Glass: Where It Came From and How Really Works

Nobody invented glass. Lightning did.Every time a bolt of lightning strikes a beach, it fuses the sand into a branching tube of glass - and it was doing that for millions of years before there was anyone around to be impressed by it.This is the story of what happened when one species got hold of it.How melted sand became a counterfeit gemstone for pharaohs. How a hollow pipe in Roman Syria turned a royal treasure into something you could buy for pocket change. How Venice moved every glassmaker in the republic onto a single island - and made leaving a crime punishable by death.And how somebody finally curved a piece of it, looked through, and found mountains on the Moon and thousands of living creatures swimming in a single drop of pond water.Along the way you'll find out: - Why old cathedral windows are not slowly melting - and what's really going on- Why a lollipop is technically glass, and a rock candy stick technically isn't- How a dropped flask in a Paris laboratory led to every windshield on Earth- Why your phone screen was soaked in molten salt for hours before it reached you- Why the internet isn't a cloud at all, but a rope of glass on the ocean floor- What's holding the most dangerous material humans have ever made - and why glass was the only thing we trusted with itPlus fourteen hands-on experiments - and not one of them uses a single piece of real glass. Trap a beam of light inside a stream of water. Build a working microscope out of a drop of water. Prove your touchscreen isn't feeling your finger at all. Every activity uses ordinary kitchen materials, and every one is safe.Written for curious readers ages 9-12, and for the adults who end up reading over their shoulder.From the author of Stoked, Soaked, and Scrubbed.