Is all Science Conclusive?
Written by Michael Draper
While I am in favor of the IWCA and its Glass Committee doing glass research I do find some of its science and conclusions drawn to be premature at times.
For instance, the IWCA Glass Committee did a test to see whether they could replicate glass fines being fused to glass during the manufacturing process. The process was duplicated so far as heat of a tempering furnace in a kiln and then glass fines were placed on the hot glass surface. The fines were even sandwiched to try and replicate any force that might be present in the tempering furnace. What happened? The fines for the most part did not adhere to the glass and fell off the surface. Any of you who are following this will find this intriguing because if fines won’t adhere to the glass surface in the tempering process then the whole Fabricating Debris theory is in trouble.
Maybe you remember from your high school studies the scientific process. This test certainly asked a question, formed a hypothesis, did research, analyzed the results and it seems a preliminary conclusion has been found. However, a crucial piece in the analyzing the results was left out. It is hard to conclude that glass won’t adhere to itself when picture, like the one below, show a piece of glass that is indeed fused to glass. In the process, you can’t leave out the obvious known facts.
This picture was taken without microscope. It was visible to the naked eye. Now this would not be the size of what would be found in a tempering furnace. However, it does make one wonder how did it fuse to the glass? What happened in this scenario that doesn’t happen in the tempering furnace or the replicated experiment? Were temperatures off? Were conditions off? All of these things could be variables that need further testing before any conclusion could be drawn on this issue.
The IWCA Glass Committee has been made aware of this inquiry and at the time of the publishing of this issue of AWC response had not been received. It is the hope that they will respond and we at AWC will be happy to publish their response.
