What is water glass?
What ist water glass?
Water glass is the name given to colorless aqueous solutions of sodium, potassium and lithium silicate. The chemical was first produced in 1818 by the chemist and mineralogist Johann Nepomuk von Fuchs in Landshut. Fuchs also gave the new compound its name, which is still in common use today.
The acronym NaSiO is both name and program. The chemical formula for water glass is Na2SisO2s+1. Here, s stands for the modulus value of a water glass, and this modulus value describes the molar ratio of silicon dioxide (SiO2) to sodium oxide (Na2O), or of silicon dioxide to potassium or lithium oxide.
Properties of water glass
Water glasses have modulus values between 1.5 and 5, depending on their silica content. The higher the modulus value, the more viscous the water glass and the more silicon dioxide it contains. When the alkali cations of the water glass are chemically removed from the negatively charged SiO groups, the silica begins to form polymers. The precipitating silica polymer (SiO2) initially exists in amorphous form before irreversibly changing to the crystalline state. Irreversible means that adding water to the silica polymers does lead back to water glass. Stones produced with the help of water glass are therefore stable.