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What Is Glitter?

nytimes.com

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Re: What Is Glitter?

#81

Post by DanBC »

crazygringo wrote: post #80
ohadron wrote: post #18

Here's a huge thread on Reddit trying to figure out which mystery industry is the largest buyer of glitter: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/a8hrk0... No conclusive results yet, but I believe Reddit will deliver.

Many people are mentioning chaff, and heck, literally the first sentence of the Wikipedia article says: "metallized glass fibre(fiber) or plastic" [1] Metallized pastic sounding a lot like... glitter. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaff_(countermeasure)

I thought that chaff couldn't be very much. If you believe this source it's about 500 tons per year, which is very much more than I thought. http://www.agriculturedefensecoalition.org/sites/default/fil...

Re: What Is Glitter?

#82

Post by DanBC »

code_duck wrote: post #64
kingbirdy wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's hardly secretive or unexpected, though - everyone knows cosmetics contain glitter

Whatever the product may be, it sparkles, so it can’t be much of a secret.

Does this product contain glitter? https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-djINoSKP6FQ/T_2q9sPNqZI/AAAAAAAAA...

Re: What Is Glitter?

#83

Post by jpindar »

snorrah wrote: post #73

“A way to make long winter nights slightly brighter, despite the offshore presence of Germans.” Well that came out of nowhere.

It's referring to this, from earlier in the article:

> A December 1942 article in The Times — possibly the first mention in this newspaper of the stuff — advised New York City residents that pitchers of evergreen boughs, placed in their windows for the winter holidays, would offer “additional scintillation” if “sprinkled with dime-store ‘glitter’ or mica.” The pitchers were to replace Christmas candles, which the wartime Army had banned after sunset — along with neon signs in Times Square and the light from the Statue of Liberty’s torch — after determining that the nighttime glow threw offshore Allied vessels into silhouette, transforming them into floating U-boat targets.

Re: What Is Glitter?

#84

Post by DanBC »

foobarian wrote: post #36
ruddct wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Currency is my favorite theory from this (and would explain the extreme secrecy). Take a look inside your wallet, it's probably a little glittery. (Related: For those who enjoyed the photos in this article, make sure to follow the photographer's Instagram, it's incredible. https://www.instagram.com/chrismaggio/ )

I thought defense would be another likely user. Chaff would use huge quantities of it.

Doesn't chaff work by being an aerial? And so it needs to be a certain length?

http://www.agriculturedefensecoalition.org/sites/default/fil...

> Chaff consists of aluminum-coated glass fibers (also referred to as dipoles) ranging in lengths from 0.8 to 0.75 cm.

> Figure 1. Radio frequency chaff cartridges (Air Force version RR-188/AL, top; Navy version RR-144/AL, bottom) and chaff fibers (right). Fibers of different lengths can be seen in the Navy operational version (clear cylinder). These lengths correspond to the frequency modes of the radar spectrum

Re: What Is Glitter?

#85

Post by titanomachy »

salgernon wrote: post #76
feint wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing floor tiles/fake stone benchtops. Huge market that would require a lot of glitter and it's not something you initially think would contain glitter. The expensive fake stone benchtops would feel "cheaper" if you knew that it was just glitter making them look good.

I was thinking asphalt and concrete - it seems that New York uses a specific percentage of mica flakes in their sidewalks, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find that roadways would use something to aid reflectivity as well.

Why would a local government be secretive about what they put in roads?

Re: What Is Glitter?

#86

Post by code_duck »

DanBC wrote: post #82
code_duck wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whatever the product may be, it sparkles, so it can’t be much of a secret.

Does this product contain glitter? https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-djINoSKP6FQ/T_2q9sPNqZI/AAAAAAAAA...

Probably, no. My guess is it contains small metal particles. But if I wanted to determine that, I wouldn’t look at a photo. I would read the ingredients.

A lot of cosmetics straight up contain phthalates as an intentionally added ingredient.

Re: What Is Glitter?

#87

Post by itronitron »

coredog64 wrote: post #69
cf498 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love how one of the most up voted answers boiled down to "the military" https://old.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/a8hrk0... >defense department would be extremely secretive >And they very much wouldn't care about the environmental impact >A few hundred tons of glitter is significantly less bad than thousands of tons of agent orange and dioxin. >And depleted uranium

PSA: Depleted uranium is so-called because it has less radioactivity than the dangerous stuff (U-235). It's a toxic heavy metal, but it doesn't present any serious radioactivity danger.

yep, depleted uranium bars are used within helicopter blades to equalize the momentum along their length. it's a very heavy metal

Re: What Is Glitter?

#88

Post by anon_cow1111 »

salgernon wrote: post #76
feint wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing floor tiles/fake stone benchtops. Huge market that would require a lot of glitter and it's not something you initially think would contain glitter. The expensive fake stone benchtops would feel "cheaper" if you knew that it was just glitter making them look good.

I was thinking asphalt and concrete - it seems that New York uses a specific percentage of mica flakes in their sidewalks, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find that roadways would use something to aid reflectivity as well.

I looked road markings up earlier because it was also my first guess, but everything I've seen indicates they just use plain glass microspheres in reflective paint and such.

For the roads themselves, more reflective might be a bad thing anywhere that sees heavy snowfall. Less sunlight absorbed=colder roads=more snow buildup and many other related problems.

None of these uses would need to be kept secret though.

Re: What Is Glitter?

#89

Post by lotyrin »

anon_cow1111 wrote: post #88
salgernon wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking asphalt and concrete - it seems that New York uses a specific percentage of mica flakes in their sidewalks, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find that roadways would use something to aid reflectivity as well.

I looked road markings up earlier because it was also my first guess, but everything I've seen indicates they just use plain glass microspheres in reflective paint and such. For the roads themselves, more reflective might be a bad thing anywhere that sees heavy snowfall. Less sunlight absorbed=colder roads=more snow buildup and many other related problems. None of these uses would need to be kept secret though.

Yeah, the microspheres have the property of being very retroreflective (shine headlamp light directly back toward a driver efficiently) and so get used in lots of automotive visibility scenarios.

Re: What Is Glitter?

#90

Post by [deleted] »

jey wrote: post #44
ken wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think automotive manufacturers would be worried about people knowing that their shiny paint contains glitter. Also, there are a lot of cars in the world, but most just get painted once. My first guess would be a consumable. Maybe food-related, where we don't expect (or want) glitter. The "toothpaste" guess sounds like it's on the right track. "Fast food" wouldn't entirely surprise me, either.

It's still probably under NDA and the glitter suppliers are contractually forbidden from revealing their customers. It'd be up to the customer to reveal it.

[deleted]
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