(WBIR- Knoxville) An East Tennessee man's glass patio table shattered without anything touching it, and his home security camera caught it all on tape.
The video shows the glass patio table intact one second, then exploding into tiny little pieces.
The table was made by Compex, but there are no recalls listed for this kind of patio table.
Mayo Garden Center has been selling patio furniture for about 40 years. The store does not sell this particular brand of patio table but does carry similar models.
General manager for Mayo Garden Center, Claxton Mayo, said he has only seen about five incidents similar to this one in the time he has been with the store.
"I understand that the tempered glass is made under pressure, and there must have been a defect in the glass for it to happen," Mayo said. "But it happens very seldom."
Tempered glass is also used in other products like shower doors and car windows.
Tempered glass is glass that's been heated to a very high temperature, about 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and then cooled very quickly, making it four times harder than regular glass, said Greg Stowell, owner of Clinton Glass Company.
Stowell said an air pocket or chip that makes it into the glass during the tempering process could cause an explosion either during the process or later on.
"If there's a defect, it could literally just sit there for years," Stowell said. "Then all of a sudden the glass says I've got to give up, and it basically collapses."
The tempering process also prevents anyone from getting seriously injured if the glass does shatter, he said.
"If it breaks, it breaks into a million little pieces too small to cut you and hurt you badly, whereas regular glass could break into two or three big pieces, and that could be dangerous," Mayo said.
The glass patio table in the video broke into small shards of glass, but no one was around when the incident happened.
"It's a little scary when it happens, but again, it breaks into a lot of tiny pieces," Stowell said. "It's very difficult to clean up, but again, it's a safety feature so nobody gets hurt."
