Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #Apatite
Most recents (4)
I’m totally amused how #quartz is catering the pity vote. All of #MinCup was created to make it feel special, yet every year other minerals win. Poor quartz.
Meanwhile #calcite is both fun & a climate indicator.
Meanwhile #calcite is both fun & a climate indicator.
#Calcite is a mineral with neat optical properties, fizzes with acid, flags your attention when you stumble on to an ancient sea floor in the mountains, was a critical plot point for the premiere of #Stargate #SGU, and tracks climate.
But I lost a bet.
Whoo #quartz.
But I lost a bet.
Whoo #quartz.
So. #Quartz.
It’s most of Earth’s crust. If you’re only learning one mineral, quartz is a good default guess.
I can’t help with ID more than”uh, it’s hard?” unless it happens to be a pointy crystal, but I’ve never found those in the wild. It’s the white bits of granite.
It’s most of Earth’s crust. If you’re only learning one mineral, quartz is a good default guess.
I can’t help with ID more than”uh, it’s hard?” unless it happens to be a pointy crystal, but I’ve never found those in the wild. It’s the white bits of granite.
#Quartz is a perfectly fine mineral and I’m sure you have some nearby. I’ve got a few lovely crystals. Whoo quartz.
But #apatite is in your TEETH. You grow it! You’re synthesizing gems! And it’s on the moon! And is super-shiny!!
But #apatite is in your TEETH. You grow it! You’re synthesizing gems! And it’s on the moon! And is super-shiny!!
Forget ravens & writing desks, apatite inspires the even more surreal riddle of “How is a tooth like a lunar landscape?”
Even better?
#apatite is named for being deceptive (mistaken for quartz, among many others).
Apatite is being all kinds of deceptive about revealing how much water is on the moon. Every few years we get new analysis & updates up & down.
Moon is wetter? Moon is drier? Apatite!
#apatite is named for being deceptive (mistaken for quartz, among many others).
Apatite is being all kinds of deceptive about revealing how much water is on the moon. Every few years we get new analysis & updates up & down.
Moon is wetter? Moon is drier? Apatite!
SIGH. I still can’t believe I have to say nice things about #Quartz this year.
#Quartz starts with a Q, so you can flip to the end of the stack to find it instead of wading around in the endless C’s hunting for #Chalcopyrite
#Quartz has such inexplicably devoted fans that @MineralCup was invented to make them feel better.
#Chalcopyrite doesn’t inspire that steadfast devotion in the face of years of defeat by other minerals.
#Chalcopyrite doesn’t inspire that steadfast devotion in the face of years of defeat by other minerals.
I usually campaign for #Biotite as a sad substitute for #Muscovite, furiously accusing #Apatite as living up to its name as the Great Deceiver.
But mica is still in the cup & Apatite is absolutely #TeamShiny.
But mica is still in the cup & Apatite is absolutely #TeamShiny.
#Biotite is also #TeamShiny and I very much appreciate the easy ID, but with moscovite still in the running I’m cool with it staying in Round 1.
Pro-mica thread from last year:
Pro-mica thread from last year:
Apatite is in your TEETH, which alone is creepy-cool enough to earn your vote.
Mini-thread on apatite x biomineralization:
Mini-thread on apatite x biomineralization:
