What Causes Scratched Glass?

To get a better understanding of what causes scratched glass, we are going to talk about the makeup of glass and where it falls on the Mohs Hardness Scale.

The three ingredients used to make most glass are sand, lime, and soda ash. These three items are then heated, and together they form liquid glass. It is then cut into various shapes and sizes for different uses. At this point, regular plate glass has a hardness level of roughly 5.

Moh’s Scale

Most people have at least heard of Mohs Hardness Scale. Friedrich Mohs created this scale in the early 1800’s. The Mohs scale goes from 1-10 with 10 being the hardest mineral. The hardest known natural substance is Diamond. So, ten represented by Diamond, and one is Talc. Glass falls right into the middle of this hardness scale. Therefore, anything that is above a 5 in hardness can scratch glass.

One of the most common items around commercial buildings, especially here in Phoenix, is desert landscaping. Desert landscaping is ideal for water conservation and appearance yet it provides ample supply of rocks that are hard enough to scratch glass. Most rocks in Phoenix landscapes are around 7. Of course, this isn’t the only thing that people use to scratch glass. Take a look at the hardness scale to the left.  You will see several items that are easily accessible and can cause lots of damage to glass.

In a commercial complex where there is a lot of foot traffic sometimes, you will get some glass vandalism. A kid will pick up a rock and scratch the glass. There are ways to protect your business windows from this. You can take a look at our anti-graffiti film Phoenix page to help with this problem.

Another area that causes scratched glass is just normal wear and tear. What causes scratched glass in a display case or glass countertop is usually jewelry and items placed on top of the glass. Take a look at the glass inside your favorite sandwich shop the next time you are ordering. As you pass the ingredients, you will undoubtedly see some scratched glass caused by jewelry.

Different types of glass are a little harder than regular plate glass. Tempered glass is heat treated to create a hard shell. This shell serves many purposes. One of the goals of the hardened shell is that it can resist scratches. The hardness level of most tempered glass is around a 7.

So, what causes scratched glass? Anything that is harder than the glass, on the Mohs scale, being rubbed across the glass will cause scratches.

Do You Have Scratched Glass?

Of course, we can repair this type of damage. Check out our scratched glass repair page for more information about our service.