Jeff Lawrence on tue 28 apr 98
Hello Clayartists!
A big advantage of living in Los Alamos is that scientific expertise is
regarded as a sort of local pest. People usually animated conversationalists
avert their eyes and mumble as they admit to successful doctoral studies.
Diplomas are so common they are spread on the floor for young dogs. A
pure-bred puppy gets only Ivy League paper, of course.
I asked Rob (PhD Chemistry) about the unsettling settling of volcanic ash
and he punted to Dave (PhD Geology) who seemed to know these very strata by
heart.
He ascribed the self-adhesion to the nature of amorphous silica. Since we
are 20 miles from the Valles caldera (the source for all that Great Plains
ash) anything that settled here was fresh from the source. The ash on top
apparently lacked the mass to hold the sufficient heat to keep the silica
molten. So the silica froze up in a glassy, amorphous state rather than in
crystals. When you break crystals of silica, like quartz, you end up with
lots of little bits where all the chemical bonds remain satisfied. When you
break up an amorphous form, apparently the broken bonds leave big
unsatisfied charges, attractive to other bits of opposite charge. So, these
little electric (?) charges make the little chunks want to come together wet
or dry. Dave further said smaller batches will probably work in the ball
mill, and then gave instructions for exactly the butter-churn cullet crusher
Richard Gralnik described.
Now that I'm off the phone, I wish I'd asked him why you don't get the same
effect with bottle glass.
A couple of things I've learned:
1. Mike McDowell caught my typo -- the analysis was 12.16% Al2O3, not 2.16 -
thanks!
2. The orange tuff fires gray in oxidation; I thought it was weathered iron
that gave it the color, but was mighty surprised! Dave said it might be
finely dispersed manganese.
3. "Lithic-rich pyroclastic flow" is geologospeak for "lots of little rocks
in stuff the volcano swallowed and then burped back up undigested." To my
chagrin, they contain no lithium.
More later -- I start another reduction test manana por la noche.
Jeff
Jeff Lawrence
jml@sundagger.com
Sun Dagger Design
Rt 3 Box 220
Espanola, NM 87532
ph 505-753-5913
John H. Rodgers on thu 30 apr 98
-- [ From: John H. Rodgers * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --
I just saw the mention of the "butter-churn cullet crusher" in you post and
guess I have missed something somewhere as I am haveing a few problems with
my system. What is this critter and are any drawings available anywhere?
Sorry if this a a call to rehash what has already passed!
Thanks,
John Rodgers
In Alabama
-------- REPLY, Original message follows --------
Date: Tuesday, 28-Apr-98 10:01 AM
From: Jeff Lawrence \ Internet: (jml@roadrunner.com)
To: Clayart \ Internet: (clayart@lsv.uky.edu)
Subject: Volcanic Ash Riddle #1 resolved
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Hello Clayartists!
A big advantage of living in Los Alamos is that scientific expertise is
regarded as a sort of local pest. People usually animated conversationalists
avert their eyes and mumble as they admit to successful doctoral studies.
Diplomas are so common they are spread on the floor for young dogs. A pure-
bred puppy gets only Ivy League paper, of course.
I asked Rob (PhD Chemistry) about the unsettling settling of volcanic ash
and he punted to Dave (PhD Geology) who seemed to know these very strata by
heart.
He ascribed the self-adhesion to the nature of amorphous silica. Since we
are 20 miles from the Valles caldera (the source for all that Great Plains
ash) anything that settled here was fresh from the source. The ash on top
apparently lacked the mass to hold the sufficient heat to keep the silica
molten. So the silica froze up in a glassy, amorphous state rather than in
crystals. When you break crystals of silica, like quartz, you end up with
lots of little bits where all the chemical bonds remain satisfied. When you
break up an amorphous form, apparently the broken bonds leave big
unsatisfied charges, attractive to other bits of opposite charge. So, these
little electric (?) charges make the little chunks want to come together wet
or dry. Dave further said smaller batches will probably work in the ball
mill, and then gave instructions for exactly the butter-churn cullet crusher
Richard Gralnik described.
Now that I'm off the phone, I wish I'd asked him why you don't get the same
effect with bottle glass.
A couple of things I've learned:
1. Mike McDowell caught my typo -- the analysis was 12.16% Al2O3, not 2.16 -
thanks!
2. The orange tuff fires gray in oxidation; I thought it was weathered iron
that gave it the color, but was mighty surprised! Dave said it might be
finely dispersed manganese.
3. "Lithic-rich pyroclastic flow" is geologospeak for "lots of little rocks
in stuff the volcano swallowed and then burped back up undigested." To my
chagrin, they contain no lithium.
More later -- I start another reduction test manana por la noche.
Jeff
Jeff Lawrence
jml@sundagger.com
Sun Dagger Design
Rt 3 Box 220
Espanola, NM 87532
ph 505-753-5913
-------- REPLY, End of original message --------
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