Rocks and Minerals B/C

[bhavjain]

How does one tell the diffefence between ulexite and satin spar selenite? They look very similar...

[deji725]

Ulexite is hydrous sodium calcium borate and selenite is hydrous calcium sulfate. Selenite has a monoclinic crystal system while ulexite has a triclinic crystal system. Selenite tends to vary in colors to(white,gray, brown, orange) . Selenite is usually long and fibrous(fracture is fibrous) and Uxlexite is uneven in fracture. Even though lots of people say they both have 2 on Mohs scale, Ulexite is harder than selenite.(Mohs Scale - (U) 2.5 (S)2)

[bfenske]

Is the field guide off the table this year? The rules make no mention, yet I see field guide mentioned in the Wiki. Can students use a field guide for the test?

[John Richardsim]

Is the field guide off the table this year? The rules make no mention, yet I see field guide mentioned in the Wiki. Can students use a field guide for the test?

Huh, I didn't even notice that this year's rules don't include field guides for during competition...

No field guide in competition, as stated in the rules. The wiki is outdated (if someone wanted to be a doll they would go and update that part of the Rocks and Minerals page...).

[Person]

Is the field guide off the table this year? The rules make no mention, yet I see field guide mentioned in the Wiki. Can students use a field guide for the test?

Huh, I didn't even notice that this year's rules don't include field guides for during competition...

No field guide in competition, as stated in the rules. The wiki is outdated (if someone wanted to be a doll they would go and update that part of the Rocks and Minerals page...).

I've added a sentence about that, any need to elaborate?

[Entomology]

First year doing rocks; apologies if I sound stupid.

Should talc be considered as a health problem? There are a lot of sources saying stuff about cancer and respiratory disease etc etc. I'm a bit worried if the talc we use in the classroom is safe to touch excessively (which I did for an hour yesterday). I'm not sure of the exact source of our talc, It may or may not be from the official kits (most likely not).

Thanks!

[Person]

First year doing rocks; apologies if I sound stupid.

Should talc be considered as a health problem? There are a lot of sources saying stuff about cancer and respiratory disease etc etc. I'm a bit worried if the talc we use in the classroom is safe to touch excessively (which I did for an hour yesterday). I'm not sure of the exact source of our talc, It may or may not be from the official kits (most likely not).

Thanks!

I'm pretty sure inhaling too much of it can be dangerous, but I'm not sure if it can be absorbed through the skin.

[Unome]

First year doing rocks; apologies if I sound stupid.

Should talc be considered as a health problem? There are a lot of sources saying stuff about cancer and respiratory disease etc etc. I'm a bit worried if the talc we use in the classroom is safe to touch excessively (which I did for an hour yesterday). I'm not sure of the exact source of our talc, It may or may not be from the official kits (most likely not).

Thanks!

cosmetic grade talc containing no asbestos-like fibres was correlated with tumor formation in rats forced to inhale talc for 6 hours a day, five days a week over at least 113 weeks

I hope you aren't using them that intensively

[-Groundhog-]

First time doing this event. About how much of the information should you be able to know off the top of your head?

[tyasasvi]

Does anyone know a really good field guide I should base my notes off of? Can someone let me just have a peak at their binder cause I never chose an event where you could use a binder? Is their a limit on how many pages the binder may have?