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What is a science experiment involving lapidary?
By 1a2b | January 31, 2012
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January 31st, 2012 at 7:12 pm
A lapidary is an artist or artisan who forms stone, mineral, gemstones, and other suitably durable materials into decorative items such as engraved gems, including cameos, or cabochons, and faceted designs.
A secondary meaning of lapidary is pertaining to, about, “of inscriptions.” Since inscriptions were laboriously chiselled to stone, a “lapidary” writing style is crisp, accurate, formal, and condensedan who forms stone, mineral, gemstones, and other suitably durable materials into decorative items such as engraved gems, including cameos, or cabochons, and faceted designs.
An experiment could be regarding the hardness of materials. Color of stones is another idea for study. drilling is often necessary to form beads, crystals and ability to drill could be another study.
January 31st, 2012 at 7:26 pm
The advancing glacier acts like an enormous rock tumbler, abrading, fracturing, and rough-polishing the agates and other stones. Also, wind and water and blowing sand can, over time, rub away the rough edges of rocks, leaving smooth stones. A rock tumbler simulates weathering by mixing the stones with several types of grit to rub away the roughness, just like rocks “tumbled” with sand in an ocean or river.
A good science experiment could be to compare the effects of weathering on different gemstones by using a rock tumbler. The sample sizes and amount of time in the tumbler would have to be equivalent. Of course, the amount of “weathering” in a rock tumbler would be related to the hardness of the gem/mineral.
One could do a comparison “before” and “after” display of the different types of gemstones, in their rough state and in their polished state.