Ok, three part Q for you keeners out there…part the first is due entirely to my poor vocabulary: in a nice resteraunt, I will drink drink from my glass of wine, but what does one refer to the ‘glass’ as if its made of crystal?
The reason I ask is that after catching a cbc (canuck tv) segment on a crystal company, I am kinda curious what exactly crystal is? That is, how is it different to glass?
Now if your still with me I have one last related query. If I am lucky enough to be taken to a nice resteraunt and bought a crystal insert word here_ of wine, what is the scientific explanation for the fun noise that can be made by moving a finger around the rim of the ____? And why doesn’t it work with glass?
Poster: You might be able to get a barely audible peep from it, not in essence, you do in fact need crystal to create the very annoying high-pitched (i wonder why it is that ppl don’t like high pitched noises).
thankyou hh, what a simple answer! Its amazing how hard some silly factoids can be to fathom out.
See goblet is kinda awkward, I mean, do you really have a goblet in a resteraunt? Unless its on a pirate ship or in a castle, I think not.
I know 90 % of ppl just say glass of wine, regardless of what its made of…grrr, there must more precise terminology out there!
“Glass” IS the precise terminology. Just because some marketing idiots insist that a particular variety of glass should be called crystal doesn’t mean it isn’t still glass.
Wine-style glasses are indeed goblets, and the straight-sided sort are called tumblers, and anyone who won’t call a glass of wine “a glass” is either a pretentious fool or not speaking English.
This is untrue; It is possible to get a good note out of almost any wineglass (even the cheap bistro type you get in Pizza Hut). It may be true that lead crystal glasses are better, but the sound from ordinary ones is by no means ‘barely audible’.
Your slightly wetted fingertip alternately sticks and slips as you rub it around the rim of the glass (this is the same effect that causes things to ‘squeak’ when they are rubbed together); if you happen to be rubbing the glass at a particular speed where the frequency of the [stick/slip] action is close to the resonant frequency of the glass (or possibly a harmonic thereof), you are contributing to the overall resonance.
(it’s like pushing someone on a playground swing; if you time your pushes so that they coincide with the person swinging away from you, then you add energy to the system and they swing higher).
Lead crystal glass has a higher refractive index than ordinary glass. This will make is sparkle more, particularly when cut with many facets which reflect the light. It is this sparkle which makes it apperar crystal-like.
There are laid down standards, at least in Europe, which specify the minimum refractive index for glass which can be termed ‘crystal’ and a minimum lead content for the superior ‘lead crystal’
It is also worth noting that glassware called ‘crystal’ is by no means crystalline, in the scientific sense. No matter the lead content, it is still an amorphous solid.