h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hia - love your intro..........but without answering anymore complex questions..........yellow opaque sand is made into clear Glass by Fire.

Very simple really!

Any thoughts you have on the meaning of life would be most welcomed!

Ooh. I see

The meaning of life? Ummm.... er.... hrm..... eergh.....

...erm...

nope, nothing springs to mind. It has something to do with cabbages I'm sure, but there are more important things for us to occupy our minds with. Such as cheesecake.

Yes, cheescake is often overlooked.......I reckon crushed up gingernuts make the best base.

Glass from sand - Fire and a carefull mixture of local ingredients (from the beach) - Potash (from charcoal, seaweed, etc), Calcium Carbonate from crushed shells, and some seasalt.

All of these in addition to sand from the beach, and a great roaring fire will give you glass!!

I ought to draft a more concise version of this as an entry for H2G2..........Amazing stuff glass. Man's first 'synthetic' material. As in a 'synthesis' of earth materials to make a new synthetic.

It's also the new prosthetic material, having the same chemistry as our own bodies - it is'nt rejected like plastics are. And I'm told that muscle cells can 'adhere' to the glass prosthetic? impossible with plastics.

My own meaning of life would be to daily make such fires, and cook on them aswell! Rottiseried Cabbage....sounds plausible?!

The prosthetic thing sounds interesting, I'm assuming they use some sort of strengthened non-smashing glass Oooh and glass fibre is another fantastic material

I saw a really cool glass structure once, it was a kind of wiggly tube like a half-melted hollow candle... I thought it was some piece of modern art, but it was in fact the result of lightning striking a sandy beach

.........I'll bet their are some nice chunks of that material down in the science museum in londres?

I've got a good selection of volcanic glass. Havent melted any yet, too busy making from the packet stuff.

Got some gorgeous uranium stained stuff aswell - going to make a road out if it, when I've saved up enough dough.