My Pyrex exploded

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TexanFrench said:

Wow, I couldn't believe what I was reading. I only have one pyrex pie plate but I have many other glass baking dishes. My liquid measuring cup is Tupperware. My microwave steamer is also Tupperware. (no problem with those)

Back to topic: I have a set of white dinner dishes that were given to me. I assume that they are not very expensive because they do not have anything printed on the bottom. They are not stoneware. Like a lot of people, I put them in the microwave. You can see defective cracks in the inside of the plates now. I guess the shiney glaze coating keeps it from breaking.

Along with these dishes was a set of clear drinking glasses with a flowered border on the top. I have never used them in the microwave but I have put them through the dishwasher a few jillion times. You cannot see any defective cracking in clear glass I guess. I had one to pop in the dishwasher but I didn't think anything of it. I also had one to pop when I was doing dishes in the sink. They're cheap so I didn't think anything about it. But when I found one on the counter that had popped, I thought it a bit unusual. I wasn't around when it happened and I found glass across the room from the counter.

With so much new technology in our homes, I wonder if the frequency signals that we use are causing the damage? (like a silent dog whistle, cannot be heard but sends out a vibration...as an example). Do you think a cell phone signal etc could cause this kind of problem?

I think I will avoid glass elevators for a while.
 
Before everyone goes any further, I would like to put the brakes on this issue and slow things down a bit. Yes, there have been some problems with Pyrex products. This is true of nearly any consumer product. Teflon, etc. And, yes, there is possibly a difference in their production techniques for the newer Pyrex items. Okay. Now...let's look at its history.

Most of the bakeware/cookware made by the Pyrex folks is dependable. There are going to be some oddities from time to time. I experienced one about 27 years ago when I removed a 9- x 13-inch baking dish with a whole chicken in it from my oven. I put the dish on top of the units of the stove to rest. "Boom." Everything was in pieces.

Buck and I examined the situation and decided that when I put the casserole dish onto the top of the stove the temprature difference was too much for the glass. Simple science. I've since learned from those folks who know at Pyrex that that was probably what happened.

I've never shied away from using my Pryrex dishes/casseroles/cups, etc. I've simply learned that sometimes I need to pay a little attention to what I was taught in science class.

What I am really trying to say is that we need to take into account that there are flaws in ALL manufactured products. In the meantime, I'm still lovin' my vast collection of Pyrexware. Bake and cook on, dudes and dudettes!
 
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Back to topic: I have a set of white dinner dishes that were given to me. I assume that they are not very expensive because they do not have anything printed on the bottom. They are not stoneware. Like a lot of people, I put them in the microwave. You can see defective cracks in the inside of the plates now. I guess the shiney glaze coating keeps it from breaking.

Are you heating this with nothing in it--not a good thing to do. But even with food on it, some china/pottery/dinnerware is not for use in the microwave. Some still basically has water within its structure--particularly pottery. This will heat up in the microwave and cause crazing. In the early early days of nukers I put a very favorite pottery casserole in the microwave, not knowing the whole deal about this technology. It just plain broke!!
My Christmas china is "old" and I put it in the microwave very sparingly.
 
Let me answer a few questions here. First, no, the signal from your cell phone will not damage any glass, nor will the energy from the microwave. That is, both of these items transmit electro-magnetic (e.m.) energy. This energy penetrates various substances without causing any noticible change. Glass is an insulator and both microwave and radio transmissions have a hard time passing through it. And it also depends on the wavelength of the transmitted e.m. The radiation does affect watter molecules, which absorb the the e.m. waves like crazy. You cannot create nor destroy energy. You can only change it from one type to another.

As the microwave energy is absorbed, it excites the water molecules which then change the e.m. into heat. The water molecules in turn transfer that heat through both conduction and convection throughout the food, and, I might add, from the outside inward.

The microwave in your home transmits substantial e.m. Your cell phone transmits very little. In fact, the cell phone output is regulated so as to protect you, the user, from potential damage from being so close to the transmitting antenna. If the signal were allowed to be higher than what it is, it could mutate or even destroy cell tissue, causing cancers or physical injury. Unknown to many, the early radar guns used by the police cause infertility by basically cooking cells that wern't meant to be cooked. Radar stands for radio detection and ranging. The radar transmits radio waves to and object and measures the time it takes for the signal to reflect back. The radar has a receiving antenna as well as a transmittin antenna which picks up the return signal. It transmits and receives exactly the same kind of energy as does your cell phone, and your microwave oven, just in a different frequency and strength.

Know that all e.m. is the same thing, wheter it be visible light, gamma radiation, ultraviloet, xrays, or microwaves. Even the heat you feel from the sun on your skin is the same thing. Only the signal strength and the wavelengths change, depending on the frequency. Higher frequencies result in shorter wavelengths. Ultraviolet has a much shorter wavelength than does infra-red. It tends to penetrate the outer layer of skin and dammage the sub-dermal layer. The body reacts by sending extra blood to the dammaged area. Your nerves tell you about the damage in the form of pain. You have a sun burn. Infra red, on the other hand, has much less penetrating power and is transformed to heat as it strikes your skin. It can generate enough heat to cause a true burn. Xrays have sufficeint power to pass through soft tissues in your body and react agains chemicals on a special film. The picture is formed because things like tumors and bone are more dense and the xrays are blocked by them, forming a shadow on the film in the shape of the blocking material. That is why such a limited exposure to xrays is used, to prevent damaging the body. And that's why the xray technicians stay behind leaded aprons or leaded glass, to protect them from the radiation.

Each wavelength has differing properties, but none react with materials as does sound. Unlike e.m., sound energy is caused by the pulsating movement of a fluid, be it air, or liquid. There is no sound in a vacuum, such as in space. These pulses cause pulsating pressure on whatever the air pulses hit. And every material has what is called a resonating frequency. When you flick the side of a chime, the ringing tone you hear is the natural resonating frequency of that chime, or in other words, it will always vibrate at the same rate.

If a sound frequency that matches, or is a multiple of an objects natural resonant frequency is directed at that object, it will cause the object to vibrate. And since the natural frequency of that object is the same, the vibrations will become more intense (louder). In the case of glass, eventually, the vibrations will become intense enough to shatter the glass. That is the how sound breaks crystal.

Again, e.m. does not affect material objects in the same way. In metals, the e.m. creates currents of electricity called eddy currents. This is the principle used by induction stoves to heat steel and cast iron pans. The metal, being a poor conductor of electricity, creates heat due to its natural resistance to current flow. And glass, it isn't affected at all by the e.m.

Hope that wasn't too technical.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
 
My pyrex wasn't in the dishwasher. All my drinking glasses were - that's why i used it. No temp changes at all. It had been sitting in the kitchen on the counter for a couple weeks and i was drinking out of it a bunch of times that day (too lazy to empty dishwasher - hehe).

The pieces of glass were found even at the other end of the kitchen. It blew up real good.
 
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Pook said:
Yowowowowow! I've never had any trouble with my Pyrex. Guess I have been lucky! But I never broil anything in Pyrex, I use a metal broiler pan for that. Yikes! I never knew this stuff would blow up!
Hugs,
Pook

Actually, Pook, Pyrex has never been recommended for use in the broiler, so you've been following their instructions instinctively. It should never be used on the stovetop, either, unless it is of the Visions line (I think that's what it is/was called), which is designed for some limited stovetop use.
 
Katie E said:
It should never be used on the stovetop, either, unless it is of the Visions line (I think that's what it is/was called), which is designed for some limited stovetop use.

I believe you are referring to Corningware, not Pyrex, who made pots and pans out of some type of glass product under that name. My brother bought a set when it first came out, and he totally hated it! He said everything he tried to cook stuck to the pan, even water.
 
Caine said:
I believe you are referring to Corningware, not Pyrex, who made pots and pans out of some type of glass product under that name. My brother bought a set when it first came out, and he totally hated it! He said everything he tried to cook stuck to the pan, even water.

You're right, Caine. I stand corrected. It was Corningware and I think it was very short-lived. It never made sense to me and I can see where there might've been a problem with sticking.

Except for in the science laboratory, I get the heebie jeebies about putting glass directly on a heat source or an open flame.:(
 
Ron W. said:
I thought they made the windows for the space shuttles form Pyrex.
First of all, pyrex is a brand name. It is used by the holder of the copyright of the name.

New pyrex cookware, from the World Kitchen company, is not the same chemical formulation as older pyrex cookware, from Corning Glass works. Corning sold the name in 1988.

Corning pyrex is borosilicate glass.

This is the glass in the big telescope at Mount Palomar, and the space-shuttle glass. (The pyrex is not the same as the white ceramic Corningware, which has lithium oxides.)

World Kitchen pyrex is soda-lime glass.

For details, here is the article from Wikipedia:

Pyrex - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The question of whether the newer pyrex shatters more easily than the older version is, obviously, open to debate. However, the borosilicate glass of the older pyrex cookware was specifically formulated to be resistant to changes in temperature.
 
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