Melting Marbles

Can I melt marbles in a regular home oven? How?
- Ann (age 45)
Burleson, Texas USA

Nope.  A conventional home oven will max out around 450 to 475 degrees Farenheit.  A self-cleaning oven may approach 900 degrees but even this temperature is far below that required for melting glassy-like substances like marbles.   You need a couple of thousand degrees for that.

LeeH

(published on 10/22/2007)

Can you put them in a natural gas fireplace? Well, actually the question is what temperature does natural gas burn at?
- brandon (age 27)
dana point, ca usa

Maybe... maybe not.   It depends on several factors.  The only way to find out is to do the experiment.  The reason is that the temperature of the gas flame depends on the actual gas mixture, methane, ethane, propane, etc. and whether or not there is a  way to contain the heat.  Most ordinary glasses start to become fairly liquid at around a thousand degrees Fahrenheit.  Obviously these kinds of temperatures are available in ordinary fires since we know there are antiquities from early Roman and Greek eras made of glasses.

LeeH
And make sure there's a screen between you and the marbles. Before they soften, they could crack and send off shards, due to thermal stress.  Mike W.

(published on 04/25/2008)