WHO STUDIES ROCKS AND MINERALS?

A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, although backgrounds in physics, chemistry, biology, and other sciences are also useful. Field research (field work) is an important component of geology, although many subdisciplines incorporate laboratory and digitalised work.

Geologists work in the energy and mining sectors searching for natural resources such as petroleum, natural gas, precious and base metals. They are also in the forefront of preventing and mitigating damage from natural hazards and disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis and landslides. Their studies are used to warn the general public of the occurrence of these events. Geologists are also important contributors to climate change discussions.

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WHAT IS FLUORITE?

Fluorite is a very popular mineral, and it naturally occurs in all colors of the spectrum. It is one of the most varied colored minerals in the mineral kingdom, and the colors may be very intense and almost electric. Pure Fluorite is colorless; the color variations are caused by various impurities. Some colors are deeply colored, and are especially pretty in large well-formed crystals, which Fluorite often forms. Sometimes coloring is caused by hydrocarbons, which can be removed from a specimen by heating. Some dealers may apply oil treatment upon amateur Fluorite specimens to enhance luster.

Fluorite has interesting cleavage habits. The perfect cleavage parallel to the octahedral faces can sometimes be peeled off to smooth out a crystal into a perfect octahedron. Many crystals, especially larger ones, have their edges or sections chipped off because of the cleavage.

Fluorite is one of the more famous fluorescent minerals. Many specimens strongly fluoresce, in a great variation of color. In fact, the word "fluorescent" is derived from the mineral Fluorite. The name of the element fluorine is also derived from Fluorite, as Fluorite is by far the most common and well-known fluorine mineral.

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WHY ARE AMETHYSTS PURPLE?

The color in amethyst comes from color centers in the quartz. These are created when trace amounts of iron are irradiated ( from the natural radiation in the rocks).

The purple color in ghost town glass comes from small amounts of manganese in the glass when it has been exposed to ultraviolet light. The manganese was used as a clarifying ingredient in glass from 1860 to 1915. Prior to that, lead was used, and subsequently, selenium is used.

Quartz will commonly contain trace amounts of iron ( in the range of 10's to 100's parts per million of iron). Some of this iron sits in sites normally occupied by silicon and some is interstitial (in sites where there is normally not an atom). The iron is usually in the +3 valence state.

Gamma ray radiation can knock an electron from an iron lattice site and deposit the electron in an interstitial iron. This +4 iron absorbs certain wavelengths (357 and 545 nanometers) of light causing the amethyst color. You need to have quartz that contains the right amounts of iron and then is subjected to enough natural radiation to cause the color centers to form.

The color of amethyst has been demonstrated to result from substitution by irradiation of trivalent iron (Fe+3) for silicon in the structure, in the presence of trace elements of large ionic radius, and, to a certain extent, the amethyst color can naturally result from displacement of transition elements even if the iron concentration is low.

Amethyst occurs in primary hues from a light pinkish violet to a deep purple. Amethyst may exhibit one or both secondary hues, red and blue. The best varieties of amethyst can be found in Siberia, Sri Lanka, Brazil and the far East. The ideal grade is called "Deep Siberian" and has a primary purple hue of around 75–80%, with 15–20% blue and (depending on the light source) red secondary hues.

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WHAT ARE VALUABLE MINERALS?

Valuable minerals are either metal or rock that can be processed and converted for economic purposes. Gemstones such as diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds are valuable minerals. Gold and silver are also precious. Palladium is considered more precious than gold and it is very valuable to automotive industries.

Diamond

Diamond is commercially the most popular mineral because of its eminent role in the world of jewelry trading.

 Rubies

Rubies are considered to be the most expensive gemstones in the world. They get their alluring red color from the presence of chromium. The largest supply of this mineral was harvested in Burma, which is known as the Mecca for rubies.

Gold

Many people think gold is the most valuable and most expensive mineral in the world, but this is a common misconception because there are other minerals that are far more worthy than gold. Still, it is a highly valued, expensive mineral.

Rhodium

Because of its rarity and industrial application, this silver-white noble metal is the world’s most expensive mineral. Rhodium became popular as a result of its highly valued catalytic application in the automotive industry. The largest supply of this mineral was found in 2009 in South Africa and Russia.

Lithium

This mineral which is commonly known as a crucial ingredient in the production of rechargeable batteries was first discovered in 1817 in Stockholm by the Swedish chemist Johan August Arfvedson. Lithium is a highly valued mineral which represents a billion dollar industry. The largest supplies of this mineral are found in Afghanistan.

Blue Garnet

Garnets can be found in various colors like brown, green, orange, pink, purple, red and yellow. Among all these colors the blue garnet is the only one with a considerably high value. This mineral was first discovered in the 1990s in Madagascar, and since then it has been mined in Russia, Turkey and the United States.

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WHY ARE DIAMONDS EXTRAORDINARY?

Very hard, very rare and very old, diamonds are essentially carbon that has been transformed under great pressure deep inside Earth. It is usually volcanic activity that brings them near the surface again after billions of years and makes mining possible. Diamonds are the hardest natural substance ever found.

  1. The ancient Romans and Greeks believed that diamonds were tears cried by the gods or splinters from falling stars, and Romans believed that Cupid’s arrows were tipped with diamonds (perhaps the earliest association between diamonds and romantic love).
  2. Diamonds are nearly as old as the earth and take billions of years to form deep in the pit of the earth. Very few diamonds survive the trip from the depths of the earth to the crust where they can be mined. No two diamonds are the same and carry their own unique properties such as internal inclusions and color. 
  3. Diamonds form about 100 miles below ground and have been carried to the earth’s surface by deep volcanic eruptions.
  4. Diamonds are made of a single element—they are nearly 100% carbon. Under the extreme heat and pressure far below the earth’s surface, the carbon atoms bond in a unique way that results in diamonds’ beautiful and rare crystalline structure.
  5. The word diamond derives from the Greek word “adamas,” which means invincible or indestructible.
  6. Diamonds are the hardest natural substance on earth ranking a 10 on the Mohs Scale of Hardness. The only thing that can scratch a diamond’s surface is another diamond.
  7. Diamonds have been valued and coveted for thousands of years by the likes of royalty and mythical beings. There is evidence that diamonds were being collected and traded in India as early as the fourth century BC. In the first century AD, the Roman naturalist Pliny is quoted as having said, “Diamond is the most valuable, not only of precious stones, but of all things in this world.”
  8. Ancient Hindus used diamonds in the eyes of devotional statues and believed that a diamond could protect its wearer from danger.
  9. Many ancient cultures believed that diamonds gave the wearer strength and courage during battle, and some kings wore diamonds on their armor as they rode into battle.
  10. During the Middle Ages diamonds were thought to have healing properties able to cure ailments ranging from fatigue to mental illness. 

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WHAT ARE MINERALS?

Minerals are natural chemicals from which Earth's crust is formed. There are around 2000 individual minerals, each with a unique colour and shape. A few are powdery or resinous, but most are crystals. Some minerals, such as gold and silver, are pure chemical elements, but the majority are compounds, of which silicates are most common.

The earth is composed of mineral elements, either alone or in a myriad of combinations called compounds. A mineral is composed of a single element or compound. By definition, a mineral is a naturally occurring inorganic substance with a definite chemical composition and ordered atomic structure.

  • Table salt is a mineral called sodium chloride. Its ordered structure is apparent because it occurs in crystals shaped like small cubes.
  • Another common mineral is quartz, or silicon dioxide. Its crystals have a specific hexagonal shape. Coal is a mineral composed entirely of carbon, originally trapped by living organisms through the process of photosynthesis.
  • The carbon in coal is therefore of organic origin which leads some authorities to object to the definition of a mineral as an inorganic substance.
  • Limestone is a rock composed of a single mineral calcium carbonate. On the basis of their origin on earth rocks may be divided into three primary categories: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic.

Minerals have been broadly classified into two classes, primary minerals and secondary minerals. Minerals which were formed by igneous process that is from the cooling down of the molten materials called magma, have been put in the primary category, while those formed by other processes have been put in the secondary category. Primary minerals which occur in the sand fractions of the soil had not undergone any change.

Other primary minerals had been altered to form the secondary minerals for example, the primary mineral mica had been altered to form the secondary mineral illite. Some other primary minerals for example, olivine, anorthite, hornblende etc., had been completely decomposed; the decomposition products recombined together to form the secondary minerals.

Minerals may be identified by their crystal structure, physical properties and chemical composition.

Like vitamins, minerals help your body grow, evolve and remain healthy. The body uses minerals to perform many functions — from building strong bones to nerve impulse transmission. Some minerals also create hormones or hold a regular heartbeat.

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ARE GEMS AND CRYSTALS THE SAME?

Crystals are glassy-looking, brittle solids that form shapes with sharp corners and flat sides. Natural crystals form when a liquid cools and hardens, and the molecules in the liquid cluster in a particular pattern - a pyramid, cube, etc.

Rare and beautiful crystals such as rubies and emeralds are valued as gems. Many are termed 'precious'. They are rare because they only form naturally under very special conditions - usually deep within volcanic rocks.

Crystals are pure substances whose atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an ordered pattern, where they extend in all three spatial dimensions. A gem can be a crystal, while a crystal cannot be called as a gem.

Gemstone and Crystals are both used in various applications in today’s world. While gemstones are primarily used in jewelry and decoration pieces, crystals can be used in various applications such as healing, jewelry, vases, scientific purposes, etc.

Gemstones are rare pieces of minerals that are found in the ground, which are then cut and polished to be used in jewelry and other decorative pieces. Not all gems are minerals, such as lapis lazuli, a rock, and amber or jet, which are organic materials. A gemstone can also be known as precious or semi-precious stones. Precious stones include diamonds, emerald, ruby and sapphire, while the rest are qualified as semi-precious stones. Gemstones are classified by their color, translucency and hardness. Gems can also come with mineral bases like diamonds or rubies and with organic bases like amber. Today, geologists use the chemical composition of a gemstone to classify it into groups, species and varieties. The price of the gemstones depends on the rarity, color, composition, hardness and cut.

Crystals are pure substances whose atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an ordered pattern, where they extend in all three spatial dimensions. The process of crystal formation via mechanisms of crystal growth is called crystallization or solidification. Not all crystals need to be in solid formation, where water freezing also begins with small ice crystals that grow. Crystal symmetry requires that the unit cells stack perfectly with no gaps. Crystals are classified as Hexagonal, cubic, orthorhombic, tetragonal, rhombohedral, and monoclinic shapes. Crystals are light in color and are mostly translucent. The color of crystal is determined by the light passing through it.  Crystals are less expensive compared to gemstones. Salt and snowflakes are the most common types of crystals that are encountered.

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WHAT ARE SILICATES?

When silicon and oxygen, the two most common chemical elements on Earth, combine with a metal, they forma silicate. There are over 500 silicates that exist, quartz is one.

Silicate mineral, any of a large group of silicon-oxygen compounds that are widely distributed throughout much of the solar system.

The silicates make up about 95 percent of Earth’s crust and upper mantle, occurring as the major constituents of most igneous rocks and in appreciable quantities in sedimentary and metamorphic varieties as well. They also are important constituents of lunar samples, meteorites, and most asteroids. In addition, planetary probes have detected their occurrence on the surfaces of Mercury, Venus, and Mars. Of the approximately 600 known silicate minerals, only a few dozen—a group that includes the feldspars, amphiboles, pyroxenes, micas, olivines, feldspathoids, and zeolites—are significant in rock formation.

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WHAT MAKES LIMESTONE INTERESTING?

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of the mineral calcite, which is a crystalline form of Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3). Limestone often contains variable amounts of silica in the form of Jasper or Flint, as well as amounts of clay, silt, and sand as disseminations, nodules, or layers within the rock unit. The main source of this calcite in limestone is speleothems such as stalagmites and stalactites. The secondary source of calcite is the shells of sea animals and corals.

Limestone makes up about 10 percent of the total volume of all sedimentary rocks. Most Limestone starts as the floor of shallow tropical seas and can be seen in parts of the tropics that are only 30 to 40 years old. The stone has the unique property of retrograde solubility, meaning that the stone is less soluble in water as the temperature increases.

Limestone is also classified as a young marble formed from the consolidation of seashells and sediment. Shells of sea animals form grains in limestone that promotes the growth of cement crystals around themselves.

Limestone is a popular building material because of its availability and the relative ease with which it can be worked with and cut. The stone can have a very diverse chemical composition, which can result in a variety of different colours of limestone or even within a single cut of the stone.

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What is element number 118?

Oganesson is the element with atomic number 118. Very little is known about this element. It is classified as a non-metal and is expected to be a gas.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) approved the name oganesson for element 118 in November 2016. This name honours Yuri Oganessian, a famous scientist.

This element was discovered by a team of Russian scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia in the year 2002. A team at the Lawrence Berkeley Labs in California published a paper in 1999 announcing the discovery of element 118. But their results could not be repeated and the team took back their paper.

Later, in 2006, the element was officially announced by the researchers at Dubna and by the team at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, who were working with the Dubna scientists.

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When was moscovium made?

Moscovium is a synthetic element. Only a few details are known about it. It was earlier referred to as ununpentium, a placeholder name that means one-one five in Latin. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) approved the name moscovium for element 115 in 2016.

It was discovered in 2003 and announced on February 2, 2004. Moscovium was created and announced by the scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, and the scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States.

The element is named in honour of the region where experiments linked to its creation took place.

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Who made copernicium first?

Copernicium was first made in 1996. Researchers led by Sigurd Hofmann at the Heavy Ion Research Laboratory in Darmstadt, Germany, produced a single atom of copernicium-277. Very recently, atoms of copernicium-281 and copernicium-284 have been recorded during the decay of flerovium.

Copernicium gets its name after Nicolaus Copernicus, who started the scientific revolution with his theory that the Earth orbits the Sun. Copernicium is a synthetic metal. It is also radioactive and has only been produced in small amounts. As a result, it is used in research projects only.

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Is flerovium radioactive?

Flerovium was first made in Dubna, Russia in 1998. The scientists from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California led by Yuri Oganessian and Ken Moody jointly conducted studies on this element and prepared it many times. Thus The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) announced its discovery in June 2011. The element gets its name in honour of Georgy Flerov, a Russian nuclear physicist.

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What is element number 111?

Roentgenium, element 111, is named in honour of Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, who discovered the X-rays. This element was discovered in the year 1994 by a team of scientists from Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung, which was led by Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Monzenber.

Roentgenium is a synthetically produced radioactive element and very little is known about it.

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How were the elements bohrium, hassium, and meitnerium discovered?

Bohrium was first discovered in the year 1976 by a group of scientists in Dubna, Russia. Bohrium was named after Niels Bohr, a Danish physicist. Until the name was finalized, it was known as nielsbohrium.

Hassium was first created by a team of scientists led by Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenber at the Heavy Ion Research Laboratory in Darmstadt, Germany in the year 1984. The element is radioactive. Its name is derived from the Latin name for the German state of Hesse.

Meitnerium was first synthesized by research scientists in 1982. The team of scientists led by Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenber at the Heavy Ion Research Laboratory in Darmstadt, Germany made the discovery.

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