The spark plug is one of the most important components of a vehicle. Spark plugs have three main parts; electrodes, insulator, and shell. The electrodes are made of high-nickel alloys. The insulator is generally made of aluminum oxide ceramic, while the wheel is produced using steel wire.
Furthermore, without the spark plugs, there’s no way the car can get the spark, which is necessary to ignite the air/fuel mixture. This is to let you know how important spark plugs are to a car. You can simply put it this way; spark plugs are essential to get your engine started and running.
Another importance of spark plugs is that they can easily break tempered glass. In case you don’t know, the side and rear windows of most vehicles are made of tempered glasses – they are manufactured by heating the glass to more than 1,100°F. This is the reason why spark plugs are effective for breaking car windows.
Is it possible for spark plugs to break windows? Can spark plugs easily break car windows? Do all ceramics break glass? As you read further through the rest of this article, you’ll find everything you need to know about the burning questions above.
Can Spark Plugs Break Windows?
Before going ahead to answer this question, let me quickly talk about what spark plugs are and the different types of glass windows.
What Is A Spark Plug?
Spark plugs, as you already know, are important components of a car. They are mostly utilized in petrol engines to ignite the air-fuel mixture. Spark plugs are used to generate electricity for several different things, such as cars, motorcycles, and electric generators.
In cars, spark plugs are needed to keep your petrol engine running smoothly. What they primarily do is to ignite the part, which is needed to create the ignition – I’m sure you know what ignition means to internal combustion engines.
What Are The Different Window Glass Types?
I’m sure you’ll agree with me that one of the most common materials used for making windows is glass. But do you know that there are four main types or strengths of glass that can be used for windows?
In case you don’t know, the first type is the Annealed Glass. It’s usually achieved from the annealing stage of the float process. Here’s the thing; annealed glass, which is also called standard glass, is produced by thermally treating soft glass and leaving it to cool slowly, relieving internal stresses. The glass can be utilized to produce several different items, including cabinet doors and basement windows.
Heat Strengthened Glass is another type of glass that you can find out there. It’s semi-tempered as it only involves heating back annealed glass to about 700 degrees Celsius and then cooling off quickly. Heat-strengthened glasses are sometimes used in windows to resist thermal stress – this is especially true of people residing in bedrooms facing west or southwest.
Laminated Safety Glass is another type of glass that can be used for windows. This glass is manufactured by adhering (with polyvinyl butyrate or PVB) two pieces of annealed glass together. The glass is known for its safety and security features.
The last type or strength of glass that can be used for windows is Tempered Glass. Also called toughened glass, tempered glass is produced by heating annealed glass beyond its softening point of 600ºC. The glass is heated to about 700 degrees Celsius and then rapidly cooled.
Now, let’s go back to the burning question of whether or not spark plugs can break windows.
Here’s Why You Can Use Spark Plugs To Break Windows
You can always use spark plugs to break glass windows. As earlier mentioned, spark plugs have three different parts; the shell, insulator, and electrodes. The insulator (shard) is made of aluminum oxide ceramic, which is exceptionally hard.
There’s no denying that spark plugs are very small and weigh less. However, the aluminum oxide ceramic used to produce them is very hard. To be precise, it weighs 9 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness.
Furthermore, according to Sciencing, glass has a Mohs hardness between 5 and 6. With that, it’s safe to say that the aluminum oxide ceramic used to manufacture the spark plug insulator is tougher than tempered glass. This explains why the material is effective for breaking windows made of glass. However, you need to understand that spark plugs work best on tempered glass.
The bottom line is that spark plugs can break windows, especially those made of tempered glasses. This is possible because of the tough aluminum oxide ceramic, used for the spark plug shard.
Can Spark Plugs Easily Break Car Windows?
As earlier mentioned, spark plugs can generally be used to break windows. Car windows are included in the category of windows that you can break using spark plugs. Here’s why:
As you already know, most car side windows and rear glasses are made of tempered glass. This explains why you can break them easily and quickly by using a spark plug.
Do All Ceramics Break Glass?
Ceramics are generally known to be very hard. Because of that, they are very effective for breaking glass. The toughest glass is the laminated safety glasses. They are produced by adhering two pieces of glass, such as the tempered glass, together.
As tough as tempered-laminated glasses are, they can be broken by ceramics, especially those with sharp ends. The only problem, however, is that they don’t shatter into pieces because they are usually held together by polyvinyl butyrate.