An Elementary Study of Chemistry

by William McPherson; William Edwards Henderson

These acids cannot be prepared in the pure state, but their salts form many of the crystalline rocks in nature. Feldspar, for example, has the formula KAlSi₃O₈, and is a mixed salt of the acid H₄Si₃O₈, whose formation is represented in the equation above. Kaolin has the formula Al₂Si₂O₇·2H₂O. Many other examples will be met in the study of the metals.

Glass. When sodium and calcium silicates, together with silicon dioxide, are heated to a very high temperature, the mixture slowly fuses to a transparent liquid, which on cooling passes into the solid called glass. Instead of starting with sodium and calcium silicates it is more convenient and economical to heat sodium carbonate (or sulphate) and lime with an excess of clean sand, the silicates being formed during the heating:

Na₂CO₃ + SiO₂ = Na₂SiO₃ + CO₂,

CaO + SiO₂ = CaSiO₃.

Fig. 74

The mixture is heated below the fusing point for some time, so that the escaping carbon dioxide may not spatter the hot liquid; the heat is then increased and the mixture kept in a state of fusion until all gases formed in the reaction have escaped.

Molding and blowing of glass. The way in which the melted mixture is handled in the glass factory depends upon the character of the article to be made. Many articles, such as bottles, are made by blowing the plastic glass into hollow molds of the desired shape. The mold is first opened, as shown in Fig. 74. A lump of plastic glass A on the hollow rod B is lowered into the mold, which is then closed by the handles C. By blowing into the tube the glass is blown into the shape of the mold. The mold is then opened and the bottle lifted out. The neck of the bottle must be cut off at the proper place and the sharp edges rounded off in a flame.

Other objects, such as lamp chimneys, are made by getting a lump of plastic glass on the end of a hollow iron rod and blowing it into the desired shape without the help of a mold, great skill being required in the manipulation of the glass. Window glass is made by blowing large hollow cylinders about 6 ft. long and 1-1/2 ft. in diameter. These are cut longitudinally, and are then placed in an oven and heated until they soften, when they are flattened out into plates (Fig. 75). Plate glass is cast into flat slabs, which are then ground and polished to perfectly plane surfaces.

Varieties of glass. The ingredients mentioned above make a soft, easily fusible glass. If potassium carbonate is substituted for the sodium carbonate, the glass is much harder and less easily fused; increasing the amount of sand has somewhat the same effect. Potassium glass is largely used in making chemical glassware, since it resists the action of reagents better than the softer sodium glass. If lead oxide is substituted for the whole or a part of the lime, the glass is very soft, but has a high index of refraction and is valuable for making optical instruments and artificial jewels.