DOI: 10.1119/1.19026. Do cathedral glasses flow?

10.1119/1.19026

Crossref journal-article

American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT)

American Journal of Physics (3)

Abstract

A general belief among members of the scientific community is that glass articles can be bent irreversibly and that they flow at ambient temperature. This myth is mostly based on widespread stories that stained-glass windows of medieval cathedrals are thicker in the lower parts. In this paper I estimate the time periods required for glass to flow and deform at ordinary temperatures, using calculated viscosity curves for several modern and ancient glass compositions. The conclusion is that window glasses may flow at ambient temperature only over incredibly long times, which exceed the limits of human history.

Bibliography

Zanotto, E. D. (1998). Do cathedral glasses flow? American Journal of Physics, 66(5), 392â395.

Authors 1

Edgar Dutra Zanotto (first)

References 0 Referenced 68

None

Dates

Type	When
Created	19 years, 11 months ago (Sept. 12, 2005, 3:42 p.m.)
Deposited	2 years ago (Aug. 6, 2023, 10:31 p.m.)
Indexed	2 weeks, 1 day ago (Aug. 6, 2025, 9:01 a.m.)
Issued	27 years, 3 months ago (May 1, 1998)
Published	27 years, 3 months ago (May 1, 1998)
Published Print	27 years, 3 months ago (May 1, 1998)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{Zanotto_1998, title={Do cathedral glasses flow?}, volume={66}, ISSN={1943-2909}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.19026}, DOI={10.1119/1.19026}, number={5}, journal={American Journal of Physics}, publisher={American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT)}, author={Zanotto, Edgar Dutra}, year={1998}, month=may, pages={392–395} }

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