[Serious] How can a glass shower pane shatter by itself?
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Tempered glass, the type which is used for stuff like shower screens or car windows is under constant tension against itself. The inside of the glass wants to be bigger than the outside. Normally this makes it harder to break as the bonds on the outside are so strong and uniform they prevent it from bending or shearing as easily as normal glass.
The problem is that if you manage to break those bonds, the outside can very rapidly tear itself apart as it finds a way to relieve that tension. It basically pops like a balloon. The reason it breaks into small pieces is because anything bigger is still under tension and once the surface is damaged the crack will spread to ease it.
So your glass could have had a defect or damage which broke a few of those bonds, and heat cycles eventually pushed it to break the next bond along and start a chain reaction which destroyed the whole thing.
So you don't have to whack a car window hard with the spark plug? You only need to scratch at it a lil bit?
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So you don't have to whack a car window hard with the spark plug? You only need to scratch at it a lil bit?
You smash the spark plug, and toss the shards at the window. After that, the window is easy to shatter.
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Basically I have a shower with a big glass pane and I was in bed and heard a massive crash and went to look thinking someone might be breaking in but no the shower glass pane shattered itself and nothing can fall on it or anything. So I’m so confused. Any ideas?
And before anyone jumps to anything paranormal I’m sceptical of that type of stuff.
My tempered glass blew apart while I was driving. Manufacturing defect. A woman had the same problem the same week (2015 glass, around 2019).
It was insanely loud. Like a shotgun going off by your head.
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Basically I have a shower with a big glass pane and I was in bed and heard a massive crash and went to look thinking someone might be breaking in but no the shower glass pane shattered itself and nothing can fall on it or anything. So I’m so confused. Any ideas?
And before anyone jumps to anything paranormal I’m sceptical of that type of stuff.
Seems like you got your answer, but I’d also like to say sorry that your shower broke! I’m sure it was nasty to clean up and now it has to be replaced which is likely either an unexpected cost or your landlord’s problem, in which case I hope you have a responsive landlord.
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Basically I have a shower with a big glass pane and I was in bed and heard a massive crash and went to look thinking someone might be breaking in but no the shower glass pane shattered itself and nothing can fall on it or anything. So I’m so confused. Any ideas?
And before anyone jumps to anything paranormal I’m sceptical of that type of stuff.
Ha ! That happened to me last year actually. Showered in the morning everything was fine. Came back from work to the thing in pieces on my floor. It can happen with tempered glass due to manufacturing defects. I think what actually triggers it to break apart isn't even well understood. And good luck explaining that shit to your landlord because it's pretty rare.
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Basically I have a shower with a big glass pane and I was in bed and heard a massive crash and went to look thinking someone might be breaking in but no the shower glass pane shattered itself and nothing can fall on it or anything. So I’m so confused. Any ideas?
And before anyone jumps to anything paranormal I’m sceptical of that type of stuff.
This can happen if you tighten any screws/knuts that hold it in place too much. It creates enough stress that when there is enough of a temperature change, the weakeness presented by the fixture can cause it to shatter.
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Ha ! That happened to me last year actually. Showered in the morning everything was fine. Came back from work to the thing in pieces on my floor. It can happen with tempered glass due to manufacturing defects. I think what actually triggers it to break apart isn't even well understood. And good luck explaining that shit to your landlord because it's pretty rare.
we own the house, we had to explain it to the person that fitted the shower and bathroom. Which luckily they understood because it’d happened before to another of their customers and they sorted the issue out for free.
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Seems like you got your answer, but I’d also like to say sorry that your shower broke! I’m sure it was nasty to clean up and now it has to be replaced which is likely either an unexpected cost or your landlord’s problem, in which case I hope you have a responsive landlord.
I appreciate it and we own the house, so we had to explain it directly to the person who fitted the bathroom with the shower and what not, they understood the suturing they cleared it up for free but we decided to not have another glass pane fitted and instead use a shower curtain
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My tempered glass blew apart while I was driving. Manufacturing defect. A woman had the same problem the same week (2015 glass, around 2019).
It was insanely loud. Like a shotgun going off by your head.
Very loud especially when it’s nighttime and everyone is in bed and it’s quiet, like I literally went into defence mode thinking there was someone breaking in through a window or something lol
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So you don't have to whack a car window hard with the spark plug? You only need to scratch at it a lil bit?
The spark plug example is popular because presumably you find both old sparkplugs and spare car windows at junk yards. What it really is that the ceramic that they're made out of hard and sharp enough when broken to damage the surface of the glass which causes the chain reaction.
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