Electricity can turn concrete into glass

2009.05.07

Electricity can turn concrete into glass

A loud explosion shook my house this morning. I ran to the window expecting to see a house in mid-air. It turns out that a switch on a hydro pole about 100 feet from our house failed and caused an explosion. The energy of the explosion blew the pole apart several feet from the top. While the broken piece was suspended by some of the hydro wires, one broken line lay across a nearby intersection, the two ends sizzling away from each other. After the power was restored and the mess cleaned up I checked out the sidewalk and saw the effects of high-energy electricity: it will turn concrete into glass.

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electricity, explosion, fire, hdyro, video

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Mark

Thanks, Reuben. My surprise was about how much energy was involved that it carved the sidewalk and turn it to glass.

Reuben Brasloff

Excellent video.....but nothing unuusual about the high heat of an electric arc turning concrete into glass. It was actually the sand in the concrete mix which fused into glass.
Glass is esentially silicon (sand) subjected to very high heat. The forces of nature in another context

John Meadows

I'm glad no one was hurt!

Karen

Hey, Mark --
I was out and about in the couple of hours prior to the explosion, and noticed a very strong odour of burning wood. In fact, I though either Kettleman's was on fire, or someone had put in a new wood-burning stove. I now suspect it was the pole, smouldering before the actual explosion.
Weird, huh?
Love your coverage...
Karen

Terry

That is completely amazing and scary at the same time.

Mark

Remind me to tell you the story about the time the squirrel short circuited the fuse for the transformer box across the street from our house on a quiet Sunday morning.

Bob LeDrew

Ho.

Lee.

Shit.

Something similar -- but much less dramatic -- happened once when I was working at home. Rather than concrete-glass, the transformation was squirrel-charcoal. Of course, the squirrel probably found it much MORE dramatic.