Two millennia ago, delicate glass vessels that potentially served as containers for wine, water, exotic fragrances in ancient Rome, shattered and met their untimely demise. They found their way into the layers of the earth, going through the environmental changes that accompany erosion and corrosion, subject to humidity, temperature, mineral exposure, amongst others. In their present form, these shards of Roman glass are a range of gorgeous colors on the spectrum, from cerulean blues to notes of vibrant orange.
When Fiorenzo Omenetto, a materials scientist at Tufts University who co-authored the new paper, identified a shard during a visit at the Italian Institute of Technology’s Center for Cultural Heritage Technology, he had a eureka moment! Terming it the “wow glass”, this particular fragment was uncovered near the ancient city of Aquileia, Italy. The shard was put under the scientific lens, and led to the publishing of a brilliant new study in the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences (PNAS) .
Corrosion and Erosion: Nature the Ultimate Nanofabricator
Over the course of thousands of years, the molecules within the glass underwent a remarkable transformation, undergoing rearrangement and recombination with minerals. This intricate process led to the formation of what are scientifically known as photonic crystals—precisely ordered atomic arrangements that possess the unique ability to filter and reflect light in highly…
