What would cause a glass dish to explode in my hand?
I was preparing a Calzone had the whole thing ready to go in the over and wanted to put egg yolk on the top to glaze it. It was a custard size dish at room temp and I put an egg yolk mixed with fork and was spreading it with my fingers(could not find my brush) when the glass exploded all over in my hand. glass splattered all over the place and know there must have been an angel watching over me because I was not cut up at all. I was shook up and still shaken by it happening when I think of what could have happened. The glass was old but there were no cracks or visable damage to it.
Any ideas?
Mayumi
on February 8th, 2012
Been there, done that. I’m more careful now than to put my hot glass in a cold sink. But, unfortunately, as others have said, glass can shatter unexpectedly at any time due to stresses and damage you can’t see with the naked eye. Regarding the not getting cut, it must have been tempered glass (old pyrex glass is) like they use in car windows that shatter into tons of little bits everywhere. It’s engineered this way so it won’t cut you and most glass cookwear uses it, so you don’t have to worry about it happening again so long as you replace yours with a decent quality one.
BigBoy
on February 8th, 2012
the same thing happened to me with a light bulb, man did that hurt .. i guess squeezing a light bulb in ur hands is not such a good idea
Gothicbunny
on February 8th, 2012
was the calzone hot????
Kiss
on February 8th, 2012
It must have just been stressed to the point where that little bit of pressure was all it took. No heat at all?!
PassionForDance
on February 8th, 2012
Heat will stress glass and ceramics. If the glass had been in and out of the microwave or oven, or if it was OLD, all those factors could stress it and cause it to break. If the egg was COLD, then the chill of the egg could be the final stress on the glass….CRACK!
Xfactor
on February 8th, 2012
Merde! Since there was no extreme temp differences I can only think internal stress (or perhaps a poltergist) caused it. Glad you’re ok tho!
SimpleStripes
on February 8th, 2012
The same as metal fatigue.
It’s a tiny flaw in the material that can withstand stress and stress and more stre – OOPS!. It was mere coincidence that the dish exploded in your had. It could have done so sitting in the cupboard.
Sheepish
on February 8th, 2012
Sounds as if there were built up stress in the glass, even though you couldn’t see it. Bumps, temperature changes, imperfections, crystal matrix intrustions or just because could be the culprits. It is hard to tell, but glass dishes that I put into a hot oven for cooking I replace every few years (unless they break first). Just replace it and continue. Be sure to use only rated (intended to be used for cooking) glass ware for cooking.
Gideeup
on February 8th, 2012
If the glass was hot when you were adding the glaze, the change in temperature could have caused the glass to explode. This happened to me one time when I added some water to the bottom of the pan I was cooking something in.
Mary Chase
on February 3rd, 2012
I have had 2 sponteneous glass explosions happen to me. Once a wine glass exploded in my right hand during a dinner with friends at their house. It cut my wrist open and I had to get stitches and have my arm casted. On 12/26 I was holding a cream pitcher in my left hand and while wiping it off (nothing was hot/cold) it exploded and severed the nerve in my thumb. I have had microsurgery to repair the nerve.