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Post by Original Admin on May 27, 2008 16:54:02 GMT -5
Guys and Gals - I was thinking tonight about rock id. I look at some of the pics here, and think that only a chemical experiment which may possibly involve Acids, Lights, Carbon analysis, Electron Microscope Scanning etc could identify some of the pics here. Some "rocks" like especially those found as beach pebbles are so mixed up in their own chemistry that - in actual fact - there is no name for them? ? Is that true - or am I imagining things? Mark
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,456
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Post by Sabre52 on May 27, 2008 17:19:56 GMT -5
Mark, *L* Not your imagination. Unless a picture is of a commonly found type of rock most of the ID's you can do are sort of a best guess scenario. A good scratch test helps a lot, as knowing the Mohs hardness can narrow the field but, without having the stone in hand, most are not easy calls at all.....Mel
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Post by Original Admin on May 27, 2008 17:33:44 GMT -5
Mel - I agree,
I feel that beyond the obvious tumbling stuff, unless we had access to some of sciences most technological gear, along with the massively educated brains from JPL to go with it - then many of the rocks presented here may as well be from pluto.
What im getting at is that folk here shouldnt be thinking that they SHOULD IDENTIFY EVERYTHING PRESENTED.
There are too many combinations of atoms making up rocks to be able to give a name to each sample.
Im confused but I *think* im going along the right lines.
Mark
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rallyrocks
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2005
Posts: 1,507
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Post by rallyrocks on May 27, 2008 17:55:43 GMT -5
Mel - I agree, I feel that beyond the obvious tumbling stuff, unless we had access to some of sciences most technological gear, along with the massively educated brains from JPL to go with it - then many of the rocks presented here may as well be from pluto. What im getting at is that folk here shouldnt be thinking that they SHOULD IDENTIFY EVERYTHING PRESENTED. There are too many combinations of atoms making up rocks to be able to give a name to each sample. Im confused but I *think* im going along the right lines. Mark Yeah, but.... In those cases where a reasonably accurate assessment can be made, wouldn't it be nice if someone could come here and have a look over the titles and pick a thread that might provide some insight about a specific material, either through a picture of an example or perhaps a description, possibly including scratch tests, tile streaks or the like, rather than having a whole forum full of "what is this?" threads.... That was all I was looking for, and heck maybe it is too much to ask, but it seems to me there are roughly three levels of thread here, the "what is it" that nobody can figure out, but a few give their best guesses, the "what is it" that comes up with a reasonably agreed to reply, and those that state up front that "this is a piece of ....". I'm only asking for more of the latter and less of the former, when we can- of course, there will always be those that fall into the first category... for those we'll need to enlist the expertise of the geologists at the local university.
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