Shot Glass Failure Analysis

The glass expert at Read Consulting failure analysis lab was asked to perform a failure analysis on a glass sliver removed from a woman's stomach. The woman had been out drinking the night before, and the following morning had stomach pains. The cause of the pain was found to be a glass sliver logged in her stomach. Part of the analysis was to determine how the glass sliver was created and from what type of glass. The glass piece was determined to come from the rim of either a shot glass or a "rocks" glass. The glass failure indicated that the sliver was created by side impact at the top of the glass. In addition, impact tests on representative glasses indicated that to form this piece the impact forces would have been high. Most likely the chipping of the glass occurred during toasting. Cheers!