There is a common myth concerning glass windows: many people believe that hot air can make them shatter, or even break . This is not entirely accurate, but it’s not entirely false either. There is indeed something about hot air on windows that causes them to break… but it’s not exactly the heat in itself that causes this undesired effect. Rather, it’s the sharp contrast between hot and cold temperatures. Fortunately, avoiding this type of damage is easy enough once you understand exactly how hot air on windows makes them break.
If you want to keep your windows from breaking when the outdoor temperature soars, there are some simple measures you can take. To begin with, you should understand how glass works: even though it’s usually tolerant to quite hot or cold temperatures, glass doesn’t respond well to sudden temperature changes. So, when it’s a really hot day outside and your car is parked for an extended period in direct heat, you should know your car windows and windshield will become fragile. At this point, throwing a glass of ice water in your windshield may suffice to immediately shatter it. The same principle applies to house windows, or any kind of glass for that matter… even a drinking glass.
Granted, there’s a good chance you don’t make it a habit of throwing ice cold water on your windshields of glass windows. Still, incidents do have a way of happening – and sometimes you can prevent the incident by understanding its exact causes. When you are aware that a glass window was heated to high temperatures, you should be mindful to avoid abruptly lowering the glass temperature. It may not be immediately obvious, but turning on the air conditioning on a car that was parked in the sun for some hours has been known to cause car windows to shatter.
Remember, it’s not hot air that causes windows to break: not on its own. Rather, it’s the sudden cooling of windows that makes them suddenly shatter and break. By avoiding such cooling, you can make sure you don’t have to unexpectedly repair or replace your glass windows.
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