@@mysticalsoulqc What the heck are you talking about? Are you using a translator of some sort? Whatever you're using isn't working because it's all nonsense
If civilization fails, we'll all be able to visit this guy and get a pair of photochromic sunglasses. Comforting. Unless, of course, in the process of civilization failing, he happens to die. Then the survivors will have to use their hands to block out the sun which can cause cramping. The apocalypse sucks
But, not to seem flippant: glass is an area of physical & chemical engineering that has been relatively neglected for the better part of a century. I'm glad someone is taking note and trying to make it seem interesting.
glass making has been in the public eye lately for fiber optics and smartphone screens for example. also, glass tech is critical for optics and cameras are multiplying like rabbits these days.
I'd rather thought we are in the "Age of Glass". From test tubes and optics to silicon chips and lasers - glass and ceramics are t the root of quite a few of the innovations that drive the tech that defines our culture. Stone age, Metal age then Glass age. Next is who knows what.
A friend of mine is a glass engineer at PARC, it's wizardry! She develops glass that, when shattered, pulverizes into invisible glass dust. Has some sort of military application. Cool video!
I spoke to this very person in order to help me understand the world of glass. It's a small world when it comes to glass research, and I know quite a few current and past PARC employees :)
towlie911 That type of glass is used as a cover for missile seeker lenses. It protects the lens during the flight but if you fire the missile you want the cleanest possible lens. To remove the cover a small striker hits the edge and POOF, it's gone.
Thanks! I usually target 10 minutes, and the stats show that most folks watch about 5 minutes worth of each video, but in this case, there was just too much information. It's funny: I always worry that videos will be empty, so I wait until I feel there's enough content to discuss, and it ends up being more than I thought! Do people enjoy 30-40 minute videos?? I kinda prefer 10 minutes myself, but there's always room for variety.
love the way you say, designing small pieces of glass whilst surrounded by a table filled with dozens of tubs, containers and equipment . the beauty is your explanation, perfect.
Looking at your setup, you might be able to synthetize YBaCuO ceramic. This is a high temperature supra-conductor you migth already know about. Its synthesis is commonly done in inorganic chemistry labs, althougth it can be a bit finicky at times. I think it would be a good challenge for you.
The synthesis is actually trivially easy. In the 80s when it was discovered it was actually called the "shake n bake" method. I made it as an HS student in the 90s with a simple tube furnace and a VERY poor mix of nitrates and oxides. It wasn't high quality but still demonstrated the meissner effect easily.
I thought of the same thing while watching, apart from "shake n bake", there is also "YBC, easy as 123" since it is Y1Ba2Cu3O6, the oxygen amount isn't critical since it's calcinated from Y and Ba carbonates and CuO, and you pretty much try to just saturate the amount of oxygen, if I remember correctly it won't really go above 6.
Ya, I didn't even bother with ball milling the reactants (not that I even knew what that was then) or oxygen flow during firing....nothing. Just ambient air in a hot furnace and pressed into a pellet with an ftir KBr pellet press when it was done. I couldn't believe it when it actually worked. Except for the yttria Ben probably already has the other reagents, he should do it, there aren't any other good videos on here doing it yet.
My God;I knew this video was going to be be good, but my giddy anticipation was quickly turned to humble admiration. Seriously; you are one of a kind, and although I respect many UA-cam educators, you really top the list of most enjoyable to watch. Thank you
You're right that you're wrong about the silver/electron situation. Got it backward. It starts as Ag+ in silver chloride, takes an electron from copper oxide to become metallic Ag, then the Ag returns the electron in the reverse process. Luckily no quoting occurred. :-)
This video is awesome! I'm a glassblower (flameworking to be specific) and this gives me a whole new appreciation for what it takes to make the colored glasses that I use!
I'm so glad channels like yours exist. You pick a subject and really dive into it. Expanding your knowledge and experience, sharing all that information with the world must feel amazing.
I've always wanted to try this but was overwhelmed and didn't have enough money to throw around while I learned from mistakes. This makes it seem more accessible. Thank you.
Man I am so lucky to live in a time where I have access to the internet. Who would have thought glass in the home shop would be so damn cool! Thanks so much for this Ben, super impressive and interesting.
Excellent video. I love how broad the spectrum of what you study is. I'm definitely going to start researching how to make specialty glass in the near future.
Properly done, gas kilns are even more versatile than electric. The trick is using concentrated oxygen rather than air. By varying both fuel and oxygen, it's easy to provide a reducing, neutral, or oxidizing environment. Propane-oxygen flames can get to 2200C. PSA-based oxygen concentrators can be had for ~$600 but the flow rate is low so it must be plumbed to an oilless compressor and storage tank. Alternatively you can start with bottled oxygen but that's more expensive and less convenient long term.
spqr0a1 unfortunately they are nearly impossible to make so that no hydrogen, oxygen, or water vapor interact with what you are making. Electric and induction kiln's are much easier to purge.
"[The] copper oxide […] accepts electrons from the silver chloride, so when you hit the silver chloride with light, it converts to metallic silver, and I think gives up an electron. Don't quote me on that." -Applied Science, 2017 Seriously, this was an amazing video. Even though I probably won't be making photochromic glass anytime soon, this was fascinating to watch. The need to tweak the starting amounts of all the components so that they decompose and evaporate to the precise amount you need at the end is so cool! I didn't know there were what would appear to be types of glass, in the day-to-day meaning of the word, which don't contain any silicon dioxide. I guess I didn't realize how much boron is in borosilicate glass to begin with. I assumed it was a small additive. Also, I finally learned where the word "glaze" comes from, and that glazing pottery is actually applying a material that melts into a glass in the kiln.
You and Destin Sandlin are the only youtubers I can watch for a half hour or more at a time. Actually learning stuff with that time makes you guys pretty awesome! Very inspiring.
Great info. Very detailed and informative. I wish every DIY video was as good as the videos you make. My favorite thing to listen to when tinkering, is youtube. When I hear something interesting, I usually stop what Im doing and give my attention to the video. Well let's just say I didnt even get all my tools out, and have stayed up past my bedtime. No cgi, no catchy music, no subtitles, no hypnotic flashy lights, no colorful subscribe propaganda. Nothing but business.
The way your videos are filmed is so simple yet they educate (and entertain) much more than any other science/engineering channel I have seen on UA-cam. Please keep it up, it’s much appreciated!
- saw notification from applied science - dropped whatever i was currently doing to watch the vid - when it was done noticed that it was 40 minutes. wtf felt like 10 mins. the best frigging channel on youtube
Cody and the king of random are all smoke and mirrors but no science. Entertaining but you learn very little from them. Most people are out for distraction from their pain in their lives and are not looking to learn something.
Thanks for you wonderful videos. You help keep my brain active and healthy by stimulating my learning and imagination. As a disabled guy who has worked in many challenging cutting edge tech/engineering environments, I crave the mental stimulation that is now lacking in my life. Your videos are actually good therapy for me. Wish I had the space and funds to do fun projects like you do. 👍👍👍👍👍
Very late to this video, but as someone who was involved in making photochromic glass commercially (we used to make various borosilicate and phosphate based lenses) I have to congratulate you on getting as far as you have. As you've found out, it can be quite a tricky process! From a general glass-making perspective, the video was excellent (although I think that there is quite a lot of information about there that would help with the basic techniques). Off to look at your channel to see if you ever came back to this.
I enjoyed your video. I few comments from my experimentation with making items via glass fusing. If you read about making items via glass fusing, they will tell you to coat every surface in your kiln with kiln wash before its first use to insure that glass spills do not ruin your kiln. If you are very careful to never touch the coated surfaces, the kiln wash will survive several firings. However, eventually you will need to re-coat the kiln. I found it absolutely necessary to recoat the kiln shelves before every use. The same was true for molds. The glass would always pull the kiln wash of the shelf, leaving spots with no kiln wash. If I were to use the shelf a second time without recoating it, the glass would stick on the places left bare. When you scrape the used kiln wash off the shelf, insure you are wearing a respirator. You do not want to inhale any of the powder. Also wear a respirator any time you are spraying a shelf or mold with kiln wash. Kiln paper can be used if you have money to burn and do not like coating your shelves with kiln wash. However, just like kiln wash, the kiln paper is suppose to be replaced after every use. I found that spraying the kiln wash onto the shelf produced a much smoother coating than I was ever able to get by brushing the kiln wash onto the shelf. The best sprayer that I found was a hand-held sprayer used to spray plants. It had a built-in pump. You poured your kiln wash into the container, pumped it several times to pressurize the container, then pulled the trigger to spray the shelf. It made coating the shelf easy and would produce a very even coating. If the texture of the bottom of your glass sample is not important, applying kiln wash with a brush would be sufficient. While it is true that hot glass will not stick to graphite, placing a sheet of graphite into a kiln would ruin the graphite. The extreme temperatures in the kiln would cause the graphite to convert to CO2. After the first use, any part of the graphite shelf which had not been covered with glass was covered with small pits. The pit were deep enough that sanding the shelf flat would have taken quite an effort and would also have generated way too much carbon dust. I was told that replacing the oxygen with and insert gas would eliminate the problem. Argon was suggested. I never set up my system to try it. It was easier and less expensive to use kiln wash.
Awesome job, thanks for taking the time to do a detailed video on this. Glass is one of the few basic materials that isn't documented well on the internet.
I love how at the end of describing some new part in the process there is always the footnote of "but the glass will react and absorb it into the glass sooooo..."
While watching the video i remembered a visit in a museum for ceramics. There was a big vase as an exhibit (i was 12 years old i think). The glazing changed the color when warmed up (the hand was enough) from red to a blueish green. Would it be possible to make something like that your self? I would suspect that the inner working of temperature sensitive glass is different than light sensitive glass.
If you just knew how much I respect you and your work. You are one of the most important teachers the world has seen. I really do Believe that, because you reach so many people and you have such a big range of different things to teach about and while you your self learn you teach us others. You really are Great Brother....:) GOOD LUCK
Always a pleasure, Inspired and built a 4KW small kiln with Vitcas refractory cement, ran up to 1100C. For Glass annealing I'm told a very slow cool down is required so In trying to hack a cheap ITC-100 PID controller to do ramp times. Was differently branded but pcb says ITC-100. It has RxTx on pcb but not external. If no protocol works will just hotwire the buttons to an arduino.
I've been making ceramic glazes as a hobby for a while now, it is fascinating stuff and there is a good amount of literature on it and the effects various chemicals add to the glass to get colours and effects. I've recently started looking into lustre which is a metallic layer added back on top of a glass at a lower temperature of around 600-800c, the result can be like a silver mirror layer on top but works with gold, copper and a number of other metals.
So I have a suggestion for something to investigate. During some of my own research I stumbled upon Lead Bismuthate glass. It sounds like something you’d like playing with considering your other videos on specialty glass. It’s transmission spectrum is uniquely wide and it could be used as a lens material in UV and IR applications. From what I understand Lead Bismuthate glass has some unique challenges due to its tendency to crystallize during the annealing process. So it might be a fun challenge too. Anyway I love your videos and I hope to see many more in the future.
Awesome video. I stick around 10min as well, but this is a massive subject and you've done a great job conveying a wealth of information in a relatively short period. I think anyone interested in the subject will find it invaluable! Thanks!!!
Thanks! I sometimes end up making the video that I would have wanted to watch when getting started with a subject. The best thing about youtube (vs old-fashioned TV) is being able to skip around and pull out the bits that are relevant for each individual viewer.
Hey if you need help, I am a glass engineer. Glass blower, borosilicate mostly. I make small ,100 lbs pot, batches of custom borosilicate colors for sale. I have few short vids of my shop attached to my house.
I've been making synthetic ruby and sapphire as of recently. I'm building a Verniuel furnace and I'm thinking the same way about this as you are about getting people into working with glass. Created ruby and sapphire is actually incredibly simple and easy. Growing the boule past infancy is the difficult part, but making small starter boules can be accomplished with a MAPP/Oxy torch. Using Al2O3 combined with 1% - 3% Cr2O3 yields ruby. Sapphire is a lot more difficult to achieve the rich blue color normally associated with blue sapphire. I found using iron (II) oxide and not iron (III) oxide with titanium dioxide in a 3:1 ratio is a good dopant formula for adding to the alumina. Mix the oxides in an oxygen free atmosphere--CO2 works perfectly well here. The latest test batch I made last night is a larger scale follow up to a batch I experimented with over this past weekend. My latest sapphire recipe: Al2O3= 98.54g Fe(II)O = 1.09g TiO2= 0.373g
As usual, quite brilliant. I really appreciate the way that you explain things that you tried and didn't work, and generally give a reason why it didn't work. Really great content. Thanks!
I been making glass like you have for a few weeks and have some issues. One is that the crucibles are single use, if heated past 2000f after being used for glass they will break in the kiln (Spilling molten glass). I have trouble finding them for $2 like you mentioned (most $10+). Related to that there is about 40% chance of receiving broken crucibles if you order somewhere other than Amazon. Another issue I had to troubleshoot is that sometimes (depending on composition) the contents of the crucible would expand and or bubble/boil (spewing molten glass). This is likely from powders not being completely anhydrous. I have remedied this by slowing heating to 900f and leaving there for a few hours before trying to melt the glass completely.
This was beyond fascinating....I have always wondered about these sorts of things! While I haven't time or money to invest right now, when I retire, you can bet I'll come back to this and start playing with glass!
One of the best UA-cam channels of all time. Great video, as usual - it's mesmerizing to learn so many things about a subject I knew almost nothing about!
There are german kiln designs that use gas, but still allow you to have an atmosphere of your desire. If I'd translate the name directly it will be "heat transfer gas-burning-oven". In that design gases travel through the pipes and burn in them without coming in touch with the atmosphere inside the kiln. I learned about them in my course on industrial oven types. The primary goal of these systems is to have a sustained high-temperature under specific atmosphere composition and pressure while using a cheaper energy source. (in Germany using hydrogen also exempts a company from paying the pollution tax too) I need to mention that most of these systems are actually a combination of gas and electric heater for the purpose of temperature control precision, but the ones made for rougher temperature control are indeed purely gas-operated. I could not find any manufacturer that would make a small enough kiln (or furnace) of this type to use at home though. The smallest size is about a small hatchback, not any smaller and of course costs as much as 4 such hatchbacks. Could be an interesting project to make a "tiny" gas-opearated heat-exchange kiln for "home use".
That was pretty cool reminds when my mom took me to a stained glass place and showed me how it was made to make cor stained glass items watching your video of how glass is made was brought me back to all those different variations and glass I saw thank you
I remember working for a company that tested cement by dissolving it in lithium metaborate. They used nickel cups plated with platinum to prepare it. Properly plated too, a good part of a millimeter thickness.
You went away for a long time.. And then came back with this! Fascinating, interesting and very cool. Not an area I've got the motivation to explore, but something I'll keep an eye on and pay more attention to now that I know more of the fundamentals.
Thank you, very interesting :) Just a word of warning about Lithium: It is very volatile and reactive. We have a project about solid Li-electrolytes and samples are sintered at our project partner in a special oven just for this stuff. You'll face 2 problems: Firstly, the Li will react with your furnace wall, potentially destroying it. And in the next batches the Li will come back out of the lining and lithinate your samples. Secondly, Li evaporates very fast, we have problems with stoichiometry of the electrolytes even though they are sintered in a powder bed of the material. Getting the excess in the starting material right and a homogeneous glass will be hard.
Ooh, you should try making Dichroic glass! The romans could do it so it can't be that hard. It has this strange property that light reflecting off it has a different colour from light passing through it. So it looks green normally, but red when backlit.
22:00 I'm reminded of "power metallurgy", which allows for more direct selection of the elements that go in, and the ability to use things that you could not simply melt and stir together. The dusts are mixed first, and then it is heated so the melting and mixing takes place at a small scale, without the atoms moving across the entire sample. I wonder if something liker that would work for glass?
+Applied Science Have you been thinking about trying to grow monocrystalline silicon? Basic mechanisms seem to be simple, you got already quite some knowledge and practical experience in chemistry, metallurgy and now glassmaking so you should be able to do it and I'm pretty sure you would be the first one to do it on youtube (or for the fact in any reasonable searchable part of internet) I would be really interested in watching that and I believe so would others, also I'm pretty sure that could lead to new cool experiments with semiconductors for example just like Jeri Ellsworth and her transistor making
Wow! Fantastic video! So many videos on the internet are sloppy and don’t really add much ... A lot of them are just somebody trying their hand at something, I mean, I can do that myself and get similar results as they get. Sheesh. Now these videos are something else! You clearly spend a lot of time intelligently tinkering with the zillions of variables. This is valuable! Off to Patreon I go! You deserve it man! Please keep it up!
Applied Science videos are less frequent than others, but the amount of research and information contained in them always blows my mind. Kudos to you, Ben.
Absolutely fascinating!!! I never had any idea that there were that many variables in making photochromic glass. It makes me think about the trial processes that the original producers used. Other than basic chemistry that they knew about it was obviously a lot of trial and error. I also really enjoy your presentation style and appreciate you taking the time to educate us.
nice work with the glass! off topic i have an experiment for you, take 2 strong bar magnets place them 1"-1.5" apart then try tig welding inbetween them, it causes a loud whistling sound. you may find it interesting...
I learned that I don't want to try this in my nice heat treating oven and risk ruining the floor of it. The sit on top style kiln looks useful and just replace the firebrick surface if you have a spill.
Great video. If your interested in melting above 1100C on this middle furnace consider replacing you heating coil with "Kanthal Wire" which won't fail until ~1400C. Be careful as your bonded aluminosilicate muffle furnace "could" begin to yield at temperatures in excess of 1300C.
So very cool! I'm not sure what I would do with this, but what a wonderful reference! That's a neat kiln. There are small glass kilns for jewelry that may be great for experiments, but perhaps their upper temperature limit is not helpful.
Thanks for all the great videos and knowledge you share. Something I’ve always wanted to do, but will never have the resources for, is to create a large laser diode . Sounds like a project that’d be right in your wheelhouse . Keep up the good work!
As a glassblower, I knew most of the general information on handeling glass. Still, very interesting to see how difficult it is to get such a resipe right!
I feel your frustration. I did my master thesis in surface coating looking at vitreous enamels(glass on metal) and the best data I could get was a book from that was mostly written in 1930. And coming from a physics background the science being described is very hand wavy. Some recipes call for the addition of bone ash for crying out loud.
this information in this video is extra satisfying after watching the king of random fail to make glass. he made a lot of ad revenue for zero effort compared to you which actually angers me with how incompetent he is.
It's more the schedule. He had a week tops with a few hours a day at most to work on the problem. In total he's probably put less than 2 weeks of actual useful time into the problem because he makes daily videos. If he had managed to make proper transparent glass I would have been immensely impressed. Going from no knowledge to clear glass in less than 2 weeks with minimal guidance would be ridiculous.
Skinny McGee Dude. Get off you high horse. The king of random has his place, and it's kind of as an entertainer, like Bill Nye was back when he had his (good) show. On top of that, it was Cody's glass recipe.
Respect for sticking to the subject and coming up with a working batch. I probably would have lost interest after realizing how many variables go into this.....
I would suggest pouring a refractory or jewlery/dental investment "crucible" which can be disolved in plaster remover (or water) after baking. Also there are flourine/other based acids for etching off that "reaction layer." Additionally recommended is the Air Force Dental Technology Crown & Bridge manual. It would have quite a bit of information on materials and techniques for molten glass. Prosthetic eyes are also made by baking glass, I'd imagine a gov't manual or two is out there. E-Max glass ingots and how that works is also worth checking out. Cheers!
Great source of info. I want to use a big fresnel lens to melt sand to make glass fiber. Then go on to make fresnel lens with clear quarter inch glass rod coiled together.
This man and his garage are all we need to rebuild modern civilization should it ever fall.
Chaos - ‘should’?
When.
Kick boxing
center pillars of all understanding , I consider him recognize him also. a.i wont let me auto correct. lol
@@mysticalsoulqc What the heck are you talking about? Are you using a translator of some sort? Whatever you're using isn't working because it's all nonsense
If civilization fails, we'll all be able to visit this guy and get a pair of photochromic sunglasses. Comforting. Unless, of course, in the process of civilization failing, he happens to die. Then the survivors will have to use their hands to block out the sun which can cause cramping. The apocalypse sucks
This is fascinating. Such a cool topic to dive into.
oh well hello! i was about to click on a video of yours!
Try graphene. First on UA-cam?
i would have been interested in your digression on the patent system
I'd like to make a mini glass tripod with holes. How to do that?
Thank you so much for this
Very clever to dilute your minor ingredients for more precise measuring. Excellent video
But, not to seem flippant: glass is an area of physical & chemical engineering that has been relatively neglected for the better part of a century. I'm glad someone is taking note and trying to make it seem interesting.
Corning is doing some cool stuff, but i kinda doubt they are sharing their secrets.
I don't know if he is trying to :))) But in any case it's fascinating stuff. I love his methodology too :)))
glass making has been in the public eye lately for fiber optics and smartphone screens for example. also, glass tech is critical for optics and cameras are multiplying like rabbits these days.
'coming is doing.............' who is coming?
I'd rather thought we are in the "Age of Glass". From test tubes and optics to silicon chips and lasers - glass and ceramics are t the root of quite a few of the innovations that drive the tech that defines our culture. Stone age, Metal age then Glass age. Next is who knows what.
A friend of mine is a glass engineer at PARC, it's wizardry! She develops glass that, when shattered, pulverizes into invisible glass dust. Has some sort of military application. Cool video!
I spoke to this very person in order to help me understand the world of glass. It's a small world when it comes to glass research, and I know quite a few current and past PARC employees :)
towlie911 That type of glass is used as a cover for missile seeker lenses. It protects the lens during the flight but if you fire the missile you want the cleanest possible lens. To remove the cover a small striker hits the edge and POOF, it's gone.
A 40 minute video? A treat especial!
LazerLord10 a skookum one, at that
Thanks! I usually target 10 minutes, and the stats show that most folks watch about 5 minutes worth of each video, but in this case, there was just too much information. It's funny: I always worry that videos will be empty, so I wait until I feel there's enough content to discuss, and it ends up being more than I thought! Do people enjoy 30-40 minute videos?? I kinda prefer 10 minutes myself, but there's always room for variety.
When it's great content like yours, 30 minutes of it works for me. :)
Long videos are great!
@Applied Science I watched the whole thing.
love the way you say, designing small pieces of glass whilst surrounded by a table filled with dozens of tubs, containers and equipment . the beauty is your explanation, perfect.
Looking at your setup, you might be able to synthetize YBaCuO ceramic. This is a high temperature supra-conductor you migth already know about. Its synthesis is commonly done in inorganic chemistry labs, althougth it can be a bit finicky at times. I think it would be a good challenge for you.
The synthesis is actually trivially easy. In the 80s when it was discovered it was actually called the "shake n bake" method. I made it as an HS student in the 90s with a simple tube furnace and a VERY poor mix of nitrates and oxides. It wasn't high quality but still demonstrated the meissner effect easily.
I thought of the same thing while watching, apart from "shake n bake", there is also "YBC, easy as 123" since it is Y1Ba2Cu3O6, the oxygen amount isn't critical since it's calcinated from Y and Ba carbonates and CuO, and you pretty much try to just saturate the amount of oxygen, if I remember correctly it won't really go above 6.
Ya, I didn't even bother with ball milling the reactants (not that I even knew what that was then) or oxygen flow during firing....nothing. Just ambient air in a hot furnace and pressed into a pellet with an ftir KBr pellet press when it was done. I couldn't believe it when it actually worked. Except for the yttria Ben probably already has the other reagents, he should do it, there aren't any other good videos on here doing it yet.
Do it Ben!
See ua-cam.com/video/sLFaa6RPJIU/v-deo.html
My God;I knew this video was going to be be good, but my giddy anticipation was quickly turned to humble admiration.
Seriously; you are one of a kind, and although I respect many UA-cam educators, you really top the list of most enjoyable to watch.
Thank you
get off his dick bro
get off his dick bro
You're right that you're wrong about the silver/electron situation. Got it backward. It starts as Ag+ in silver chloride, takes an electron from copper oxide to become metallic Ag, then the Ag returns the electron in the reverse process.
Luckily no quoting occurred. :-)
This video is awesome! I'm a glassblower (flameworking to be specific) and this gives me a whole new appreciation for what it takes to make the colored glasses that I use!
I'm so glad channels like yours exist. You pick a subject and really dive into it. Expanding your knowledge and experience, sharing all that information with the world must feel amazing.
I've always wanted to try this but was overwhelmed and didn't have enough money to throw around while I learned from mistakes. This makes it seem more accessible.
Thank you.
Man I am so lucky to live in a time where I have access to the internet. Who would have thought glass in the home shop would be so damn cool! Thanks so much for this Ben, super impressive and interesting.
After watching so many youtubers fail at making any kind of glass at all, this is a really satisfying result. Thanks for posting this.
The opal glass you made could be an awesome discovery you need to sit down and remember what all your ingredients were and try to recreate it
What an amazing reason for making a video. Leave it to Applied Science to pave the way for people in the home shop to start making glass.
Excellent video. I love how broad the spectrum of what you study is. I'm definitely going to start researching how to make specialty glass in the near future.
Its been 5 years, hows your progress?
A bit of engineering I've never really considered. Super cool!
Properly done, gas kilns are even more versatile than electric. The trick is using concentrated oxygen rather than air. By varying both fuel and oxygen, it's easy to provide a reducing, neutral, or oxidizing environment. Propane-oxygen flames can get to 2200C. PSA-based oxygen concentrators can be had for ~$600 but the flow rate is low so it must be plumbed to an oilless compressor and storage tank. Alternatively you can start with bottled oxygen but that's more expensive and less convenient long term.
spqr0a1 unfortunately they are nearly impossible to make so that no hydrogen, oxygen, or water vapor interact with what you are making. Electric and induction kiln's are much easier to purge.
"[The] copper oxide […] accepts electrons from the silver chloride, so when you hit the silver chloride with light, it converts to metallic silver, and I think gives up an electron. Don't quote me on that." -Applied Science, 2017
Seriously, this was an amazing video. Even though I probably won't be making photochromic glass anytime soon, this was fascinating to watch. The need to tweak the starting amounts of all the components so that they decompose and evaporate to the precise amount you need at the end is so cool!
I didn't know there were what would appear to be types of glass, in the day-to-day meaning of the word, which don't contain any silicon dioxide. I guess I didn't realize how much boron is in borosilicate glass to begin with. I assumed it was a small additive.
Also, I finally learned where the word "glaze" comes from, and that glazing pottery is actually applying a material that melts into a glass in the kiln.
40 minute applied science upload, awesome!
You and Destin Sandlin are the only youtubers I can watch for a half hour or more at a time. Actually learning stuff with that time makes you guys pretty awesome! Very inspiring.
Destin Sandlin... lol you probably also feel smarter every day! Destin is leagues below Applied Science in terms of content and complexity of topics!
Thanks for putting the time into this video Ben, it was very enjoyable.
Great info. Very detailed and informative. I wish every DIY video was as good as the videos you make. My favorite thing to listen to when tinkering, is youtube. When I hear something interesting, I usually stop what Im doing and give my attention to the video. Well let's just say I didnt even get all my tools out, and have stayed up past my bedtime. No cgi, no catchy music, no subtitles, no hypnotic flashy lights, no colorful subscribe propaganda. Nothing but business.
The way your videos are filmed is so simple yet they educate (and entertain) much more than any other science/engineering channel I have seen on UA-cam. Please keep it up, it’s much appreciated!
- saw notification from applied science
- dropped whatever i was currently doing to watch the vid
- when it was done noticed that it was 40 minutes. wtf felt like 10 mins.
the best frigging channel on youtube
I bet Cody is gonna get some ideas.
And i bet it involves gun powder xD
DasIllu Gin powder from urine, to be exact.
Radioactive glass going by the teaser in his last vid.
Cody actually made a video - Making Glass From Sand Using A Microwave
Cody and the king of random are all smoke and mirrors but no science. Entertaining but you learn very little from them. Most people are out for distraction from their pain in their lives and are not looking to learn something.
Thanks for you wonderful videos.
You help keep my brain active and healthy by stimulating my learning and imagination.
As a disabled guy who has worked in many challenging cutting edge tech/engineering environments, I crave the mental stimulation that is now lacking in my life.
Your videos are actually good therapy for me.
Wish I had the space and funds to do fun projects like you do.
👍👍👍👍👍
That blue glass you made is stunning.
Very late to this video, but as someone who was involved in making photochromic glass commercially (we used to make various borosilicate and phosphate based lenses) I have to congratulate you on getting as far as you have. As you've found out, it can be quite a tricky process!
From a general glass-making perspective, the video was excellent (although I think that there is quite a lot of information about there that would help with the basic techniques). Off to look at your channel to see if you ever came back to this.
I enjoyed your video. I few comments from my experimentation with making items via glass fusing.
If you read about making items via glass fusing, they will tell you to coat every surface in your kiln with kiln wash before its first use to insure that glass spills do not ruin your kiln. If you are very careful to never touch the coated surfaces, the kiln wash will survive several firings. However, eventually you will need to re-coat the kiln.
I found it absolutely necessary to recoat the kiln shelves before every use. The same was true for molds. The glass would always pull the kiln wash of the shelf, leaving spots with no kiln wash. If I were to use the shelf a second time without recoating it, the glass would stick on the places left bare. When you scrape the used kiln wash off the shelf, insure you are wearing a respirator. You do not want to inhale any of the powder. Also wear a respirator any time you are spraying a shelf or mold with kiln wash.
Kiln paper can be used if you have money to burn and do not like coating your shelves with kiln wash. However, just like kiln wash, the kiln paper is suppose to be replaced after every use.
I found that spraying the kiln wash onto the shelf produced a much smoother coating than I was ever able to get by brushing the kiln wash onto the shelf. The best sprayer that I found was a hand-held sprayer used to spray plants. It had a built-in pump. You poured your kiln wash into the container, pumped it several times to pressurize the container, then pulled the trigger to spray the shelf. It made coating the shelf easy and would produce a very even coating. If the texture of the bottom of your glass sample is not important, applying kiln wash with a brush would be sufficient.
While it is true that hot glass will not stick to graphite, placing a sheet of graphite into a kiln would ruin the graphite. The extreme temperatures in the kiln would cause the graphite to convert to CO2. After the first use, any part of the graphite shelf which had not been covered with glass was covered with small pits. The pit were deep enough that sanding the shelf flat would have taken quite an effort and would also have generated way too much carbon dust. I was told that replacing the oxygen with and insert gas would eliminate the problem. Argon was suggested. I never set up my system to try it. It was easier and less expensive to use kiln wash.
Awesome job, thanks for taking the time to do a detailed video on this. Glass is one of the few basic materials that isn't documented well on the internet.
I love how at the end of describing some new part in the process there is always the footnote of "but the glass will react and absorb it into the glass sooooo..."
While watching the video i remembered a visit in a museum for ceramics. There was a big vase as an exhibit (i was 12 years old i think). The glazing changed the color when warmed up (the hand was enough) from red to a blueish green. Would it be possible to make something like that your self? I would suspect that the inner working of temperature sensitive glass is different than light sensitive glass.
If you just knew how much I respect you and your work. You are one of the most important teachers the world has seen. I really do Believe that, because you reach so many people and you have such a big range of different things to teach about and while you your self learn you teach us others. You really are Great Brother....:) GOOD LUCK
Always a pleasure, Inspired and built a 4KW small kiln with Vitcas refractory cement, ran up to 1100C. For Glass annealing I'm told a very slow cool down is required so In trying to hack a cheap ITC-100 PID controller to do ramp times. Was differently branded but pcb says ITC-100. It has RxTx on pcb but not external. If no protocol works will just hotwire the buttons to an arduino.
I always get sad when the video finishes cause I know he will vanish for another 2-3 months befor he graces us with another video. :-(
Man. We spend so much time and effort compensating for the reactivity of our atmosphere. Imagine the crazy stuff we could make in the vacuum of space.
I've been making ceramic glazes as a hobby for a while now, it is fascinating stuff and there is a good amount of literature on it and the effects various chemicals add to the glass to get colours and effects. I've recently started looking into lustre which is a metallic layer added back on top of a glass at a lower temperature of around 600-800c, the result can be like a silver mirror layer on top but works with gold, copper and a number of other metals.
This channel is absolutely amazing. I really hurts my heart that it hasn't reached a million users yet.. fingers crossed 🤞
I love your channel. Every time I watch one of your videos, I learn something new. I am grateful. Thank you. This one one specially nice and detailed.
Please make a video on the fischer-tropsch process, I believe everyone would enjoy it.
Always in awe. Never stop making videos!
So I have a suggestion for something to investigate. During some of my own research I stumbled upon Lead Bismuthate glass. It sounds like something you’d like playing with considering your other videos on specialty glass. It’s transmission spectrum is uniquely wide and it could be used as a lens material in UV and IR applications. From what I understand Lead Bismuthate glass has some unique challenges due to its tendency to crystallize during the annealing process. So it might be a fun challenge too. Anyway I love your videos and I hope to see many more in the future.
Your adventure reminds me of ignition! Where they tried 10s of 10s different monopropellants to find the perfect mixture
Awesome video. I stick around 10min as well, but this is a massive subject and you've done a great job conveying a wealth of information in a relatively short period. I think anyone interested in the subject will find it invaluable! Thanks!!!
Thanks! I sometimes end up making the video that I would have wanted to watch when getting started with a subject. The best thing about youtube (vs old-fashioned TV) is being able to skip around and pull out the bits that are relevant for each individual viewer.
Hey if you need help, I am a glass engineer. Glass blower, borosilicate mostly. I make small ,100 lbs pot, batches of custom borosilicate colors for sale. I have few short vids of my shop attached to my house.
As a ceramist this is truly interesting, I will surely play with this, thanks!
Why would anyone downvote your videos? They are amazing.
I've been doing this with resin. Both photochromic and thermochromic pigments, and glow-in-the-dark.
I cant tell you how much of an inspiration you are. Keep up this incredible work
the white glas is great and 3:13 it has a smily - may the force be with you
I've been making synthetic ruby and sapphire as of recently. I'm building a Verniuel furnace and I'm thinking the same way about this as you are about getting people into working with glass. Created ruby and sapphire is actually incredibly simple and easy. Growing the boule past infancy is the difficult part, but making small starter boules can be accomplished with a MAPP/Oxy torch. Using Al2O3 combined with 1% - 3% Cr2O3 yields ruby.
Sapphire is a lot more difficult to achieve the rich blue color normally associated with blue sapphire. I found using iron (II) oxide and not iron (III) oxide with titanium dioxide in a 3:1 ratio is a good dopant formula for adding to the alumina. Mix the oxides in an oxygen free atmosphere--CO2 works perfectly well here. The latest test batch I made last night is a larger scale follow up to a batch I experimented with over this past weekend.
My latest sapphire recipe:
Al2O3= 98.54g
Fe(II)O = 1.09g
TiO2= 0.373g
As usual, quite brilliant. I really appreciate the way that you explain things that you tried and didn't work, and generally give a reason why it didn't work. Really great content. Thanks!
I been making glass like you have for a few weeks and have some issues. One is that the crucibles are single use, if heated past 2000f after being used for glass they will break in the kiln (Spilling molten glass). I have trouble finding them for $2 like you mentioned (most $10+). Related to that there is about 40% chance of receiving broken crucibles if you order somewhere other than Amazon.
Another issue I had to troubleshoot is that sometimes (depending on composition) the contents of the crucible would expand and or bubble/boil (spewing molten glass). This is likely from powders not being completely anhydrous. I have remedied this by slowing heating to 900f and leaving there for a few hours before trying to melt the glass completely.
This was beyond fascinating....I have always wondered about these sorts of things! While I haven't time or money to invest right now, when I retire, you can bet I'll come back to this and start playing with glass!
your work is always so admirable and inspiring.
I'm glad you're very transparent with all this information. (I'll let myself out.)
Holy hell, you're truly a polyhistor. You just can't touch on topics "lightly". Earned my patreon support!
One of the best UA-cam channels of all time. Great video, as usual - it's mesmerizing to learn so many things about a subject I knew almost nothing about!
Great video. The level of attention to explaining things is top notch
There are german kiln designs that use gas, but still allow you to have an atmosphere of your desire. If I'd translate the name directly it will be "heat transfer gas-burning-oven".
In that design gases travel through the pipes and burn in them without coming in touch with the atmosphere inside the kiln.
I learned about them in my course on industrial oven types.
The primary goal of these systems is to have a sustained high-temperature under specific atmosphere composition and pressure while using a cheaper energy source.
(in Germany using hydrogen also exempts a company from paying the pollution tax too)
I need to mention that most of these systems are actually a combination of gas and electric heater for the purpose of temperature control precision, but the ones made for rougher temperature control are indeed purely gas-operated.
I could not find any manufacturer that would make a small enough kiln (or furnace) of this type to use at home though.
The smallest size is about a small hatchback, not any smaller and of course costs as much as 4 such hatchbacks.
Could be an interesting project to make a "tiny" gas-opearated heat-exchange kiln for "home use".
That was pretty cool reminds when my mom took me to a stained glass place and showed me how it was made to make cor stained glass items watching your video of how glass is made was brought me back to all those different variations and glass I saw thank you
I love how your random experiments look like my grad research notebooks. Some good habits never die I guess.
I remember working for a company that tested cement by dissolving it in lithium metaborate. They used nickel cups plated with platinum to prepare it. Properly plated too, a good part of a millimeter thickness.
When Ben uploads a video you just know it's going to be good.
You went away for a long time.. And then came back with this!
Fascinating, interesting and very cool. Not an area I've got the motivation to explore, but something I'll keep an eye on and pay more attention to now that I know more of the fundamentals.
Great channel. I love how diverse yet insightful your subjects are.
This is my amorphous jam, a lot of great info here. I'd love to see a lot more videos on this topic.
Thank you, very interesting :)
Just a word of warning about Lithium: It is very volatile and reactive. We have a project about solid Li-electrolytes and samples are sintered at our project partner in a special oven just for this stuff. You'll face 2 problems: Firstly, the Li will react with your furnace wall, potentially destroying it. And in the next batches the Li will come back out of the lining and lithinate your samples. Secondly, Li evaporates very fast, we have problems with stoichiometry of the electrolytes even though they are sintered in a powder bed of the material. Getting the excess in the starting material right and a homogeneous glass will be hard.
Ooh, you should try making Dichroic glass! The romans could do it so it can't be that hard. It has this strange property that light reflecting off it has a different colour from light passing through it. So it looks green normally, but red when backlit.
wow this channel is amazing! so much to learn how things are made. it makes you appreciate the advancement of technology from ancient to modern
22:00 I'm reminded of "power metallurgy", which allows for more direct selection of the elements that go in, and the ability to use things that you could not simply melt and stir together. The dusts are mixed first, and then it is heated so the melting and mixing takes place at a small scale, without the atoms moving across the entire sample.
I wonder if something liker that would work for glass?
+Applied Science
Have you been thinking about trying to grow monocrystalline silicon? Basic mechanisms seem to be simple, you got already quite some knowledge and practical experience in chemistry, metallurgy and now glassmaking so you should be able to do it and I'm pretty sure you would be the first one to do it on youtube (or for the fact in any reasonable searchable part of internet)
I would be really interested in watching that and I believe so would others, also I'm pretty sure that could lead to new cool experiments with semiconductors for example just like Jeri Ellsworth and her transistor making
you never failed to surprise me with your new content! brilliant job!
Wow! Fantastic video! So many videos on the internet are sloppy and don’t really add much ... A lot of them are just somebody trying their hand at something, I mean, I can do that myself and get similar results as they get. Sheesh.
Now these videos are something else! You clearly spend a lot of time intelligently tinkering with the zillions of variables. This is valuable!
Off to Patreon I go! You deserve it man! Please keep it up!
Applied Science videos are less frequent than others, but the amount of research and information contained in them always blows my mind. Kudos to you, Ben.
WOW, what an amazing, gifted man you are, God has given you such gifts and talents, God bless you and thank you, Matthew, England :)
You're the best at this. You make a nerd proud.
Absolutely fascinating!!! I never had any idea that there were that many variables in making photochromic glass. It makes me think about the trial processes that the original producers used. Other than basic chemistry that they knew about it was obviously a lot of trial and error. I also really enjoy your presentation style and appreciate you taking the time to educate us.
nice work with the glass! off topic i have an experiment for you, take 2 strong bar magnets place them 1"-1.5" apart then try tig welding inbetween them, it causes a loud whistling sound. you may find it interesting...
I learned that I don't want to try this in my nice heat treating oven and risk ruining the floor of it. The sit on top style kiln looks useful and just replace the firebrick surface if you have a spill.
Great video. If your interested in melting above 1100C on this middle furnace consider replacing you heating coil with "Kanthal Wire" which won't fail until ~1400C. Be careful as your bonded aluminosilicate muffle furnace "could" begin to yield at temperatures in excess of 1300C.
So very cool! I'm not sure what I would do with this, but what a wonderful reference! That's a neat kiln. There are small glass kilns for jewelry that may be great for experiments, but perhaps their upper temperature limit is not helpful.
Thanks for all the great videos and knowledge you share. Something I’ve always wanted to do, but will never have the resources for, is to create a large laser diode . Sounds like a project that’d be right in your wheelhouse . Keep up the good work!
Next step: Remake your cookie mixture machine, but for glass mixtures, and use a neural network to optimize your batches.
As a glassblower, I knew most of the general information on handeling glass. Still, very interesting to see how difficult it is to get such a resipe right!
I feel your frustration. I did my master thesis in surface coating looking at vitreous enamels(glass on metal) and the best data I could get was a book from that was mostly written in 1930. And coming from a physics background the science being described is very hand wavy. Some recipes call for the addition of bone ash for crying out loud.
10:38 Now that's just devilish!
that's helluva temp
Reasons for watching Applied Science videos: 60% subject, 40% soothing voice
You are the biggest nerd on UA-cam. I love it!!
Andrew the cool kind too
this information in this video is extra satisfying after watching the king of random fail to make glass. he made a lot of ad revenue for zero effort compared to you which actually angers me with how incompetent he is.
Skinny McGee well said
It's more the schedule. He had a week tops with a few hours a day at most to work on the problem. In total he's probably put less than 2 weeks of actual useful time into the problem because he makes daily videos. If he had managed to make proper transparent glass I would have been immensely impressed. Going from no knowledge to clear glass in less than 2 weeks with minimal guidance would be ridiculous.
Teth47 don't defend that hack. Its no mystery as to why he tried it in the first place. He wasn't trying to learn anything.
I blocked King Of Douchebags.
Skinny McGee Dude. Get off you high horse. The king of random has his place, and it's kind of as an entertainer, like Bill Nye was back when he had his (good) show. On top of that, it was Cody's glass recipe.
Brother, congrats on reaching 400k subscribers.🎉🎊
Respect for sticking to the subject and coming up with a working batch.
I probably would have lost interest after realizing how many variables go into this.....
The blue glass is beautiful.
I would suggest pouring a refractory or jewlery/dental investment "crucible" which can be disolved in plaster remover (or water) after baking.
Also there are flourine/other based acids for etching off that "reaction layer."
Additionally recommended is the Air Force Dental Technology Crown & Bridge manual. It would have quite a bit of information on materials and techniques for molten glass.
Prosthetic eyes are also made by baking glass, I'd imagine a gov't manual or two is out there.
E-Max glass ingots and how that works is also worth checking out.
Cheers!
Really appreciate the effort you put into these.
Your videos far surpass all other science videos. Patreon, here I come!
Great source of info. I want to use a big fresnel lens to melt sand to make glass fiber. Then
go on to make fresnel lens with clear quarter inch glass rod coiled together.