I cracked one of the tiny stones and the inside was black:
I guess the color has been covered by some other minerals or the color on the outside has been changed from weathering. Remember, the color of magnetite is always black.
Also, I did the streak test. The “streak test” is a method used to determine the color of a mineral in powdered form. The color of a mineral’s powder is often a very important for identifying the mineral. The streak test is done by scraping a specimen of the mineral across a piece of unglazed porcelain known as a streak plate. I don’t have a streak plate so I used a scalpel to scratch it and the dust is black. The color of the dust must be black as well.
Today, magnetite is mined as iron, that means I can claim that this is iron.
Well, another mineral is added to my collection. Just a couple more to go and this collection will be finished.
I was just looking around the internet for some cool stuff, and I found something that catches my eye. I found black light.
A blacklight (or often black light), also referred to as a UV-A light, Wood’s lamp, or simply ultraviolet light, is a lamp that emits long-wave (UV-A) ultraviolet light and not much visible light.
Black light fluorescent tubes. The violet glow of a black light is not the UV light itself, which is not visible to the human eye, but visible light that escapes being filtered out by the filter material in the glass envelope.
One type of lamp has a violet filter material, either on the bulb or in a separate glass filter in the lamp housing, which blocks most visible light and allows through UV, so the lamp has a dim violet glow when operating. Blacklight lamps which have this filter have a lighting industry designation that includes the letters “BLB”. This stands for “blacklight blue”, which is a contradiction in that they are the type that does not look blue.
A second type of lamp produces ultraviolet but does not have the filter material, so it produces more visible light and has a blue color when operating. These tubes are made for use in “bug zapper” insect traps, and are identified by the industry designation “BL”.
But I don’t have a blacklight. So I made my own from the internet (man! I can’t live without the internet).Â
Let’s test it by using highlighters.
It worked!
But I found this: Wikipedia says: “Scorpions are also known to glow a vibrant blue-green when exposed to certain wavelengths of ultraviolet light such as that produced by a black light, due to the presence of fluorescent chemicals in the cuticle. One fluorescent component is now known to be beta-carboline. A hand-held UV lamp has long been a standard tool for nocturnal field surveys of these animals. Fluorescence occurs as a result of sclerotisation and increases in intensity with each successive instar. This fluorescence may have an active role in scorpion light detection.”
And I have one! Let’s try it.
I collected this on November 2016. It’s about 12 cm which is quite small.
I wish I have another one to show you how I pinned it.
Nope, it didn’t work. Maybe because the scorpion is dead or I need to use a real black light.
The next thing I wanted to do is to put the highlighter’s ink in water and I would like to compare it with water.
Let’s do it!
It didn’t work well like I thought but at least it’s glowing nicely. Let’s compare it with the water.
Plain water looks nice too.
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What about this experiment? Remember the silver tree? That was a great experiment. Go over there and check it out (here: https://danupondrake.wordpress.com/2017/06/25/the-silver-tree/). The silver nitrate will stick to the copper coil and make crystals. But instead of copper coils, why don’t we try copper coins? It will be fun to try! Let’s get started then!
Let’s some coins from different countries.
Penny (19 mm diameter): The alloy remained 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc until 1982, when the composition was changed to 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper (copper-plated zinc) until now. Cents of both compositions appeared in that year.
50 Satang (Thai baht) (18 mm diameter): The core is 99% iron and cladding is 99% Copper.
10 Yen (Japanese Yen) (23.5 mm diameter): 95% copper, 3–4% zinc, and 1–2% tin.
To hang the coins in the beaker, I used paper clips to hold the coins…
…And tie rubber bands at each paper clips.
I made the solution for the experiment and dipped the coins in there…
Now I just have to wait.
30 Minutes later:
The coins are just turning blacker. So I took the coins out and cleaned them.
The coins look different. The penny turn yellow-orange, the Satang turned darker, and the Yen turned yellow.
But I wonder why…
Maybe bec
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Danupon Drake 