Rocks & Minerals B/C

[ali941]

I think malachite is a bit brighter than that... amazonite is possible, though. Quartz is probably correct. Does anyone have an idea about that kinda pale orangish mineral? It's most noticeable in the last photo. Topaz perhaps?

[alwaysphonehome]

does anyone think that they'll change the rocks list for next year? or will it stay the same as last year (and to my knowledge, the year before that)?

[inluvwyth_WANTED]

The same I think. Because they had the same list from the last time Rocks was like in 2008

[iYOA]

Thank you so much for answering! I just got totally unrelated searches or material that I didn't understand. Thanks again.

No problem. I'm just surprised it came up, that seems like it's way beyond the scope of the event. I mean, I love mineralogy and I like educating people about it, but having microscopy coming up in a jr. high event seems weird.

do you think microscopy would be fair game for div.C?

[gneissisnice]

Thank you so much for answering! I just got totally unrelated searches or material that I didn't understand. Thanks again.

No problem. I'm just surprised it came up, that seems like it's way beyond the scope of the event. I mean, I love mineralogy and I like educating people about it, but having microscopy coming up in a jr. high event seems weird.

do you think microscopy would be fair game for div.C?

It really shouldn't come up at all during the event, it's not in the rules and it's definitely advanced. Still, event writers have been known to be not follow the rules all the time, so it couldn't hurt to know the basics. They definitely won't give you a petrographic microscopic and ask you to analyze anything though, because 1) it's WAY too time consuming and 2) petrographic microscopes are really expensive.

For division C, I would know stuff about symmetry and crystal systems though, I wouldn't be surprised if that came up.

[iYOA]

It really shouldn't come up at all during the event, it's not in the rules and it's definitely advanced. Still, event writers have been known to be not follow the rules all the time, so it couldn't hurt to know the basics. They definitely won't give you a petrographic microscopic and ask you to analyze anything though, because 1) it's WAY too time consuming and 2) petrographic microscopes are really expensive.

For division C, I would know stuff about symmetry and crystal systems though, I wouldn't be surprised if that came up.

thanks!

Also, are there any other topics like symmetry and crystal systems which you think could come up and would merit their own station?

[gneissisnice]

It really shouldn't come up at all during the event, it's not in the rules and it's definitely advanced. Still, event writers have been known to be not follow the rules all the time, so it couldn't hurt to know the basics. They definitely won't give you a petrographic microscopic and ask you to analyze anything though, because 1) it's WAY too time consuming and 2) petrographic microscopes are really expensive.

For division C, I would know stuff about symmetry and crystal systems though, I wouldn't be surprised if that came up.

thanks!

Also, are there any other topics like symmetry and crystal systems which you think could come up and would merit their own station?

The only things I can think of besides just rock and mineral ID and questions about the samples would be Bowen's Reaction Series and crystal systems.

Bowen's Reaction Series is pretty simple, and as long as you have a chart in your binder and understand what it means, you should be fine.

For crystal systems, I would learn the different symmetry elements (mirror planes, rotation axes, etc.) and what symmetry elements are seen in each crystal system. I would also know what each crystal system is; they can all be described by saying how many sides have equal length and how many angles are equal to 90°. For example, you could describe isometric as a = b = c and all angles are 90°, while tetragonal is a = b =/= c and all angles are 90°. Again, a chart in your binder would be helpful.

Also, I was looking through a few old events, and one of the event writers just LOVES to ask about gold mining. He puts these ridiculously stupid questions like "How much gold has been mined in the history of Earth to the nearest ounce" and "At $1200 a troy ounce, how much money is all of that gold worth to the nearest dollar". Absurd questions to ask on a Rocks and Mineral exam, but if it's the same writer, he seems to be enamored of that question because I've seen it on two past National exams, including last year's. Just keep that in mind as a potential question.

That's about all I can think of.

[Paleofreakazoid]

Nationals peeps:

How was the rock test for C division? Really wish I could have been there

[iYOA]

rocks test was interesting

it was 20 stations with 2 min/station. I think in general it was pretty easy and the scores were probably bunched up. I have a feeling the samples got mixed up in their cups though...

He intentionally put samples that werent on the list b/c he wanted us to flip through the field guide and figure out what they were.
The questions related to bowen's rxn series were all trivia and i think that part could have been better. The crystallography station was just identifying the different crystal systems.

Overall, it was all right. but i think last year's test was much better.

[Luo]

Yeah, I don't think it was appropriate for a nationals test to be 1/3-1/2 straight-up identification like it was this year. Last year, identification was implicit instead of explicit, and I think that was a much better gauge of teams' in-depth knowledge and preparation than this year's trivia speed-fest. We actually filed an appeal about the supervisor including samples not on the official list without advance notice, because that is a direct violation of rule 3e. I'm not sure whether the appeal was accepted though.