Guest guest Posted July 17, 2001 Report Share Posted July 17, 2001 This should be a lesson about all the technical scientific stuff about rocks and crystals and piezoelectricity and such, but that is not my strong suit so I'm probably just going to skim or skip over a lot of that for the time being until it jells. Our main focus here is on the mystical and healing side of crystals but most of us would like know a little bit about the more concrete side as well sometimes knowing about the origins of a kind of stone can give us guidance in working with it . Rocks can be placed in three groups for convenience : Igneous rocks including Granite ,rhyolite, obsidian, and basalt are formed by the solidification of molten magma that emerges via volcanic activity and emerges or erupts through vents or fissures in the Earth's Crust The nature and properties of these crystals vary greatly depending in part on the conditions under which the magma solidified . fast cooling creates rocks that tend not to have crystals slower cooling can give similar kinds of atoms trapped in the magma time to find each other and form crystals There are thousands of different kinds of igneous rocks Sedimentary rocks such as limestone , sandstone, shales, halites coals, and gypsum are formed by the accumulation of " sediments " these are fine rock particles or fragments, skeletons of microscopic organisms, or minerals leached from rocks that have accumulated from weathering. These sediments have been redeposited under water and were later compressed in layers over time and are classed as either evaporative (often water soluble ) or organic sedimentary rocks Metamorphic rocks such as marble, slate , schist, gneiss and quartzite are formed by the alteration of igneous and sedimentary rocks through heat and/or pressure . These physical and/or chemical changes to rocks maybe exemplified by the formation of marble from thermal changes that have occurred to limestone. What is the difference between a rock and a mineral? a mineral is defined as a substance that must have all four of these characteristics , it must be found in nature , it must not be made of anything that has ever been alive (organic), it has the same chemical makeup wherever it is found and its atoms are arranged in regular patterns and form crystals. it is solid Rocks are sometimes defined as an aggregate or combination of one or more minerals and the definition is extended to cover clay ,loose sand and certain limestones. Crystal a crystal is a uniform body with a geometric lattice. the varying structures of the lattice are the causes of the varying physical properties of the crystals and therefore also of the minerals and gems. One way gemstones are classified is by hardness, both scratch hardness and cutting resistance while the Mohs scale of hardness developed by Frederich Mohs (1773-1839) is made somewhat obsolete by modern technology an idea of the general hardness of a stone and whether it is brittle helps you to protect your stones from damage and can help with identification from softest to hardest the Mohs scale 1 Talc 2 Gypsum 3 Calcite 4 Fluorite 5 Apatite 6 Orthoclase 7 Quartz 8 Topaz 9 Corundum 10 Diamond ( some of this is adapted from " The Handy Science Answer Book " and from package notes from several little rock collection kits and Gemstones of the world by Walter Schumann) Solarraven ~ Peggy Jentoft -- Heretic Sanctuary, workshops, Reiki manuals http://people.we.mediaone.net/skygreen/index.html Huna, Angels, Crystals,fairies, the aura, spirituality http://www.geocities.com/solarraven/index.html Sparrows Fairyland, art http://www.geocities.com/pjentoft/index.html Spirited emotion: http://members.tripod.com/~sunsparrow/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 20, 2001 Report Share Posted July 20, 2001 > Igneous rocks > Sedimentary rocks > Metamorphic rocks I had an odd little flash. (I get those, LOL.) Igneous = Cardinal (in astrology) Sedimentary = fixed Metamorphic = mutable As above, so below. I dunno...I've had astrology on the brain lately. I'm finally starting to halfway understand it. ^_~ Love, Estara Korai Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 20, 2001 Report Share Posted July 20, 2001 Estara Korai wrote: > > Igneous rocks > > Sedimentary rocks > > Metamorphic rocks > I had an odd little flash. (I get those, LOL.) > Igneous = Cardinal (in astrology) > Sedimentary = fixed > Metamorphic = mutable > As above, so below. Great I love it makes sense peggy -- Heretic Sanctuary, workshops, Reiki manuals http://people.we.mediaone.net/skygreen/index.html Huna, Angels, Crystals,fairies, the aura, spirituality http://www.geocities.com/solarraven/index.html Sparrows Fairyland, art http://www.geocities.com/pjentoft/index.html Spirited emotion: http://members.tripod.com/~sunsparrow/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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