Quick answer: Our eeriest October picks are minerals with real science behind the spookiness: phantom quartz with “ghost” crystals frozen
Ghost Bands, Glowing Rocks, and Fossilized Wood: This Season’s Best Rock Science Read Post »
Quick answer: Chihuahua, Mexico’s largest state, is one of the world’s great mineral regions, though collectors rarely learn its name.
Chihuahua, Mexico: The Quartz Locality Most Collectors Never Learn the Name Of Read Post »
Quick answer: “On matrix” means the crystals are still attached to the rock they grew on, rather than broken off
What “On Matrix” Actually Means (and Why It Changes the Price) Read Post »
Quick answer: Crystal twinning is when two or more crystals of the same mineral grow together in a specific, symmetrical
Quick answer: Druzy is a crust of many tiny, sparkling crystals covering a rock surface or lining a cavity. It
Quick answer: Quartz is in your watch because it is piezoelectric: squeezing it produces a voltage, and applying a voltage
Piezoelectricity: The Real Reason Quartz Ended Up in Your Watch Read Post »
Quick answer: Crystal habit is the overall shape a mineral’s crystals take as they grow: prismatic, tabular, acicular (needle-like), bladed,
Crystal Habit: Why the Same Mineral Never Grows the Same Way Twice Read Post »
Quick answer: Many specimens are two or more minerals grown together. Combinations form when the same fluid deposits several minerals
Two Minerals, One Stone: When Different Crystals Grow Together Read Post »
Quick answer: Long Island has no petrified forests and no bedrock that makes petrified wood; pieces found there were carried
Quick answer: A phantom quartz crystal contains the outline of an earlier, smaller crystal inside it. The phantom forms when
Phantom Quartz: The Ghost Crystal Hiding Inside Another Crystal Read Post »
