Acrylics, ETFE, PMME, Plexiglas, and quartz crystal are more transparent than glass due to their molecular arrangement and chemical nature. Transparency can be achieved by preventing crystalline structure formation. Scientists have created transparent aluminum for potential use in building materials.
There are several known substances that are more transparent than glass. Best known are the clear acrylics, used by the geodesic domes in the windows of a hockey game, used to keep fans from being nailed by the puck. ETFE (ethyl tetrafluoroethylene), PMME (polymethyl methacrylate), and Plexiglas are all significantly more transparent than glass. They are also more chemically resistant and can be over a foot thick and transmit all light that passes through them. Due to minute imperfections in the atomic arrangement and physical limitations, nothing is perfectly transparent except a perfect vacuum, but some materials certainly appear to come close. Pure quartz crystal is another material that is more transparent than glass.
To understand how something can be more transparent than glass, you need to understand what the transparency depends on. Typically, it is the randomness in the molecular arrangement, but the chemical nature of the material is also important. Randomly oriented molecules, such as those seen in liquids and gases, are poorly coordinated with each other and are not bonded to each other except through the relatively weak van der Waals force. This allows many small holes for light to pass through. Conversely, diamonds are also quite transparent, for the largest known portion of the electromagnetic spectrum for any material, but have a very regular and closely related chemical structure. They are transparent because the electron orbitals of carbon atoms in diamond are “borderline” – they cannot absorb photons well, preferring to let them through.
Transparency can usually be achieved by heating something until it melts, then cooling it very quickly. Rapid cooling prevents the material from orienting itself in a crystalline structure, making the relationships between molecules random. This can also be done with organic materials, such as candy, by making it transparent. Surprisingly, scientists have also recently created a transparent form of aluminum that could be used as a building material in the near future. The glass is not as transparent as it is cracked.
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