Methods for producing and products including hollow silica or hollow glass spheres

A method for producing a hollow sphere with a vacuum inside, said method comprising:

• providing a seed, said seed including a core and a coating outside said core, said core including a mixture of two or more compounds;
• heating said seed to a temperature sufficient to transform said coating into a continuous shell having an interior and an exterior, said continuous shell isolating said core from said exterior of said shell, said temperature also being sufficient to cause a reaction between said two or more compounds of said core, said reaction between said two or more compounds converting said core to a gas within said shell;
• controlling a rate of said heating and a pressure surrounding said exterior of said shell to allow said shell to expand responsive to a pressure of said gas within said shell;
• continuing to heat said seed until said reaction ceases to produce said gas;
• cooling said shell to a second temperature at which said shell becomes rigid;
• and
• continue to cooling said shell until said gases within said shell react with one another to revert to a solid form, thereby creating a vacuum within said rigid shell.