

GPASS PLATES BAD WINDOWS
Tempered glass is often referred to as “safety glass” because when it does break, it crumbles into relatively dull cube-shaped pieces rather than long, thin shards-this is why tempered glass is also used for passenger-car windows and shower doors. “But they can’t as long as they’re balanced by compression on the outside.” That balance makes the glass more resistant to breaking if you drop it and more resistant to thermal shock, which is why it makes an excellent choice for tableware (our top-pick drinking glasses are tempered) and works well for bakeware. “The atoms in there are stressed and they’re trying to pull themselves apart,” explained Jane Cook, PhD, the former chief scientist at the Corning Museum of Glass. As the inside cools, it pulls at the stiff, compressed outer layer, which puts the center of the glass in tension. During that heat-tempering process, the exterior of the glass is force-cooled so that it solidifies quickly, leaving the center to cool more slowly. Tempered glass is soda-lime glass that has been heat-treated for durability.
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This shock causes different parts of the glass to expand at different rates and often crack from stress, making soda-lime glass a poor candidate for bakeware.Īn untempered soda-lime glass shattered after tumbling off a 3-foot-high counter onto a marble slab. It’s also more susceptible to breaking from thermal shock (sudden or extreme changes in temperature, such as what happens when you pour a hot liquid into a cold glass). Untreated soda-lime glass is far more likely than the others to break from a tumble off your table.

It’s the most common-used for everything from drinking glasses to pickle jars-because it’s versatile and inexpensive to produce. Let’s start with the basic soda-lime glass. And for each, you have three things to consider: Will it break easily if dropped? Will it break if heated or cooled? What does it look like when it breaks? Three basic types of glassware are typically found in most home kitchens: soda-lime, tempered, and borosilicate.

When tempered glass-which is what most glass Pyrex bakeware is made of-breaks unexpectedly, it can be pretty shocking and potentially dangerous (not to mention frustrating when it ruins your Thanksgiving pie). These tales crop up regularly in Amazon reviews and news reports, such as this 2010 investigation by Consumer Reports. You may have heard dramatic stories about Pyrex bakeware “exploding” or shattering seemingly out of nowhere.
