The 5 step process of making glass from sand has been illustrated.
Step 1
Four ingredients are shown: Cullet (waste glass), Lime (calcium oxide), Soda ash (sodium carbonate), and Sand (silicon dioxide).
The text next to the image of these four ingredients is titled ‘Adding the raw ingredients’ and reads as follows:
Sand, lime, and soda ash are poured into the furnace and heated to 1500 degree Celsius or 2730 degree Fahrenheit. Recycled waste glass, called cullet, is also added, to reduce the cost of raw materials.
Step 2
The text is titled ‘Heating in the furnace’ and reads as follows:
The furnace heats the ingredients, producing liquid glass at 1100 degree Celsius or 2010 degree Fahrenheit. Rollers move the hot and molten glass to the next stage.
Step 3
The text is titled ‘Liquid glass’ and reads as follows:
The glass is floated over a bath of melted tin. The glass emerges at 600 degree Celsius or 1100 degree Fahrenheit as continuous sheet with the same thickness throughout.
Step 4
The text is titled ‘Cooling the glass’ and reads as follows:
The glass is cooled slowly in a temperature-controlled oven to keep it from cracking.
Step 5
The text is titled ‘Cutting the glass A’ and reads as follows:
Diamond-tipped cutter is used to cut the cooled glass.
The labels in the image are:
- Furnace
- Rollers
- Melted tin: Floating the glass on liquid tin produces a glass surface that is as smooth as the surface of the liquid tin.
- Oven
- Glass cutter
Another image of making bottles is shown and the text under it reads as follows:
Mass-produced glass bottles are made by adding hot glass to a mold and shaping the glass with air at high pressure.
The labels for the process are:
- Hot glass is placed in the mold
- Air pushes the glass to the bottom of the mold, where the neck of the bottle will form.
- Air tube
- Mold sealed
- Air blown through the air tube forces the liquid glass to assume the shape of the bottle mol.