Anybody ever experience a spontaneous glass explosion?

[moshquerade]

I remember having a glass beer mug sitting on a shelf that just shattered on its own, and with force. So last night, a red glass bulb ornament just exploded off the Christmas tree into about 20 pieces. It wasn't by anything hot or even warm either.

What is up with glass things blowing up like that? Manufacturing flaw?

 

[Anubis]

it blew up cause its too early to have a tree up and decorated

 

[moshquerade]

it blew up cause its too early to have a tree up and decorated

explain the beer mug then.

seriously, this bugs me... are the molecules too compacted or what? :sneaky:

(mosh rule: tree goes up weekend after Thanksgiving)

 

[rivan]

it blew up cause its too early to have a tree up and decorated

Imagine the devastation if she'd have set the tree up when Target started putting out Christmas stuff out, just after Halloween.

 

[amdhunter]

I hate glass ornaments. One put me in the hospital when it randomly shattered and put tiny powdery pieces of glass into my eye.

I'll never forget it. It would randomly sting me, and throw me completely off balance when I walked anywhere. Doctors told me to deal with it (after irrigation with a magnifying glass handy) and it'll eventually go away.

Took about 2 days and terrified the hell out of me. lol

 

[ElFenix]

Imagine the devastation if she'd have set the tree up when Target started putting out Christmas stuff out, just after Halloween.

 

[ShawnD1]

So last night, a red glass bulb ornament just exploded off the Christmas tree into about 20 pieces. It wasn't by anything hot or even warm either.

What is up with glass things blowing up like that? Manufacturing flaw?

Different expansion and contraction rates. If one part is heating faster than another, it creates awkward stresses on the glass which can sometimes cause it to break. The bulb is under vacuum so cracking the glass means the whole thing implodes.

I saw spontaneous glass breaking when I sprayed windex on a hot 100W light bulb. I was probably 10 at the time. The glass breaks because the glass tries to contract where the fine water droplets landed.

 

[moshquerade]

I hate glass ornaments. One put me in the hospital when it randomly shattered and put tiny powdery pieces of glass into my eye.

I'll never forget it. It would randomly sting me, and throw me completely off balance when I walked anywhere. Doctors told me to deal with it (after irrigation with a magnifying glass handy) and it'll eventually go away.

Took about 2 days and terrified the hell out of me. lol

So you were standing by the tree and the ornament just exploded?

 

[bobdole369]

Sudden heating/cooling is the likely culprit in all cases. Mayhaps you had just placed the beer mug into the cabinet after having been in the dishwasher? I've had a beer mug do exactly that. I noted with interest that it specifically said "not dishwasher safe" while I pulled it from the dishwasher, the temp change when it hit the relatively cool cupboard, caused it to shatter minutes later.

Maybe a light on the xmas tree has heated up the glass ornament?

I distinctly recall some idiot friends of mine attempt to build a bong out of a half-gallon Seagrams Gin bottle. They had far too small a blowtorch and they got the hole built, but the flame sputtered out well before it could be tempered properly (aka slowly removing heat) - and wham, that shattering glass could be heard through the whole house.

 

[Gibsons]

explain the beer mug then.

seriously, this bugs me... are the molecules too compacted or what? :sneaky:

(mosh rule: tree goes up weekend after Thanksgiving)

Maybe something like this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Rupert's_Drop

Usually takes something to set them off though.

 

[KMFJD]

I have had a 3/4 glass full of beer shatter onto my desk before, music was loud but definitly not loud enough to shatter a glass i would think...destroyed my g15 keyboard

 

[rpanic]

I had a set of glass cups about 4 of 12 exploded over a 6 month period after no issues the first year.

 

[amdhunter]

So you were standing by the tree and the ornament just exploded?

Putting them on the tree, and something made it shatter. I don't think it touched anything. I haven't been around glass balls since. I literally have a fear of them. :biggrin:

 

[Lifted]

The only thing these items have in common...

"Made in China"

Get off my grass!!!

 

[RedRooster]

I had my car window do that once, years ago. Just driving along, minding my own business, and all of a sudden the back side window just exploded. Scared the heck out of me, thought I got shot. I would've sworn it was one of the high school kids walking by, but none of them reacted to my menacing stares of accusation, so they must've been on the up and up.
Strangest thing I ever saw glass do.

 

[AreaCode707]

Husband took a pyrex baking dish from the oven once and a little while later started to wash it. That was a rather fantastic explosion, if I recall.

It was odd because it was cool enough for him to handle bare-handed so cold water shouldn't have been that much of an issue. I think it's something in how pyrex dishes are made, holds heat internally longer than you would figure or something.

 

[Saint Nick]

Baked something one evening...after cleaning the large glass bowl I used, I set it on the table.

While cleaning up the counters, the bowl all of a sudden exploded all over the kitchen. What a hell of a mess.

 

[SunnyD]

Yeah. All the time. Especially after I eat chili...








:hmm:






Oh wait... you said "spontanious GLASS explosion". Nevermind.

 

[Rubycon]

Yes. 16mm thick fire tempered windows explode with the fury of a grenade when they go. If that wakes you up from a good sleep you can even forget TGIF when putting on your shoes. (TGIF - Toes Go In First)

 

[highland145]

Husband took a pyrex baking dish from the oven once and a little while later started to wash it. That was a rather fantastic explosion, if I recall.

It was odd because it was cool enough for him to handle bare-handed so cold water shouldn't have been that much of an issue. I think it's something in how pyrex dishes are made, holds heat internally longer than you would figure or something.

Started to post similar. Old GF wanted to melt some butter. Put it in a pyrex dish on the stove burner. Impressive. No, I didn't eat her cooking and she didn't last long.

 

[Rubycon]

Cool trick!

Plug in a 100W or larger aquarium heater with the tube out of the water. Let it run a good while. If you turn out the lights you may even see the tube glowing a dull red. Those Visi-therm heaters are good candidates for this "experiment".

Now get a bucket of cold water. STOP! Unplug the heater NOW. Remember electric and water don't mix!

Step back and dump that water on the heater. Boom! That's pretty loud isn't it?

BTW if you actually do this you may want to consider wearing safety goggles and hearing protection.

 

[Homerboy]

How can you put up a real tree the day after Thanksgiving and have it survive until and past Christmas?

You dont use a FAKE tree do you?!?

 

[Glitchny]

I had my car window do that once, years ago. Just driving along, minding my own business, and all of a sudden the back side window just exploded. Scared the heck out of me, thought I got shot. I would've sworn it was one of the high school kids walking by, but none of them reacted to my menacing stares of accusation, so they must've been on the up and up.
Strangest thing I ever saw glass do.

I had this happen to me as well but it was the windshield. Had the defrost on as there was some ice/snow on the windshield and then there was a tremendous cracking sound that scared the shit outta me and then I noticed a crack in the glass across the bottom 3rd where the vents were blowing. Wasn't moving at the time so I knew nothing hit it, strangest thing.

 

[natto fire]

Started to post similar. Old GF wanted to melt some butter. Put it in a pyrex dish on the stove burner. Impressive. No, I didn't eat her cooking and she didn't last long.

I've seen the butter in pyrex explosion, on a gas range, pretty awesome indeed. My grandma has experienced a glass explosion while washing the shelves from a fridge. They were tempered so nothing dangerous, but it was definitely noisy.

 

[highland145]

How can you put up a real tree the day after Thanksgiving and have it survive until and past Christmas?

You dont use a FAKE tree do you?!?

Supposedly you can get them to live for up to 5 weeks with no special tricks. Just don't let them run out of water or the bottom will sap up. I've never been able to get them to live more that a couple of weeks.