Hey there! Let’s talk about pottery and ceramic cones. You may have seen little cones before—they’re used to help us measure heat in a kiln, which is a special oven for making pottery.
When a kiln gets really hot, it helps our clay turn into durable pottery! Each type of cone, like Cone 09, has a specific melting point. For Cone 09, that means it melts when it reaches 1751°F or 955°C. This temperature is important because different types of clay and glazes will behave differently depending on if they are fired at a lower or higher temperature.
Now, to help you understand what 1751°F feels like, it’s like when the sun is really hot on a summer day, or when you touch something that’s been in the oven!
Here are 7 objects that are exactly equal to Cone 09’s temperature:
- A pizza fresh out of a wood-fired oven.
- The inside of a ceramic cup that has been fired in the kiln at Cone 09.
- A firing temperature used for a special type of stoneware.
- The hot surface of a metal grill when cooking burgers.
- A glass bottle that’s been melted in a furnace.
- The temperature of lava at some volcanoes (when it cools a bit before becoming solid).
- The boiling point of certain oils, which can be over 1750°F.
So, knowing about Cone 09 helps potters, like you, create beautiful and strong pieces! Keep making and exploring your pottery world!
