Glass Spheres (large)

This collection of sizeable transparent glass spheres are made from soda-lime glass, familiar to us as the glass used for drinking vessels, bottles and windows. It is reusable and recyclable.

This is a ‘soft’ glass that can be distinguished from harder glass types by the little chips on the surface, where the balls have struck each other. In science, glass has a much broader definition than this transparent substance, referring to any solid which has a non-crystalline or amorphous inner structure. It is a myth that glass is always liquid, it only really becomes a liquid when heated at 550°C, and is fully liquid at around 1000°C.

Industrially produced glass spheres are known as ballotini, whose main applications include reflective filler for road-marking paint, shot blasting, and metal polishing. However, these spheres are most familiar to us as glass marbles, which are used in various traditional games, played in different ways throughout the world. Most modern marbles not used in industry are now manufactured in developing countries. For example, Vacor de Mexico, located in Guadalajara, produces about 12 million marbles a day, which are then shipped to 35 different countries.