Quick answer: Mineral dealers sort specimens by size: thumbnails fit in a 1-inch (about 2.5 cm) box, miniatures run roughly
Thumbnail, Miniature, Cabinet: The Size Classes Dealers Actually Use Read Post »
Quick answer: Ice is a mineral. It is naturally occurring, inorganic, solid, crystalline, and has a defined chemical composition (H2O),
Quick answer: To photograph a mineral specimen well, use soft diffused light, a plain background, a tripod or steady surface,
Quick answer: Only a small number of minerals need special care: those containing arsenic (realgar, orpiment), mercury (cinnabar), lead (galena),
Toxic Minerals: What Actually Needs Care in a Collection Read Post »
Quick answer: Earth has about 6,000 known minerals, while the Moon has only a few hundred, because most of Earth’s
Mineral Evolution: Why Earth Has 6,000 Minerals and the Moon Has About 350 Read Post »
Quick answer: Nucleation decides crystal size. When a mineral-rich fluid is only slightly supersaturated, few crystal “seeds” (nuclei) form, so
Quick answer: Epitaxy is when one crystal grows on another in a fixed, aligned orientation because their atomic lattices match
Epitaxy: Crystals That Grow on Other Crystals in Perfect Alignment Read Post »
Quick answer: Bridgmanite, a magnesium-iron silicate with a perovskite structure, is the most abundant mineral on Earth, making up roughly
Bridgmanite: The Most Abundant Mineral on Earth That Nobody Has Ever Collected Read Post »
Quick answer: A gossan is the rusty, iron-oxide cap that forms where a sulfide ore body reaches the surface and
Gossan: How Miners Read the Rusty Cap on Top of an Ore Body Read Post »
Quick answer: A rock’s surface often looks nothing like its interior. Desert varnish is a thin, dark coating of clay
Desert Varnish and Weathering Rinds: Why a Rock’s Outside Lies About Its Inside Read Post »
