Even glass elephants can danceBy Gavin ChaitThe annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegasis known for its high-tech electronics and youthful start-upsshaking <strong>the</strong> world.CES has been <strong>the</strong> launch-pad for <strong>the</strong> original video cassetterecorder in 1970, <strong>the</strong> camcorder CD player in 1981, <strong>the</strong> Nintendogame system in 1985, Tetris in 1988 and DVDs in 1996. It’s quitean illustrious place.This year one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> most popular stands belonged to Corning. Youknow, Corning, <strong>the</strong> 150-year-old company famous for making Pyrexcookware? Except, while you weren’t paying attention, glass hasbecome one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> most sophisticated and innovative products in <strong>the</strong>tech industry.Forget fibre-optics. Think booming smartphone sales. Corning’sGorilla Glass is becoming <strong>the</strong> standard for both capacitive andresistive touch screens and is behind <strong>the</strong> beautiful finish on Apple’siPhone.Gorilla Glass is used in 150 different products on <strong>the</strong> market today- phones, tablets and laptop screens. Over 200 million devices withGorilla Glass have sold and after just three years it has 20 percent<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> phone market. In 2010, it sold $400 million <strong>of</strong> product andexpects to double that in <strong>2011</strong>.Gorilla Glass’ success will see it used in new flat-screen televisionsand in cars. The glass’ strength allows it to be thinner and lighter,making it optimal for super-sized televisions and low-weight, batterypoweredelectric cars.Corning isn’t even amongst <strong>the</strong> giants <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> global glass-makingfraternity. Asahi, <strong>the</strong> Japanese behemoth, has decided to enter <strong>the</strong>fray with its new Dragontrail glass and is hoping to have sales <strong>of</strong> $350million by <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> 2012.Traditional blown glass in a bazaar.Glass-making, though, is old.“The tradition is that a merchant ship laden with nitrum beingmoored at this place, <strong>the</strong> merchants were preparing <strong>the</strong>ir meal on <strong>the</strong>beach, and not having stones to prop up <strong>the</strong>ir pots, <strong>the</strong>y used lumps<strong>of</strong> nitrum from <strong>the</strong> ship, which fused and mixed with <strong>the</strong> sands <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>shore, and <strong>the</strong>re flowed streams <strong>of</strong> a new translucent liquid, and thuswas <strong>the</strong> origin <strong>of</strong> glass.”So wrote Pliny <strong>the</strong> Elder, in around 50 AD <strong>of</strong> glass-making, <strong>the</strong>nalready an industrial process more than 1 500 years old. Glass was<strong>the</strong> plastic <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Roman era, used in stately homes for windows andin making bottles and jars.In around 100 AD, Jewish glass blowers in Alexandria discovered aprocess for creating clear glass by adding manganese oxide to <strong>the</strong> mix.Soon <strong>the</strong> most luxurious villas in Herculaneum and Pompeii were notconsidered complete unless <strong>the</strong>y had <strong>the</strong> new clear glass windows.This glass still had poor optical qualities, being thick and cloudy dueto <strong>the</strong> lower heat used in <strong>the</strong> processing.In China, owing to <strong>the</strong> success <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir porcelain-making industries,glass was comparatively undeveloped. This even had an impact onChina as a seat <strong>of</strong> learning.Euclid, who lived from 325 BC to 265 BC, developed some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>first ma<strong>the</strong>matical <strong>the</strong>ories <strong>of</strong> optics. “Things seen under a greaterangle appear greater, and those under a lesser angle less, while thoseunder equal angles appear equal,” he wrote. Ibn al-Haytham, wholived near present-day Basra, Iraq in <strong>the</strong> 9th century, produced hisBook <strong>of</strong> Optics, which was influential in much European opticaldevelopment. Francis Bacon used glass spheres as magnifying lensesto help people to read. Salvino D’Armate, an Italian, developed <strong>the</strong>first wearable eye glasses in 1284.From that moment <strong>the</strong> productive life-span <strong>of</strong> a scholar dramaticallyimproved. Since this innovation relied on supreme glass-making skillsit favoured European intellectual and cultural development.The first windows were made from crown glass, a process in whichglass was blown, <strong>the</strong>n opened up and flattened onto a metal platebefore being spun. You can still see such windows in old Europeanhouses where <strong>the</strong> panes look no different from <strong>the</strong> bottom <strong>of</strong> bottles.It was invented by <strong>the</strong> French in <strong>the</strong> 1320s. The process was improvedby swinging <strong>the</strong> blown glass to create cylinders which were <strong>the</strong>n cutopen and rolled flat.During this process <strong>of</strong> swinging, <strong>the</strong> glass at <strong>the</strong> distal end wouldbecome slightly thicker. Glaziers would place <strong>the</strong> panes into windowframesthicker-side down for stability and to prevent water pooling at<strong>the</strong> base. This has led to <strong>the</strong> misconception that glass is a liquid and‘flows’ downwards over time. Glass is an amorphous solid, not a liquid.As you can imagine, this glass had little in common with <strong>the</strong> glassnow found in even <strong>the</strong> most modest <strong>of</strong> homes. That required arevolution in production.4