[time-nuts] Glass is not a liquid but has some similar molecular similarities

[Michael Baker]

   Hello, Time Nuts--  For those of you following the
   thread on glass properties, see:
   Dual personality of glass explained at last
   Mike Baker
   -----------------------------------
   See the entire article at:
   [1]http://tinyurl.com/mqsrjo
   [2]http://www.newscientist.com/
       * 18:00 22 June 2008 by Colin Barras
   snip
   Although glass feels like a solid, its molecules cannot quite settle
   into a regular 3D lattice, instead taking on the disordered arrangement
   of a liquid. Quite why glass behaves like this has been unclear.
   snip
   This geometry is incapable of slotting together, or tessellating, to
   form the regular 3D lattice characteristic of a solid. But equally they
   cannot move around freely because they are larger than the original
   particles.
   snip
   Royall thinks that the molecules of real glass takes on the same
   icosahedral structure, leaving it unable to crystallise into a solid,
   but not free enough to have liquid-like properties.
   'Metallic glass'
   snip
   "For a long time, no-one has really shown what the structure of glass
   is," Royall says, "but we have been able to show how the structure of a
   glass differs from that of a liquid."

References

   1. http://tinyurl.com/mqsrjo
   2. http://www.newscientist.com/