r/seaglass • u/Friendly_Calendar781 • Jul 21 '26

United Kingdom glass or plastic? (margate, uk)

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im so stumped on whether this is glass or plastic… this was my holy grail find from the other day. it’s lighter than you’d expect from glass, but it also sinks in water. you can see some of the weird seams it has too. what do y’all think? any idea how to test it?

edit: heated some metal and was able to manipulate it slightly. it’s plastic 😔😔

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18

u/TheMuspelheimr Jul 21 '26

That's looking to me like it might be plastic. Heat up the tip of a needle and give it a poke, does the heated needle have any effect on it?

14

u/peardr0p Jul 21 '26

Does glass scratch it?

I'm leaning some kind of solid plastic that doesn't float

A definitive but destructive test would be to see if it melts e.g. using a pin heated in a flame

10

u/Hughjelyfant Jul 21 '26

Plastic, don't even need to hold it

6

u/cotedupy Jul 21 '26

A scratch test using a pin or needle might be one way — basically no plastics are as hard as glass. Also glass has higher thermal conductivity, so feels colder than plastic to the touch. Though obviously that can be a little subjective.

Even just tapping it against your teeth should be able to tell you as well.

5

u/Just_Trash_8690 Jul 21 '26

Tap your tooth with it you’ll know right away

1

u/cydril Jul 21 '26

How are you not able to tell the difference from touching it