Why would a thick glass candy dish suddenly break in two with no one near it?
by 
RosieGHM Jetpacker
ANSWERS: 4
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Thermal expansion is the most likely possibility. It's also possible that an ultrasonic sound wave at a harmonic of the glass' resonant frequency caused the fracture, probably starting near a bubble or other imperfection. Maybe the contents of the dish absorbed enough heat and/or water to swell and split it. Maybe it encountered a random psychic energy vortex. Maybe the Brownian motion of atoms within the amorphous glass structure progressively weakened it until it broke. There are lots of unlikely reasons for something like that to happen...
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Glass is full of microscopic cracks. Uneven changes in temperature put tiny stresses on the glass, which lengthens the cracks. Glass is cracking continuously and very sensitive microphones can hear it. Some glass is made deliberately prestressed, to shatter into granules on impact rather than leave sharp edges, like car windscreens. Some glass may be made extra stressed due to flaws in manufacture. If a glass dish has been exposed to excessive changes in temperature, or has been manufactured with a stress flaw, then finally even a tiny change in temperature may be enough to lengthen the cracks until they start running into each other, which in a heavy glass dish will rapidly increases the stress until it falls into pieces.
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"Grandchildren" is the first thought that comes to mind. Secondly, not all dishes are microwave-safe. The company, that I used to work at, bought commemorative coffee mugs for all the employees. Warming your coffee in a microwave, in these cups, caused the cups to break-away from the handles, as you returned to your workstation.:)
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