Aleš Lombergar

Soda glass has been made for ages, the advantage being that it can be melted at lower temperatures than pure silica (SiO2) would require. If you melt pure silica sand, you will get a high quality product, but the melting point is near 2000C. Soda glass melts nearer to 1000C.

Soda glass is inferior for many applications, since the soda tends to make it more water soluble. Still, it is used a lot in
mass produced glassware products, artistic glassware, and the like. It is favored because of its ease of manufacture and forming, and because it is adequate to many purposes.

If calcium and/or magnesium is added to the soda glass, its properties can be improved substantially, and it is still easy to handle.

If you melt silica with quite a bit more soda (Sodium carbonate) than is used to make soda glass , you will form a compound commonly called ‘water glass’.

Water glass, or sodium silicate, is totally soluble in water and has many different chemical applications.

materials) Glass made by fusion of sand with sodium carbonate, or sodium sulfate and lime, or limestone; used for window glass.

It is the cheapest & the most common form of glass.It is prepared by fusing soda ash,sand,limestone.It is also called soft glass.It fuses at comparatively low temp. The major disadvantage of using this glass is that it is brittle and breaks easily.It cracks when subjected to sudden changes of temp.Soda glass is used for manufacture of window glass,mirrors,common glassware,etc.It is easily attacted by chemicals.