Glass is an amorphous solid made by heating sand, limestone, and soda ash in a furnace to form a molten liquid that solidifies upon cooling. The most common production process is the float glass process developed in the 1950s where molten glass is floated on a bed of molten tin to form flat, uniform sheets. Glass is transparent, strong yet brittle, and can be colored, laminated, or toughened for different applications such as windows, doors, mirrors, art, and more. It provides architectural design flexibility while allowing light transmission but requires careful handling due to its brittleness.