I've noticed that almost every tube I've used, especially the straight tubes, always slightly lean, whether it's noticeable or not from a distance While this doesn't affect anything on the tube, my knowledge of glass being an extremely slow moving substance warrants me to believe that the slight lean of my tube will just become worse and worse over time, potentially making the tube too heavy at one angle and impossible to stand up straight Am I overreacting about these slight imperfections or does anyone else feel bothered by this?
My friend, Glass takes DECADES to move. The only glass i've seen that has warped is up at my cottage on the varanda. and that glass has be there for 30 odd years... Also given the tube shape of the structure, i dont think this is anything you will have to worry about for quite some time
I would have to say it doesn't move and it was made like that. Nothing's perfect but I wouldn't worry about your bong warping...
Glass is a semisolid but it takes years and years to make any noticible flow. If you where to come to some of the buildings in my neighborhood (some houses here are original 1860's!) that still have the majority of their original window panes, you would notice that they are thicker at the bottom and consequently rattle when the wind blows because they no longer fit the recess in the window frame. In terms of your bong, it hasnt changed shape since it was blown, unless its the oldest bong ever! -FreuderLocks (I am not bothered by leaning bongus unitoids, just broken or craptastic ones)
Contrary to popular belief, glass has ZERO viscosity. Absolutlely none. The real reason some older windows are thicker at the bottom is that until recently windows were hung vertically to cool down. That is when the bottom got bigger, when the glass was still fluid.
This. The reason old windows have slumping was due to their manufacturing process not anything to do with the glass itself slowly moving down. It would take thousands of years to do that.
"Estimates of the viscosity of glasses at room temperature run as high as 10 to the 20th power Scientists and engineers may argue about the exact value of that number, but it is doubtful that there is any real physical significance to a viscosity as great as that anyway. As for cathedral windows, it is hard to believe that anything that viscous is going to flow at all. It is worth noting, too, that at room temperature the viscosity of metallic lead has been estimated to be about 10 to the11th power, poises, that is, perhaps a billion times less viscous-or a billion times more fluid, if you prefer than glass. Presumably, then, the lead caming that holds stained glass pieces in place should have flowed a billion times more readily than the glass. While lead caming often bends and buckles under the enormous architectural stresses imposed on it, one never hears that the lead has flowed like a liquid." -Dr. Robert Brill, Corning Museum of Glass