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Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
From: ctf2m@kelvin.seas.Virginia.EDU (Chris Fishel)
Subject: "Glass flows" debunked in C&EN
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 1995 03:32:22 GMT

The "Newscripts" section in the Oct. 16, 1995, issue of _Chemical and Engineering News_ includes a bit about the claim that glass flows over long periods of time. Stephen Hawkes of Oregon reports on a lecture by Peter Gibson about his work with medieval stained-glass windows at the International Conferenceon Industry-Education Initiatives, held Aug. 29-Sept. 2 in York England: "Evidence for flowing glass includes very old windows that are thicker at the bottom than the top. When this point was raised with Gibson, Hawkes writes, he said that 'in a lifetime of dismantling medieval glass [windows] he had seen hundreds of pieces that were thicker at the top.'"

They also note that the argument that uneven glass panes result from older manufacturing processes is supported by the conservators at the colonial restorations at Williamsburg, Va., and Sturbridge, Mass.

The glass flow question had also been dealt with in _C&EN_ Feb. 26, 1990, p. 168. THat article included the following: "Stories are told of glasses flowing under their own weight: of ancient windowpanes that are thicker at the bottom; of glass that has sagged in storage. These observations must find other explanations, because glasses of commercially useful compositions are in fact rigid solids at ordinary temperatures."

Chris "[Middle name construction area. Watch for falling quips]" Fishel