Cutting Glass Bottle with Electricity
Performing an experiment in a laboratory, it became necessary to have some apparatus which we did not possess at the time. A bell jar could have been used, but this we did not have, and as a substitute we used a large glass bottle, 8 in. in diameter, with the bottom removed. In order to do this, we first made a mark around the outside of the bottle near the bottom with a glass cutter. A piece of copper wire, ¹⁄₃₂ in. in diameter, was then wound around the outside on the mark and connected to the circuit.
As the wire would expand enough to make it slip off the bottle when heated red-hot, pliers were used to keep it taut about the bottle when the current was turned on. A current of 110 volts and 5 amperes was run through the wire, heating it red-hot, and this cracked the glass exactly on the line marked by the glass cutter.—Contributed by R. E. Hollis, Chicago, Ill.