God sleeps in the minerals | Hacker News Reader

God sleeps in the minerals

wchambliss.wordpress.com

569 pointsspeckx105 comments

These types of huge perfect specimens always take my breath away when I am able to see them in person. To think that this kind of stuff just kinda exists buried in the earth...

I am a part of a local mineral club which hosts several "field trips" a year to various mineralogically interesting locations (most of which aren't accessible as an individual, like private land and special digs at active mining/quarrying sites on their days off). I have never found anything even remotely as beautiful as the specimens shown, but the small collection of mildly interesting things that I've smashed out of the earth with my own 2 hands is amazingly satisfying to me. You don't even have to be a super dedicated "rock nerd" to take part, I highly recommend looking for local mineral clubs to join if this even remotely interests you. It's really a ton of fun!

Finding specimens is not that hard or inaccessible if you are determined. Virtually any place on earth has its own geomorphology history. Start by looking at geological maps to learn what kind of rocks/minerals you can find in your surroundings and look for old/active mines, quarries or any activity that excavates soil, etc. Specimens can be found sometimes in land deposits from these activites.

That’s what really sucks about rockhounding as a hobby. In the US we have a blessing of public BLM lands where we can collect, especially in the West, but most of the interesting specimens in museums and fancy collections come from mines or some unique geological occurrence on private land. Getting them requires dropping lots of money or getting into commercial mining. The best most of us can really hope for is some small piece from tailings.

There are a few species you can sometimes find in washes when they get buried during massive floods, but other than that most museum quality specimens are impossible to find for rockhounds.

I still bring my trusty Estwing rock hammer everywhere but it kind of takes the wind out of the treasure hunting aspect.

> There are a few species you can sometimes find in washes when they get buried during massive floods, but other than that most museum quality specimens are impossible to find for rockhounds.

Well, that's kinda how it has to be, right? If art museums displayed the artwork anyone can paint, they wouldn't be interesting to most people. Most museums are about displaying the stuff you otherwise wouldn't be able to find, buy, or make. It's still fun to learn to paint, even if you're no Rembrandt.

To be fair, there are some museums that go for depth instead of scarcity and I personally find them more interesting. The Computer History Museum does this pretty well. They have some truly unique items, but also plenty of stuff you can buy on eBay, just presented and explained well.

> If art museums displayed the artwork anyone can paint, they wouldn't be interesting to most people.

It's very common for art museums in Japan to have a room dedicated to paintings from local residents. As one would expect, the quality ranges from "why would you show this to anyone" to "can't believe how amazing this is". I always enjoy going through them.

"The best most of us can really hope for is some small piece from tailings."

Just this past weekend I pulled a plate full of rare tellurides out of Otto Mountain for a Caltech PhD. You have to be very observant to find a good spot to acquire minerals out of the ground, but excellent large specimens are still out there to be pulled.

I live in the northeast USA, there are very few public collecting spots around me. It makes me really sad listening to people who have been in the hobby for a long time talk about all the amazing collecting sites they used to frequent before they were paved over with parking lots or condominiums and whatnot. There isn't a whole lot of "wild open space" left around here to poke about in. Another big factor for keeping the public out of collecting sites that do still exist is that some people can't be bothered to be respectful in their collecting.

The Loudville lead mine in Easthampton MA, which used to be open for public collecting, recently closed due to irresponsible collecting and severe erosion. They closed off the entire recreational trail system, which has far reaching affects far beyond the rockhounding community.

I'd collected once at Loudville shortly before it closed and found a couple scraps of Pyromorphite, some tiny Wulfenite you need a microscope to see, and some Malachite. I am sad that I can't go back, now.

You can read more about it here: https://newenglandforestry.org/newsroom/recreation-on-the-ro...

I don't expect, or really even want to find museum-quality specimens, I just want the ability to explore the minerology of my home region on a physical and personal level.

It isn't that difficult to find excellent mineral specimens, some boulder-sized, on National Forest and BLM land in the mountain West. There are many places where people have never been or where a fantastic-looking mineral deposit was ignored because they were too small (common with e.g. copper minerals).

Most of the ones I've found were incidentally discovered while hiking around off-trail in the boonies. I do always bring my Estwing with me just in case though.

Kind of fun to think that the crystalline structure of minerals is an "echo" of their arrangement of atoms. A repeating pattern on a scale we can actually observe.

Zoom out, too:

[CGP Grey - Metric Paper] <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUF5esTscZI> - among my favorite videos

Yet even Plancks remain analogue...

I've been to a few mineral museums like this and one of the interesting ones you can come across is Asbestos. Just hanging out there on display right next to some other mineral. It forms beautiful formations just like the rest, but I've heard so many mesothelioma lawyer commercials that it's easy to forget it's a completely natural material. Also one you can pick apart like cotton and weave into a fabric - it's a flexible material, made out of a rock, which can kill you.

The asbestos formations are ones they keep behind glass.

We used to have asbestos rocks sitting around in our house when I was growing up (my mother was born a raised in the town formerly called Asbestos, QC). You could just peel the fibers off the rock. In that form the asbestos is harmless: it's only when it's chopped into shorter fibers and inhaled that it's seriously unhealthy. Industrial uses almost always chopped the fibers so almost no commercial products using asbestos are safe, but the rocks just sitting there are harmless.

> All types of asbestos fibers are known to represent serious health hazards in humans and animals

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asbestos#Health_impact

RIP

Central California has several abandoned asbestos mines which continue to release asbestos into the nearby air and water. I remember considering some hiking around the area once and then came across the warnings regarding exposure.

CA also has a lot of naturally occuring mercury as well. I seem to remember that some lakes in CA are so high in natural(i.e. not from gold mining) mercury that you shouldn't eat the fish.

The Monte Cristo basin in Washington is high enough in Arsenic that you shouldn't drink water there. There are warning signs at trailheads EG the trailhead leading into Gothic Basin and Gothic Peak.

There are several different kinds of asbestos and they differ radically in their level of risk and the worst kinds are not (generally?) found in California. So that signage might just be out of an abundance of caution.

I wouldn't be surprised if by the numbers you have a lot more risk of serious injury driving to and from the hike than from the asbestos, particularly if your hiking doesn't involve intentionally disturbing the ground. :)

For the many posters on HN in the bay area-- watch road cuts for green rocks, asbestos co-occurs with serpentinite all over the coast range-- and serpentinite is the state rock! You can easily find some with asbestos, usually grey/white fibrous strands on the rocks. Don't grind it up and huff it, but you can thrill your friends by showing them some boogieman-mineral you found.

(It's only fitting that the state rock is technically known to the state of california to cause cancer... :P)

> that signage must just be out of an abundance of caution.

I'm pretty sure prop 65 applies to all materials known to man, so that checks out

Prop 65 requires me to tell you that the device you are reading this on contains chemicals known to the state of California to cause Thinking-regulations-are-stupid in mice.

these dramatic and colorful massive specimens are perfect for an art museum, but as a recovering mineralogist I feel like the true beauty of the world of minerals in Earth is shown on the microscopic level, where you can see both the incredible order and incredible randomness of the (mostly) crystalline solids that make up minerals. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_section

There is an idea that minerals are these inorganic substances but fully two thirds of all minerals identified were originated from direct or indirect interaction with living things on Earth. In fact a recent hypothesis holds that minerals have evolved since the formation of the solar system very much like living things, getting more and more complex via selective processes. See https://hazen.carnegiescience.edu/research/mineral-evolution

The Cubes are the most captivating to me. Organic mishmash of polyhedra and assorted blobs is one thing, but perfect cubes is uniquely striking.

Maybe try copper sulphate?

https://crystalverse.com/best-way-to-grow-copper-sulfate-cry...

Crystal growth has been on here before. Let me see if I can find a link or two...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31105320

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30487511

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29779923

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29255511

I did that with my kids and it was pretty cool !

Sodium chloride will grow cubes but probably not trivial to get big ones.

Pyrite or fool's gold, lovely mathematical perfection and a great etymology to match!

Regarding etymology, for many centuries the substances that are now called "sulfides" were called "pyrites", after the "iron pyrite" i.e. the iron (II) disulfide, which is the most abundant sulfide mineral.

At the end of the 18th century, Lavoisier together with a few other French chemists have created the modern systematic chemical nomenclature, so the old term "pyrite" was replaced by "sulfide" (like also "vitriol" was replaced with "sulfate").

For who does not know, "pyrite" comes from "fire", i.e. from the pronunciation in Ancient Greek of the corresponding word that was cognate with English "fire" (Ancient Greek or Latin "p" corresponds with English "f").

Striking pyrite produces sparks, which can be used to start a fire.

> Ancient Greek or Latin "p" corresponds with English "f"

Similarly, ancient Greek "p" corresponds with modern Greek "f", and ancient Greek "b" corresponds with modern Greek "v".

We may have done it first, but the sound change is pretty common. "B" -> "v" is arguably in process in Spanish. Something similar had already happened in Latin; compare Latin "frater" to English "brother" or Latin "fero" to Greek "phero".

I agree. Here are a few more nice images for the GP: https://www.google.com/search?q=pyrite+cube&tbm=isch Remove "cube" from the reach, to see the not cubic samples too.

True, but among the minerals with cubic crystal structure it is not unusual for them to be found as crystals that are perfect regular or semiregular polyhedra, with a shape characteristic for the mineral, for instance octahedron (e.g. spinel, diamond), rhombic dodecahedron (e.g. garnet) or cube (e.g. pyrite).

I suppose that the crystals from the picture are of pyrite, which frequently looks like this.

In the antiquity, when what are now called diamonds (the Romans and the Greeks called them "Indian adamants", because they were first encountered by Europeans during the expedition in India of Alexander the Great; "adamant" meant something else in Europe) were very difficult to cut and polish, they were normally used as gems in their natural shape of regular octahedra.

Cutting diamonds from their natural octahedral shape into polyhedra with more facets, e.g. brilliant, was invented much later.

You can buy pyrite cubes on Etsy—I know because I also love them :)

They’re not expensive

And Galena! Another wonderful metallic mineral that forms cubes.

Sodium chloride also grows cubes but hard to make perfect and large.

What about organic mishmashes that are shaped into cubes?

https://www.science.org/content/article/how-do-wombats-poop-...

That pyramid shape in the amethyst is what grabbed me. Looks like something straight out of a video game. Incredible.

Especially since it's an exception that breaks the rule that straight lines are not found in nature. Not only is it a straight line, but a cube. They just look unnatural. Very cool stuff

God sleeps in the minerals, awakens in plants, walks in animals, and thinks in man.

Arthur Young

worth checking out his pages: https://arthuryoung.com/about/arthur-young/

For us nerds in the Portland/PNW area, the Rice Museum out in Hillsboro—despite a name suggesting it has an exhaustive display of rice varieties—has a terrific collection of large and unique mineral specimens. https://www.ricenorthwestmuseum.org

I am sure there is a great list somewhere of places to see stuff like this (or I can ask an LLM), but I can vouch for

Mines Museum of Earth Science (Golden CO) and The Harvard Museum of Natural History (Mineralogy room, Cambridge MA)

If you happen to be in Hilo, HI, the Lyman Museum is pretty cool too.

Second the Rice Museum recommendation! If I ever make it big I'm going to legally change my last name to 'Mineral' and create the Mineral Museum of Rice on the other side of the freeway showcasing everything from basmati to risotto.

This makes me want to find an actual rice museum that isn't the IRRI.

One of my favorite topics and a hobby finally makes it to Hacker News

<swoon>

Fine mineral specimens are the most surprising things on earth. Such regularity and color! It reminds you that every atom of an element, every molecule of a compound is exactly the same (caveat energy states), and the laws of physics and chemistry don't change. That's how these stunningly bright and REGULAR forms develop - trillions of atoms or molecules all falling into line.

Prague national History Museum has an amazing collection of these. Truly a hidden gem.

Terra Mineralia in Freiberg (quite close to Prague), is also worth a visit.

> Truly a hidden gem

Where the gems are in plain sight!

Check out the yt talk on "king of kashmir" .. the world's largest aquamarine discovered in Karakoram mountains (pakistan) .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujGJwq3PaU0

Thank you for this. I didn't have any interest at all i. the topic, but video got me excited and interested!

you are welcome sir :)

Me Mum[0] was a geologist. I grew up with stuff like that, all around the house.

I still have a lot of it.

[0] https://cmarshall.com/miscellaneous/SheilaMarshall.htm

Houston has a good collection too.

https://www.hmns.org/exhibits/cullen-hall-of-gems-and-minera...

“Are you familiar with the Stone Tape Theory?”

(Post Malone’s response in a Joe Rogan interview when asked about McKenna’s Stoned Ape Theory)

I've found these more interesting since reading The Mysterious, Deep-Dwelling Microbes That Sculpt Our Planet in the nyt. You don't get that kind of thing on asteroids or Venus, they are mostly produced as a side effect of microbes in the earth's crust that predate most surface life.

It's an interesting question if we'll find them and or simple life in the crust of Mars. Idelwords has some discussion of that https://idlewords.com/2023/1/why_not_mars.htm

I find it somewhat reassuring that even if we raze the plant through nuclear war or climate change, the crust microbes will be just fine and regenerate new surface life a while after.

(nyt article https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/24/magazine/earth-geomicrobi... or https://archive.ph/VgzKD)

For a while I thought what could there be to see in the petrified national forest. It's mineralized trees (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrified_wood), and there were enough different minerals in the area to make different colors. Definitely worth a visit.

oh my god, this is gorg. i love museums for the same exact thing. there's so much you donno and every visit just leaves me in awe. thank you for sharing it. big wide bful world

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh has the absolutely stunning Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems.

https://carnegiemnh.org/explore/hillman-hall-of-minerals-and...

Spent many hours there

If you have a large pile of spare cash and want your own gem museum, there's one closing down: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c937d7p0gzpo

Tellus in Georgia has an incredible collection:

https://tellusmuseum.org/exhibit/weinman-mineral-gallery/

First thought in my head was that these would make great demos for 3DGS: both geometry and light interactions are non-trivial. I imagine that makes them difficult to capture with traditional photogrammetry

The pictures are striking, but the comments are quite amusing on their own. Both on the website and here on HN. You can really see how people are going out of their way to get offended.

You like apple? How could you hate orange!?

If "dead" things look this much alive, imagine how hard it is to determine life on other planets. Real life could look much more dull than these things :-)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatolite

Amaze! Amaze! Amaze!

Oh wow, wish this had been posted sooner! This Saturday 4/18 is the last day to see this exhibit if you're in/near LA.

I hope for a new RPGMaker game featuring cave exploration enemies inspired by these interesting rock formations.

God, or Cthulhu?

Some of these look pretty cool actually.

I don't see any god though, but I think I saw godzilla hiding in one of those shapes.

The first picture looks like aura quartz to me (crystal with an artificial metal coating). Is it natural?

It’s indeed vacuum deposited metal on natural quartz crystal.

They're minerals, Marie!

Coming across perfect cubes in the wild must be insane

I wonder whether the four valence electrons occupy fixed quantum configurations or tokens for carbon approximating intellectual consciousness in life

I live and I die by the crystals!

pretty crystals are pretty, gonna file this under "cool game dev inspo"

Don't know why, but I think of Aliens instead. Gorgeous pictures!

absolutely stunning

beautiful

Imagine associating god with some minerals.

Not a theist myself, but I can certainly imagine a believer seeing god in all the wonders of nature.

"The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you."

Imagine associating $DEITY with war, slaughter, and destruction. I prefer the mineral $DEITY.

I can get behind a God that just makes cool rocks.

Gabriel: "Hey, God, what's doing?"

God: "Oh, well, I just got a big lump of boron so I'm trying to get it to crystallise out with all this silicon and alumina. If it works I think I'll have the tiny people call it 'tourmaline'. Yeah, look at that stuff, look at it go!"

Have you heard about Islam?

Why wouldn't you? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omphalos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huwasi_stone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baetyl

And yet many early religions associate their local mountain with god(s).

Cthulhu*

The Crystals. They speak to me.

And they say: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfpMknlL-pg

reminds me of a quote from my favorite band: God thinks in the geniuses, he dreams in the poets and he sleeps in the rest of the people

Hank Schrader from breaking bad

"They are not rocks, they are minerals marie"

The shamans would test your ability of spirit by qualifying if you "Know the Stone People". They are the oldest beings, the keepers of deep wisdom and knowledge.

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