Question

Is glass a solid or a liquid? glass is silicon dioxide....does that mean that it is a compound?

Answer 1

Glass is neither a solid, or a super-cooled liquid.It is an amorphous solid. Solids are highly organised structures, that include crystals, with millions of atoms lined up in a row. Liquids and glasses don't have that order, and though glasses are more a organised than liquids, don't attain the rigid order of crystals. Being amorphous, it doesn't have that long range order. It is halfway between a sold and a liquid. It can flow, like liquids can, and can withstand shearing stress, something that only solids can do.