URBAN LEGEND ALERT

Glass actually isn't fluid, it is an amorphous solid, which is very different. It is not crystalline, but it is most definitely not liquid. Also, I've managed to balance eggs about 3 or 4 times before - take your time, and eventually, it will work (unless you shake a lot - my mom has never balanced one in her life, though not for lack of trying. She shakes too much)

Very true. They've also been able to create a form of tungsten that exhibits the same properties:

http://www.liquidmetal.com/

Unfortunately their name propagates the myth.

Oh, and welcome to the board!

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but not that very different. It's just a matter of viscosity--glass has a lot higher viscosity than it would have if the legends about flowing windows were true.

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I just bought a half dozen.

Well, there in the fridge, until I eat them or prep them for stardom. :wink:

I have done it too! Just yesterday! I am proud.

And the said egg has been offered the honor of being my dinner right after I immortalized this. :P

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Well, yes, if you mean that it's viscosity is infinite. It doesn't flow. No matter how much time you give it, it still behaves like a solid (because it is one). There is a perfectly logical explanation for old windows having thicker bottoms - quality control. The glass was not made as perfectly as today - the thickness varied quite a bit. As a result, most pieces cut for windows had a thicker side. Now, if you were cutting windows of varying thickness, which way would you orient the thick side? The bottom, of course. It's that simple.

I am definitely not arguing on the side of gl*ss fl*ws
But solids can flow.
Agreed--but that's why I called it a legend

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Could you please give an example of a solid that could flow? I was under the impression that no solid could flow, but I would be very interested in one that could. Thanks.

Chris

The mantle of the earth is solid but flows over geologic time frames. Convection in the mantle almost certainly drives plate tectonics, and such movement can amount to tens of centimeters per year.

Of course, that requires great stress and heat--the definition of liquid is usually that the flow will occur under small stress. The viscosity of the mantle is extremely high, but it is not infinite.

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OK, now I see what you're talking about. The mantle is sort of an in between case.

Ductile metals can flow if enough pressure is put on them, even when they are solid.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009

Egg balancing can be done on any day of the year. I should know. I hold the world record! We set it on March 15, 2003, a week before the equinox. (Actually, the easiest time I've ever had balancing several eggs quickly was in late October.) Now I'm being flown to Australia to break my own world record! Anyway, I just wanted to put in my two cents about egg balancing.

Brian

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You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Show off [-X

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Jealous ...

J/K ....

:P

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Really!

We have a world record show running atm- are you going to be on that?

If so- good luck!

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If this writing is blue you're going too fast!

Hopefully so. There was a camera crew there from Granada, the production company for the Guinness World Records show down under. So if all goes well, I should be on some time soon. In the meantime, here's a link to a video clip of the news story in Colorado featuring my record attempts.

http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?O...7-c589c01ca7bf

Brian - The Eggbalancer

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You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.