glass can help mend human bones.          

Bioglass is a new material made partly from glass. It contains a substance, called calcium that is found in bones. Bioglass can be put inside a person’s body. It melts or dissolves and joins onto bones in the body. Bioglass can help mend and strengthen bones.

 

 

 

Not all glass feels hard.

Foam glass is made by trapping gas bubbles in powdered glass. This makes a spongy material that can protect objects against the cold. Water glass is a powder. It dissolves in water to make a varnish. Water glass doesn’t burn. It can make paper fireproof!

 

 

 

 

 

Glass can be made in space.

Scientists have discovered that making glass in space creates a very pure glass. Some scientists think they could heat up ‘moon dust’ and materials from other planets to make a type of space glass. This could be very useful if humans build on a distant planet in the future.