Cambridge IELTS 8 · Academic · Test 2 · Passage 1
Sheet Glass Manufacture: The Float Process — IELTS Reading Answers
All 13 answers for Sheet Glass Manufacture: The Float Process, Cambridge IELTS 8 Academic Reading Test 2 Passage 1, with the passage evidence and an explanation for each.
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Sheet Glass Manufacture: The Float Process answer key at a glance
Questions 1–13. Tap an answer to see the evidence.
What this passage tests
This passage is tested with Table Completion (Q1–5), Diagram Labeling (Q6–8), True / False / Not Given (Q9–13). Each section below gives the strategy for that question type, the answers, and the sentence that proves them.
Questions 1–5: Table Completion
Strategy: Work row by row. The row label tells you where to look; the column heading tells you what kind of word you need.
“The first successful method for making clear, flat glass involved spinning”
The first successful method for clear flat glass 'involved spinning', so the table's method is 'spinning'.
“This method was very effective as the glass had not touched any surfaces between being soft and becoming hard, so it stayed perfectly unblemished, with a ‘fire finish’”
Because the glass touched no surface while cooling, it stayed 'perfectly unblemished' — the adjective the table needs.
“However, the process took a long time and was labour-intensive”
The drawback named is that the process 'took a long time and was labour-intensive', so 'labour-intensive' fills the gap.
“This allowed glass of virtually any thickness to be made non-stop”
The advantage was glass 'of virtually any thickness', so the noun after 'any' is 'thickness'.
“This allowed glass of virtually any thickness to be made non-stop, but the rollers would leave both sides of the glass marked, and these would then need to be ground and polished”
Rollers left both surfaces 'marked', the past participle the table uses for the flaw needing grinding and polishing.
Questions 6–8: Diagram Labeling
Strategy: Locate the labelled part on the diagram, then find the matching description in the passage. Answers are usually concrete nouns.
“Consequently, when pouring molten glass onto the molten tin, the underside of the glass would also be perfectly flat”
The diagram's upper arrow is the material poured in — 'molten glass' — which floats on the tin bath.
“Pilkington had been experimenting with improving the melting process, and in 1952 he had the idea of using a bed of molten metal to form the flat glass, eliminating altogether the need for rollers within the float bath The best metal for the job was tin”
The flat glass forms on 'a bed of molten metal', and 'the best metal for the job was tin', so 'molten tin' labels the bath.
“Once the glass cooled to 604°C or less it was too hard to mark and could be transported out of the cooling zone by rollers”
Once cool enough, the glass was carried 'out of the cooling zone by rollers', the part the diagram labels at the exit.
Questions 9–13: True / False / Not Given
Strategy: Judge the whole statement against the text. FALSE contradicts the passage; NOT GIVEN means the passage never addresses that specific claim.
The metal used in the float process had to have specific properties.
“The metal had to melt at a temperature less than the hardening point of glass (about 600°C), but could not boil at a temperature below the temperature of the molten glass (about 1500°C)”
The metal 'had to melt' below glass's hardening point yet not boil below 1500°C, precise requirements that confirm the statement.
Pilkington invested some of his own money in his float plant.
“However, it took 14 months of non-stop production, costing the company £100,000 a month, before the plant produced any usable glass”
The text says production cost 'the company £100,000 a month' but never says whether Pilkington used his own money, so that is not given.
Pilkington's first full-scale plant was an instant commercial success.
“However, it took 14 months of non-stop production, costing the company £100,000 a month, before the plant produced any usable glass”
Fourteen months of costly production before 'any usable glass' appeared contradicts an instant commercial success. FALSE.
The process invented by Pilkington has now been improved.
“The principle of float glass is unchanged since the 1950s. However, the product has changed dramatically, from a single thickness of 6.8 mm to a range from sub-millimetre to 25 mm, from a ribbon frequently marred by inclusions and bubbles to almost optical perfection”
'The product has changed dramatically' from one thickness to a wide range and near 'optical perfection', so the process's output has been improved. TRUE.
Computers are better than humans at detecting faults in glass.
“Inspection technology allows more than 100 million measurements a second to be made across the ribbon, locating flaws the unaided eye would be unable to see”
'Locating flaws the unaided eye would be unable to see' shows automated inspection outperforms human vision, so TRUE.
Learn the question types in this passage
Frequently asked questions
Where does the Sheet Glass Manufacture: The Float Process passage come from?
It is Passage 1 of Cambridge IELTS 8 Academic Reading Test 2, and it covers Questions 1–13.
What question types appear in Sheet Glass Manufacture: The Float Process?
The passage is tested with Table Completion, Diagram Labeling, True / False / Not Given. Each type is explained on this page, alongside the answers.
Are these reading answers reliable?
Every answer is paired with the sentence that proves it, so you can check each one against the passage yourself. Use the page after a timed attempt, not instead of one.
Cambridge IELTS is published by Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Band9Prep is not affiliated with Cambridge. This page is an independent study aid: it gives the answer key, the passage evidence and an explanation so you can review an attempt you have already made.