However, the oven is surrounded by heat in a somewhat uniform manner and is not likely to cause an extreme temperature change. That would be an extreme thermal vibration. If the glass had food in it from a freezer and you put it into the oven, it may shatter as the freezing temperature of the glass is placed into a hot oven. So how can you get an extreme thermal variation by putting glass in an oven? This glass is also tempered so that if it does shatter it will fragment into small little pieces instead of large shards of glass. This type of glass is made by the low coefficient expansion of borosilicate. We call it Pyrex or even-tempered glass although that was a brand name. This is true even of the borosilicate glass that is made specifically for oven use. It is the extreme thermal variations such as sudden and uneven temperature changes that could cause the glass to break. When you put glass in a pre-heated oven it should not even start to melt or become soft until over 900 degrees Fahrenheit. There would have to be another reason for it to break. So if you put a glass-type bowl in a preheated oven it will not break due to that activity alone. The expanding water molecules put stress on the molecules of the glass that was greater than the strength of the glass itself. If you take a glass shaped like a bottle, fill it with water, put a tight lid on it, and put it in the freezer what will happen? The glass will break not because of the temperature but because of the substance (water) expanding and breaking the glass. Let’s step back for a second here and look at how glass responds in everyday life.
CAN YOU PUT PYREX IN THE OVEN CRACK
It is not the 450 degrees Fahrenheit that will cause it to break or crack or shatter. It is possibly a defect in the glass or the dramatic change in thermal vibration that could cause the glass to crack or break in the oven. You put the empty glass in the oven and it just gets hot and maybe a little more pliable (only at something over 900 degrees Fahrenheit). The oven is pre-heated to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. So now let’s look at what happens to glass in an oven. Given certain conditions, the glass will break. This puts the glass in a very unique category when it comes to solids and the things we use as material solids in our daily life. Glass is not a crystalline solid where the molecules are symmetrical in shape, but rather it is an amorphous solid where the molecules are not symmetrical but rather odd or different shapes.īasically, it has the order of a solid and some liquid properties as well. Let’s explore this more advanced question. If no, then what is the risk? If yes, then why since the oven even at 450 degrees Fahrenheit is not even close to the melting temperature of the glass. Will the glass become soft or even break at the typical oven temperatures of up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit? However, there is a caveat to that statement. So again the answer is “Yes, you can put glass in an oven”. It is like the glass says “well been here done this before”. So putting glass in an oven like 450 degrees Fahrenheit is not a big deal. To put it succinctly glass is made by heating up sand (silicon dioxide mostly) to a very high temperature of over 3090 degrees Fahrenheit. There are processes put in place and different types of sand and elements that are beyond the scope of this article. A little something about Glassįirst of all, understand that glass is made from sand and other particles. If you don’t know this, it’s best to not put the glass in the oven and check the details first. If you’re in a hurry and don’t want to go through this entire article, here is the gist – make sure you check the glass cookware you’re using is oven-safe and also check the safe upper limit of the temperature it can endure.