[Tresa Paul]

Name the solid that breaks easily?

[Curlyben]

ICE is a good one for starters

[Capuchin]

Balsa wood? Paper? Bread? I'm not sure why you can't think of a few yourself.

Also why is this in astronomy?

Also you'll have to define what kind of breaking you mean, Different materials are vulnarable to puncture, tearing, slicing, shearing, etc. For example, clingfilm is strong when stretched, but is easily sheared.

[Stratmando]

Hey you forgot glass and spaghetti, I think that's about it.

[Lowtax4eva]

Very small rocks?

[masterhybrid]

Ashes?

[gallivant_fellow]

Hey you forgot glass and spaghetti, I think thats about it.

Glass is technically a liquid, or at the very least an amorphous solid.

[Capuchin]

Glass is technically a liquid, or at the very least an amorphous solid.

So... it's a solid then..

[iAMfromHuntersBar]

So... it's a solid then..?

Ha ha ha, damn you make me laugh sometimes!


How about Wensledale Cheese? That breaks easily?

[firmbeliever]

Are fruits and veggies considered solids? Or not?

[Capuchin]

It's hard to characterise, most fruits and veg are mainly liquid, but the liquid is locked up in cells and other structures, it's not a single substance that's easy to characterise.

[firmbeliever]

It's hard to characterise, most fruits and veg are mainly liquid, but the liquid is locked up in cells and other structures, it's not a single substance that's easy to characterise.

When we introduce babies to these foods they are catagorised as solids, so I just wondered.:p
Thanks for the explanation.

[Capuchin]

Chemically, they are a mishmash. In common language, they are solid because you don't have to keep it in a pot :)

[gallivant_fellow]

So... it's a solid then..?

No, it's closer to a liquid than a solid. Some call it a liquid and some call it an amorphous solid. The term amorphous solid doesn't make too much sense though because it's referring to it as a type of solid.

Something to do: If you ever go in a really old house with the original windows, look at how the windows are thicker at the bottom from the glass drooping.

[Capuchin]

No, it's closer to a liquid than a solid. Some call it a liquid and some call it an amorphous solid. The term amorphous solid doesn't make too much sense though because it's referring to it as a type of solid.

Something to do: If you ever go in a really old house with the original windows, look at how the windows are thicker at the bottom from the glass drooping.

That's due to the way that glass used to be made in olden days. The glass would be prepared in a disc and would be thicker in some places than in others.

When mounting the glass, they would be mounted with the thicker piece at the bottom because that's more stable.

The relaxation time for glass at room temperature is predicted to be years. That's billions of billions times age of the universe. It's a solid for any time scale we could ever use it for.

If the glass did "flow" over time, this would be observable in a matter of days in telescope lenses as a change in optical quality. But this isn't observed.

[gallivant_fellow]

That's interesting. I've heard a lot of theories, but I believed the one I heard in my recent science class. My teacher told me it and it was even in the book. I guess that they were both wrong though (no sarcasm).