z.js
- 57
- 0
Can you identify these minerals?
- Thread starter z.js
- Start date
-
- Tags
- Minerals
Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
24 replies · 6K views
- 17,871
- 1,653
I doubt we can tell exactly from the picture.
What do you mean by "UV light ... didn't work"?
How did you employ the UV light?
What were you expecting?
What happened?
It looks like quartz or agate embedded in something igneous... but really just some white stuff in some grey stuff.
Have you shown it to a geologist? A local rockhound?
What do you mean by "UV light ... didn't work"?
How did you employ the UV light?
What were you expecting?
What happened?
It looks like quartz or agate embedded in something igneous... but really just some white stuff in some grey stuff.
Have you shown it to a geologist? A local rockhound?
daqddyo1
- 36
- 0
I need more information.
At first glance, this slightly blurry photo suggests your rock is a piece of tar filled with fine gravel.
How hard is this sample? (Can you scratch it with a knife?, with your finger nail?, etc.)
How dense is it? Does it feel like it might be metal?
Does it respond to a magnet?
At first glance, this slightly blurry photo suggests your rock is a piece of tar filled with fine gravel.
How hard is this sample? (Can you scratch it with a knife?, with your finger nail?, etc.)
How dense is it? Does it feel like it might be metal?
Does it respond to a magnet?
Philippe Bzh
- 4
- 0
black rock
Hi, I think at first sight the black rock can to be magmatic rock, very hard (isn't?). Quartz, right! And perahps a metal meet. At see later and good chance!
z.js said:Can you help me identify this mineral and rock? I can't.
I think the mineral is quartz.
I tried the UV light, but it didn't work.
(Mebbe it's something precious!)
Hi, I think at first sight the black rock can to be magmatic rock, very hard (isn't?). Quartz, right! And perahps a metal meet. At see later and good chance!
Evo
- 24,114
- 3,277
It looks like tar and gravel to me.
256bits
Gold Member
- 4,263
- 2,276
Simon Bridge said:
I expect the OP was checking for fluorescence and phosphorescence of certain minerals.
http://www.galleries.com/Fluorescent_Minerals
The picture looks like some nest cleaning aggomeration from some burrowing animal of years gone past. Difficult to tell from the fuzzy picture.
- 17,871
- 1,653
Probably - still, nice not to have to guess and I like to encourage more scientific reporting in scientific sites ;)
That hadn't occurred to me...
I think the bottom line is that there is not enough data.
Short answer: "no".
PhysicoRaj
Gold Member
- 538
- 49
I have a lot of information about rocks 
(whether they're minerals or not) because I have played with them 
and even swallowed a lot of them when I was small.
At what place did you find it? A hillock? Roadside? Riverside?
(whether they're minerals or not) because I have played with them and even swallowed a lot of them when I was small.At what place did you find it? A hillock? Roadside? Riverside?
z.js
- 57
- 0
It was found at a rocky beach which was also a fossil site. (Flat Rocks, Inverloch, Australia)
PhysicoRaj
Gold Member
- 538
- 49
Did you check for the three things prescribed by daqddyo1?
PhysicoRaj
Gold Member
- 538
- 49
After that heat a 'piece' of the 'bottom' part of the stone (bottom in the picture, a thick black layer) on your stove without allowing the flames to lick it. Does it melt?
z.js
- 57
- 0
The black stuff at the bottom scratched metal. It has a density of about 2.8 g/cm3, and it is not attracted by a magnet. I will see if it melts when I heat it. How hot is a normal alcohol burner?
PhysicoRaj
Gold Member
- 538
- 49
Hot enough to know if it makes a good rock or not!z.js said:
Anyway let's see if it melts.
256bits
Gold Member
- 4,263
- 2,276
z.js said:
There are many metals - lead, tin, copper, iron, steel.
You need the hardness of the rock based on a scale to properly identify.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohs_scale_of_mineral_hardness
seany
- 9
- 0
please make a sharper shot? It can also be some other sedimentary matirx than tar and gravel
z.js
- 57
- 0
256bits said:
The black stuff scratched a steel knife.
PhysicoRaj
Gold Member
- 538
- 49
z.js said:
Then don't go to heat it.
Enigman
- 647
- 311
Go raid a chem lab:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualitative_inorganic_analysis
(I miss flame tests
)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualitative_inorganic_analysis
(I miss flame tests
)
z.js
- 57
- 0
PhysicoRaj said:
I did...
The black stuff that the mineral was stuck in seems to be tar. The black rock at the bottom didn't.
z.js
- 57
- 0
Enigman said:Go raid a chem lab:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualitative_inorganic_analysis
(I miss flame tests
You know I can't do that!
I miss flame tests too!
PhysicoRaj
Gold Member
- 538
- 49
z.js said:
You mean it didn't melt? If it were really a mineral, but I don't think it is a mineral very precious. You can do the flame test in your alcohol burner. But that would not give interesting results.
You have a wide (very much) range to match with what you have got. But I don't go for metals.
z.js
- 57
- 0
I was asking about the little things that looked like quartz, not the black stuff.
- 19,944
- 11,032
The minerals of a kidney stone can be quite beautiful!
PhysicoRaj
Gold Member
- 538
- 49
One must be proud to have them inside!
z.js
- 57
- 0
