Submitted 3 days ago by negativenull@lemmy.world to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/rock_identification.png
‘Is it worth anything?’ ‘I dunno, is the answer to that question worth another $5?’
At the small college I attended, Geology 101 was known as “Rocks for Jocks” because it was the class jocks took to satisfy their science requirement. In one hallway was a big display board with a bunch of labeled rock samples on it. If you memorized all of them well enough to identify them you were almost guaranteed to pass the final. So there were always football jocks standing there studying that board.
Yeah! Science!
I usually just say something like “look over there!” and sneakily replace the rock they were tasting to the one I want identified
…tasting? 🤔
h-hey you’re a geologist right? can you uh, identify this… rock? for me?
Rocks have distinct textures on the tongue that helps differentiate them. It’s not really tasting
Believe it or not, this is a legit thing. I haven’t done anything much with rocks*, but here’s a good example for soil. If it’s fine grained (smaller than sand) and you can’t see the particles by eye, you can rub some on your teeth:
Buttery texture --> clay Gritty on the teeth --> silt
Not approved for use on contaminated ground!
I bet you warn about Land Wars in Asia, don’t you?
I spent the last two years building up an immunity to garnets in a mica schist.
Scientists are people, too. Give them the McDonald’s money and they’ll do all sorts of cool things for you.
They did not lick it. I don’t trust that expertise
I wish I had some geologist friends.
Can confirm that the method on the right yeilds better results for anyone who asks me.
Speaking of this, my wife has a dark gray rock about the size of a silver dollar she found many years ago in our front yard, within a mile of the shore of Puget Sound. It’s broken, with a reflective crystalline-looking structure inside, and a magnet attracts it. Anybody know how likely it is to be meteoric iron?
Sure as soon as the paypal payment goes through I’ll let you know.
Astrophysicist, not a geologist here. Maybe if you sent a pic I might recognize it. But it’s kind of unlikely, since afaik crystals from under great pressures, which meteorites don’t tend to undergo like that.
Not only under pressure but under very slow cooling as what happens in the centers of asteroids
The rhomboid crystal structure of meteor iron was set long before that particular rock entered our atmosphere and is visible in many, MANY museum pieces.
This can work. But:
"Look at this hand sample I found at a prospective mineral mining source. What sort of resources might we find here? I have included a hefty research grant."
Jesus Christ, Marie. It’s a mineral!
Yo let me get a dime bag of that geology.
I worked in the mining industry for awhile, and we’d just ask the geo to lick the rock to identify it.
The book “Assembling California” by McPhee gives a lot of excellent description about context when it comes to geology. Gets a bit academic at times, but interesting background on California’s crazy geology.
kata1yst@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
Better method:
“Look at this cool agate I found!”
Where “agate” is substituted for any obviously incorrect identification.
Geodad@lemm.ee 3 days ago
Here in Kentucky, it’s likely either agate or coal. There isn’t much else.
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 2 days ago
this is why kentuckees have such great teeth, lots of coalgate
Angry_Autist@lemmy.world 2 days ago
You have some ancient opal but very few people find it
Droechai@lemm.ee 3 days ago
I usually go with meteoric iron, that’s specific enough that they want to take a closer look
pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 2 days ago
This approach does save $5.