Lead glass
Revision as of 13:25, 27 April 2013 by (username removed)
Description
Glass containing tetroxide lead oxide as one of its ingredients. Lead oxide acts as both a flux and a stabilizer typically replacing some of the calcium in a glass potash glass. Lead glass contains about 1835 mol% PbO, compared to modern glass lead crystal that contains a minimum of 24% lead oxide. The addition of lead oxide to glass increases the index refractive index (from about 1.5 to 1.7) giving the glass its optical brilliance. The earliest known example of lead glass is a blue glass fragment from Nippur dated to 1400 BC containing 3.66% PbO.
See also glass potash-lead glass and glass leaded glass.
Synonyms and Related Terms
litharge glass; verre au plomb (Fr.); vetro al piombo (It.); loodglas (Ned.); vidro de chumbo (Port.)