Most of us accidentally break glass, but a group of scientists accidentally created it.
It's not just any glass, though. Cornell University researchers stumbled upon the world's thinnest pane of glass, measuring one molecule — two atoms — in thickness. The pane is so thin that it's actually two-dimensional.
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The scientists were trying to make graphene, a two-dimensional sheet of carbon, when an air leak caused a chemical reaction that produced the record-setting glass, according to university newspaper, the Cornell Chronicle.
“This is the work that, when I look back at my career, I will be most proud of,” David Muller, a Cornell physics professor, said in the report. "It's the first time that anyone has been able to see the arrangement of atoms in a glass."
Muller said the discovery has helped scientists finally observe a fundamental property of glass: It behaves like a solid, but looks like a liquid.
Aside from theoretical applications, the discovery may someday improve the performance of electronic devices, such as smartphones, by providing material that could eventually be used in transistors.
The scientific journal Nano Letters published a paper on the discovery in 2012, but it wasn't until earlier this month that Guinness World Records took notice. Guinness will feature the skinny glass in the record-keeping publication's 2014 book, according to Cornell.
Image: Cornell University, Jason Koski