Science of Materials - Glass KS2

Glass is hard, waterproof and usually transparent, making glass ideal for windows!
What else can glass be used for?

Translucent means that you can see some light passing through an object, but not clearly, like these translucent jellyfish.

Glass is brittle, which means it breaks into pieces if it hits something.
Can you think of any other brittle materials?

Light travels in straight lines. This is why we have shadows, as light can't travel round corners or pass through solid, opaque objects.

All glass is recyclable. It takes much more energy to make new glass than to recycle glass.

First the glass is collected by your local council recycling service, then it is sorted from other materials and sent to a glass recycling plant. There it is chipped up into glass fragments called cullet, sorted using light into different colours and then sent off to be melted and formed into new bottles or jars.

Even better than recycling glass is reusing it first. Maybe you could use it as storage, or make jam or chutney and put it in old jars. Glass can be upcycled into lovely chandelier style lampshades or pretty vases. The ideas are as endless and creative as your imagination!