Category:Flint glass

Flint" glass`. (Chem.)

Defn: A soft, heavy, brilliant glass, consisting essentially of a silicate of lead and potassium. It is used for tableware, and for optical instruments, as prisms, its density giving a high degree of dispersive power; -- so called, because formerly the silica was obtained from pulverized flints. Called also crystal glass. Cf. Glass.

Note: The concave or diverging half on an achromatic lens is usually made of flint glass.