Monday, June 27, 2011

Saturday, June 04, 2011

Fun With Fluorescents


Smiley face made with uranium marbles under longwave ultraviolet (UV) light.


Two types of uranium marbles with a UV LED light for sale on eBay with FREE shipping: CLICK HERE


Franklin, New Jersey mineral with calcite glowing red-orange and the small specks of green (willemite) while being illuminated with longwave UV light.


Thunder egg from Oregon with quartz and agate(?) under white light and longwave UV light.


Calcite geode from Durango, Mexico under white light and shortwave UV light.

Thursday, June 02, 2011

Mineral Bacon Slice


This fluorite sphalerite and galena specimen from southern Illinois was sliced with the diamond saw to see if the fluorite would be come more pronounced.  It worked fairly well.  The way the slab was cut reminds me of slices of bacon.


Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Hail Cross Section


There was a storm in the spring that produced marble sized hail.  I gathered some on a plate and placed it in the freezer.  A while back I removed the plate and let it melt some before photographing it.  Here is a cross section of pieces of the hail that fused together.