Water glass - what is it and what is it used for?

Water glass - where did it come from?

The origin of water glass comes from very ancient times, because from the heyday of Egyptian culture. The developed method of "dissolving" the sand (which they had there into the dirt) was a revolutionary way to improve the binding properties of building binders. Unfortunately, after Egypt's heyday, water glass was forgotten for many, many years. It was not until the mid-nineteenth century that people began to be interested in it again, and the first water glass factory was established in France.

Water glass - what is it?

Water glass is, simply put, molten quartz sand (silica) with an alkali metal oxide dissolved in water (sorry to the specialists for the big simplification). Depending on the additives (oxides) used, we can obtain sodium, potassium, lithium, cesium and rubidium water glass. Water glass, e.g. sodium glass, can be obtained using three different technologies. Melting quartz sand with the addition of alkali metal salts, dissolving silicic acid in sodium hydroxide and dissolving sodium silicate in water.

What is water glass used for?

The answer to this question, despite the wide spectrum of applications known today, is still open. All the time, scientific institutions find new applications for this product, which is produced in an unchanged form.

Examples of today's water glass applications:

• additive to concrete mixes,
• anti-moisture material on the walls,
• additive in the production of silicate paints,
• binding material in the corrosion of concrete surfaces, e.g. on floors,
• the main raw material in the production of glass and in the ceramic industry,
• an ingredient in the cosmetics industry and the production of household chemicals,
• component in the production of industrial and construction adhesives,
• used in the treatment (softening) of municipal and industrial waters,
• corrosion protection of water installations,
• in sewage treatment plants as a material capturing selected ions of elements,
• component of drying agents (silica gel),
• component of bleaching solutions and adhesives in the paper industry,
• material forming a fire-protective coating, e.g. wooden structures,
• raw material for the production of abrasives,
• impregnation in the textile industry,
• additive to rubber mixtures in the tire industry,
• anti-corrosive agent for iron and other metals,
• soil stabilizer,
• basic component of solutions for extinguishing fires,
• food additive (E 550),
• additive to mixtures protecting plants.

Water glass in the field and in the garden.

The question that gardeners and farmers have been asking themselves most recently is: how to protect plants so that it is cheap, effective and, most importantly, ecological. Here again water glass came to the rescue. Increasingly, it is a component of a mixture, most often with a fungicide. Unfortunately, official studies on this type of application are not available, but various Internet forums are full of advice and hints. Gardeners and farmers are increasingly returning to the old, unfortunately forgotten methods by which they try to protect their plants in a natural way.

Garlic, horsetail, dandelion, nettle, chamomile and many other herbs and plants used in biological spraying are used for this purpose. Water glass is added to each such solution - most often potassium in the ratio of 1% to 2% by volume.

The main tasks that the water glass has to face in spraying:

• antifungal spraying on cereals and rapeseed: thanks to water glass, additional chlorophyll protection is created on the leaves and a barrier against settling and development of fungal parasites,
• disinfecting and protective properties,
• protection of winter plants against frost in the snow-free period,
• improving the tying of the vines,
• 1% aqueous solution in spraying tomatoes in the early growth period.

The use of water glass in fertilization and antifungal protection in agriculture was already known in the interwar years. In the monthly "Cultivation of plants and fertilization" from 1934. water glass appears in many different applications. If you are interested, I invite you to read it .

An invaluable promoter of the use of water glass in ecological terms in Poland was Dr. Wiesław Koźlak (1948 – 2013). If you are interested in the subject, I definitely recommend looking for the studies of the aforementioned scientist, who was one of the few in the country who dealt with the application and development of silicates so extensively. My note was largely compiled from materials by this author, and direct conversations with users and restless seekers.

Wide selection of water glass available at distripark.com .

*This article is for informational purposes only. The presented description, in particular the use of the products, is exemplary and constitutes non-binding information about the characteristics and possibilities of their use/application. In any case, before using the product, consult a specialist whether the specific use is safe and justified. We do not bear any responsibility for the use of the proposed solutions, even in very similar situations.