The AFU and Urban Legend Archive
Science
Glass Flow
 angell letter




From: jdb@condor.cchem.berkeley.edu (Justin D. Bukowski)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Old Windows
Date: 9 May 1996 20:59:34 GMT

In article <4msqsj$l5u@panix.com>, Ian A. York <iayork@panix.com> wrote:

>One piece of info that doesn't seem to be archived is Justin Bukowski's
>letter and reply, from last year, to and from (respectively) the real
>expert who had written the major review of glasses in Science. This
>letter explicitly says that glass is not a liquid.

Sure, take me away from my work. C. Austin Angell wrote a review article for _Science_ in 1995.

My question:

Prof. Angell,
I'm a student at UC Berkeley and I have a short question regarding your review article last March in _Science_ on glasses.

The question is really a matter of definition, but I thought your familiarity with the subject would give you a broad view. You write in the opening sentence of your article, "Glass, in the popular and basically correct conception, is a liquid that has lost its ability to flow." My question is simply, in the scientific sense, are glasses solids or liquids or something else?

His response:
Dear Justin,
Thanks for your enquiry. My answer: glasses are definitively solids - but non-crystalline solids. I hope you got something out of the article, as it took such a lot of work trying to get it all together in the right shape.

Justin "I hope Medline Boy is happy now" Bukowski


Any proceeds (net proceeds from merchandise sales) from TAFKAC solely benefit The Chuck Reed Fund.

Copyright Information

http://tafkac.org/