Mattatya
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2012
Posts: 452
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Post by Mattatya on May 7, 2014 3:53:29 GMT -5
Just came across this little handheld Molecular Analyzer and wondered if it would work for mineral and rock ID'ing? It's basoically a spectrometer that cell phone apps can get information form using bluetooth tech. Could be a really great tool on the field research as well as general hounding. From reading the website and kickstarter I wonder if this does have a place in our backpacks when rock hounding or something that will be further developed to work in our enviroment. What are you thoughts. Here is the Kick Starter link and detail SCiO: Your Sixth Sense. A Pocket Molecular Sensor For All !Scan materials or physical objects. Get instant relevant information to your smartphone. Food, medicine, plants, and more. Out of the box, when you get your SCiO, you’ll be able to analyze food, plants, and medications. These are just a few of the starter applications that you can use upon receiving your SCiO. After SCiO is released new applications will be developed and released regulary. If you order SCiO from Kickstarter you will get all new applications for free in the next two years. The possibilities of SCiO applications are endless. for example in the future you can use SCiO to measure properties of cosmetics, clothes, flora, soil, jewels and precious stones, leather, rubber, oils, plastics, and even your pet! SCiO includes a light source that illuminates the sample and an optical sensor called a spectrometer that collects the light reflected from the sample. The spectrometer breaks down the light to its spectrum, which includes all the information required to detect the result of this interaction between the illuminated light and the molecules in the sample. Here is their website www.consumerphysics.com/myscio/Cheers, Matt
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Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,598
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Post by Mark K on May 7, 2014 8:50:34 GMT -5
maybe some day we will get a tri-corder for use in the field.
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Mattatya
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2012
Posts: 452
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Post by Mattatya on May 7, 2014 13:37:37 GMT -5
I'll have to look that up, never heard of it.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using proboards
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blackout5783
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2011
Posts: 248
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Post by blackout5783 on May 7, 2014 13:48:52 GMT -5
Unfortunately i don't think this would be very useful for rock/mineral identification. From the description it is an infrared spectrometer (but a really cool handheld one), and those work much better for organic materials (made up of mostly carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and not much else). The elements that most rocks are made of don't respond to IR beams much, not enough energy. They won't really show up unless you use x-rays. Probably a big safety issue if you had a handheld x-ray unit.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2014 14:52:37 GMT -5
Unfortunately i don't think this would be very useful for rock/mineral identification. From the description it is an infrared spectrometer (but a really cool handheld one), and those work much better for organic materials (made up of mostly carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and not much else). The elements that most rocks are made of don't respond to IR beams much, not enough energy. They won't really show up unless you use x-rays. Probably a big safety issue if you had a handheld x-ray unit. Donald Kasper is using non-destructive IR Spectrometry to ID many many minerals. For instance the "White Buffalo Turquoise" turned out to be calcite/aragonite (being sold by the carat!). Donald is the source of knowledge on christopherl1234's glassy blue mineral. Now - does the unit mentioned by the OP work for our uses? No clue!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2014 14:54:05 GMT -5
Looks like they have a winner of a project. with 38 days to go they have raised 5x ask! Well over a million bux pledged!
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blackout5783
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2011
Posts: 248
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Post by blackout5783 on May 7, 2014 15:12:39 GMT -5
Unfortunately i don't think this would be very useful for rock/mineral identification. From the description it is an infrared spectrometer (but a really cool handheld one), and those work much better for organic materials (made up of mostly carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and not much else). The elements that most rocks are made of don't respond to IR beams much, not enough energy. They won't really show up unless you use x-rays. Probably a big safety issue if you had a handheld x-ray unit. Donald Kasper is using non-destructive IR Spectrometry to ID many many minerals. For instance the "White Buffalo Turquoise" turned out to be calcite/aragonite (being sold by the carat!). Donald is the source of knowledge on christopherl1234's glassy blue mineral. Now - does the unit mentioned by the OP work for our uses? No clue! Hmmm.... I'll have to look that up. Didn't know you could use IR for minerals. Edit: I stand corrected. Looks like IR would actually work pretty damn well for a lot of minerals!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2014 15:19:24 GMT -5
everything reflects or absorbs IR. The crystal structure of the mineral determines how it is absorbed or reflected. The sensitivity of the sensors is going to be the key. Donald's machine may be scanning the entire IR field as well. Single wavelength sensors will be less useful.
Edited to add:
The scio seems to require "Apps" on the smart phone. It is the app that will analyze the output from the sensor. Therefore it will only be useful for mineral folks IF there is a mineral's app. They do have an ADK so you could build your own app.
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Post by deb193redux on May 7, 2014 15:38:43 GMT -5
Since the only mineral I am really interested in is micro-crystalline quartz, it won't help me much. Maybe good for folks who hunt and collect a broader range of minerals.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2014 16:05:03 GMT -5
Since the only mineral I am really interested in is micro-crystalline quartz, it won't help me much. Maybe good for folks who hunt and collect a broader range of minerals. Within the world of "microcrystalline" there are sub-species depending various characters. Perhaps this is not important to some.
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blackout5783
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2011
Posts: 248
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Post by blackout5783 on May 7, 2014 17:32:36 GMT -5
Since the only mineral I am really interested in is micro-crystalline quartz, it won't help me much. Maybe good for folks who hunt and collect a broader range of minerals. Within the world of "microcrystalline" there are sub-species depending various characters. Perhaps this is not important to some. The nice thing about IR is that there is an area on the scans that acts as a fingerprint and its really quite accurate at distinguishing between similar materials. Theoretically, a database could be built for every type of agate and jasper that would be searched for a matching spectrum to your material. The impurities in the samples would allow for differentiation between types (for example, a dendritic moss agate from Montana vs one from Madsgascar). THAT would be pretty damn slick, along with a massive time investment for those involved in building one.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2014 21:33:45 GMT -5
That is EXACTLY what Donald Kasper is doing!
Cataloguing various agates from around the world.
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Post by mohs on May 7, 2014 22:25:02 GMT -5
earlier it was mentioned about the light sensitivity being better suited to organic material. would it be able to read the constituents of bone more readily? could it read a sample and tell if it was mostly mineralize carbon at one time? or other distinct features to a once living substance?
thanks mohs
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Mattatya
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2012
Posts: 452
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Post by Mattatya on May 8, 2014 1:27:16 GMT -5
I've been informed that a Tri-Corder it's a device on Star Trek Didn't get to watch much TV in my youth, but when I did it was re-runs of Mash, Taxi and currents like Cheers and Married with Children. He he. Sent from my SPH-D710 using proboards
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2014 10:31:57 GMT -5
I've been informed that a Tri-Corder it's a device on Star Trek Didn't get to watch much TV in my youth, but when I did it was re-runs of Mash, Taxi and currents like Cheers and Married with Children. He he. Sent from my SPH-D710 using proboards What??? You never watched reruns of Star Trek? Get hulu plus and watch them all! I can't believe you made it this long without such a reference. I Loved Latka!
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Mattatya
spending too much on rocks
Member since June 2012
Posts: 452
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Post by Mattatya on May 13, 2014 1:02:12 GMT -5
I can't sit down long enough to even figure out the remote control lol I'm so hyper active. I'm even more embarrassed to admit that I've never seen Star Wars either. Matt I've been informed that a Tri-Corder it's a device on Star Trek Didn't get to watch much TV in my youth, but when I did it was re-runs of Mash, Taxi and currents like Cheers and Married with Children. He he. Sent from my SPH-D710 using proboards What??? You never watched reruns of Star Trek? Get hulu plus and watch them all! I can't believe you made it this long without such a reference. I Loved Latka! Sent from my SPH-D710 using proboards
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Post by parfive on May 22, 2014 12:17:18 GMT -5
blackout5783: ”The elements that most rocks are made of don't respond to IR beams much, not enough energy. They won't really show up unless you use x-rays. Probably a big safety issue if you had a handheld x-ray unit.” Archaeopteryx: X-rays shine new light on mystery 'bird'www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27502354
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2014 18:44:07 GMT -5
blackout5783: ”The elements that most rocks are made of don't respond to IR beams much, not enough energy. They won't really show up unless you use x-rays. Probably a big safety issue if you had a handheld x-ray unit.” Archaeopteryx: X-rays shine new light on mystery 'bird'www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27502354Nice Rich!! Great link.
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