Tag: brown

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I Found the Answer

I Found the Answer

Finally, I found what this is:

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I cracked one of the tiny stones and the inside was black:

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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.

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Today, magnetite is mined as iron, that means I can claim that this is iron.

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Well, another mineral is added to my collection. Just a couple more to go and this collection will be finished.

 

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Is this Iron or Magnetite?

Is this Iron or Magnetite?

Today I wanted to identify this brown dust. I found the dust by me. I accidentally dropped a magnet on the ground and the dust sticks to the magnet. So I collected it to perform some experiments with it. So in this post, I’m going to identify this dust. Let’s perform some tests.

This dust could be two things:

Magnetite: Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores. It is one of the oxides of iron. Magnetite is ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetized to become a permanent magnet itself. It is the most magnetic of all the naturally-occurring minerals on Earth. Naturally-magnetized pieces of magnetite, called lodestone, will attract small pieces of iron, which is how ancient peoples first discovered the property of magnetism.

Magnetite is very easy to identify. It is one of just a few minerals that are attracted to a common magnet. It is a black, opaque, sub metallic to a metallic mineral with a Mohs hardness between 5 and 6.5. It is often found in the form of isometric crystals.

But magnetite is brown and my dust is brown…

Iron: Elemental iron occurs in meteoroids and other low oxygen environments, but is reactive to oxygen and water. Fresh iron surfaces appear lustrous silvery-gray but oxidize in normal air to give hydrated iron oxides, commonly known as rust.

My dust is brown, so it be iron.

The dust has tiny chunks of stone in there too.

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1. Magnet Test:

I used a rare earth magnet to see if it attracts. Of course, that’s how I found it. This could mean that it’s iron or magnetite.

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2. Iron Test:

I poured the Dust onto a Petri dish. And I mixed a chain of paper clips in there. And it turns out that tiny pieces of the dust are on the paper clips. This probably means that the dust is magnetite.

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I tried to make the tiny stones stick onto the paper clips but didn’t work.

3. Reacting to Magnet Test:

When I used the forceps to carry a piece of tiny stone onto a piece of paper, some of the dust is sticking onto the stone! 20170731_203351

Let’s ignore that for now.

I wrapped a magnet in a plastic bag, in case the dust sticks on it (you wouldn’t be able to take the dust of the magnet. If you take off the plastic bag, the dust will come off).

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I took the north pole of the magnet and hover it over the small stone. The dust on the stone is attracting to the magnet, but some of them don’t. When I used the south pole of the magnet, the dust that isn’t attracting to the north pole is attracting to the south pole.

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After all of these tests, I think the dust is tiny pieces of magnetite. But I’m not sure, because magnetite is black. My final answer is: I don’t know… Scientists shouldn’t publish the results when they’re not sure. And that’s why my answer is I don’t know.

I’ll need to do some more tests with it to make sure…

What do you think it is? Let me know in the comment section↓

Sources:

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

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=how+to+identify+magnetite&rlz=1C1CHBD_enTH751TH751&oq=how+&aqs=chrome.1.69i59l3j69i57j69i60l2.3385j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=what+color+is+iron&rlz=1C1CHBD_enTH751TH751&oq=what+color+is+iron&aqs=chrome..69i57.8591j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

 

 

 

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The Browning Reaction of Apples

The Browning Reaction of Apples

We’ve all been there; you leave a few apple slices out too long or take too long to eat your way around an apple, and you’re confronted with an unpleasant sight. Your once crispy, juicy white apple has turned a dismal shade of brown. I’ll show what causes it and how to stop it from turning brown.

Things you’ll need: An apple, a knife, salt water, vinegar, tap water, and 3 cups.

  1. Cut the apple into four pieces.
  2. Dip the pieces of the apples into salt water, vinegar, tap water, and leave the last piece by itself.
  3. Wait five minutes.
  4. The apple that has been dipped in the vinegar should be the brownest, the apple in tap water should be the second brownest, the apple that is touching air should be the third brownest, and the saltwater piece should be the least brownest.

    Click on picture to make bigger

When an apple is cut (or bruised), oxygen is introduced into the injured plant tissue. When oxygen is present in cells, polyphenol oxidase (PPO) enzymes in the chloroplasts rapidly oxidize phenolic compounds naturally present in the apple tissues to o-quinones, colorless precursors to brown-colored secondary products. O-quinones then produce the well documented brown color by reacting to form compounds with amino acids or proteins, or they self-assemble to make polymers.

The phenolic compounds work well in PH 5.8 – 6.8 and that why the piece of apple that has vinegar is the brownest and browner than tap water.

The way to stop turning it brown is by putting salt water or sugar on it.

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