How long can a glass bottle exist in nature? Can it really exist for 2 million years?
Glass bottles are everywhere in our lives. If they are not broken or damaged by high temperature, they can be kept at home for a long time and passed down for one or two generations. But do you know that the actual storage time of glass bottles is much longer than we think?
There is a rumor that if a glass bottle is placed in nature, it is more difficult to degrade than plastic and can exist intact for at least 2 million years.
Is this true? Let's take a look at the raw materials and production methods of glass to see if it can withstand 2 million years of wind, sun and rain.
Why is glass so hard?
The main raw materials for making glass are usually a combination of various inorganic minerals, such as quartz sand, limestone, barite, feldspar, soda ash, etc. Most of these minerals contain a common component: silicon dioxide. Therefore, the main component of glass is also silicon dioxide, in addition to some other oxides.
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Glass is not easily damaged, mainly because of silicon dioxide. The melting point and boiling point of this substance are very high, 1723 degrees and 2230 degrees respectively. If it is not artificially heated in a special laboratory or factory, there is no such high temperature in nature or in ordinary people's homes.
Silicon dioxide also has several important characteristics: it is hard and brittle, colorless and transparent, and insoluble. Silicon dioxide is also used as the main raw material in optical instruments used in people's lives and scientific research.
Since complex optical instruments with extremely high requirements can be made, the quality of the glass produced must be beyond doubt.
But it is still a bit exaggerated that glass can last for 2 million years, because the earth's crust is always moving, and decades of seawater erosion can round the sharp edges of glass, not to mention the changes in 2 million years.
We are now in a relatively stable stage, and there have been no drastic changes. But think about it, the highest mountain on earth, Mount Everest, was once a vast ocean. What else can't the earth do?