Tag: mineral

The Renewable Resource of Urine Powered Electronics

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Urine is rich in minerals and it is believed that this resource will be able to be harnessed and extracted efficiently and cost effectively at some point in the future to produce electrical energy. At the Bristol Robotics Laboratory in the U.K., urine is being studied as a potential energy resource for residential use within the near future (e.g. used to charge a smartphone etc.). Charging a smartphone with urine requires battery like fuel cells with Professor Ioannis Leropoulos (pronounced “yan-iss lee-raw-po-lis”) having developed a system capable of meeting this requirement. The application itself is referred to as “microbial fuel cell” technology, a system which leverages live bacteria to generate electrical current. Urine contains carbon, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, magnesium, and creatinine, all elements which microbes require to continue living and growing which is why this technology functions as it does. The microbial fuel cell’s central tube is porous ceramic, allowing urine to permeate the tube and microbes to colonize it. As the elements of urine are consumed, electrons generated by the microbes are picked up by the cells of opposing wire coils, creating a battery. Not just any microbe will suffice however, as specific microbes are required for this process to be effective. To source the correct microbes, scientists leverage a plethora of microbes available within the natural environment (e.g. lake, pond, river sediment etc.). Each fuel cell produces 1.5 volts of electrical current, and when linked together in series, output can be increased to a level which is useful for daily activities. The system is able to be scaled so that it can be built into future homes, allowing for individuals and families to recycle urine as a means of generating electrical energy. Leropoulos’ work has been funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as well as by the European Commission among others and is close to becoming commercially available as of 2020. For this system to benefit users, separate urinals would be installed but with redirected plumbing to funnel urine away from becoming mixed with common sewage and into a collection container, providing an on demand resource which can be utilized when needed

Ancient Stained Glass Manufacturing

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The manufacturing of stained glass is an ancient technology which dates back so far that the ancient Egyptians knew how to do it 2000 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Medieval Europe inherited this form of technology but did not invent it as is common belief. Deep, rich blue glass was very difficult to make and therefore needed to be imported from southern Italy. The deep blues which the Chartres Cathedral in Chartres, France is so famous for can historically be traced through documentation to fragments coming from the Byzantine Empire as well as the Roman Empire. These imports were melted down and used to create new glass. Most colors and dyes came from the natural world in the forms of roots, berries, barks, leaves, minerals, and crushed insects, but the most prized colors were imported into Europe from the east, specifically India and China using Ottoman trade routes. The simple luck of geography made Venice, Italy an incredibly wealthy city as it acted as a nexus between the east and west. The blue hue referred to as “ultramarine” was the most expensive color to acquire and therefore it was almost always saved for depictions of the Virgin Mary, typically in her cloak or some other form of clothing, as Mary was depicted as the focal point of every painting she appeared within. Ultra Marine came from the mineral of lapis lazuli and when it was ground up into powder, some parts would inevitably become smaller than others which allowed these particles to reflect more light and provide a deeper, richer color to work with and appreciate. Vermillion Red was almost as precious as ultramarine, and has been used in Europe for hundreds of years in various illuminated manuscripts. Made from the mineral cinnabar, vermillion was adopted in places outside of Europe like meso-America for painting, India for bindi dots, and China to create lacquerware

The Early Formation of Earth 

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During the early days of the solar system, dozens of planets orbited the sun. It is thought that these planets collided and with this collision came intense heat which melted and welded rocks and minerals together. It is theorized that Mercury was only hit once hence it’s small size, Mars not at all, Venus 8x, and Earth 10x primarily because Earth it is the largest of the rocky planets. The last impact towards Earth is thought to have occurred 4,500,000,000 (4.5 billion) years ago which gave Earth its iron core; the lighter debris floated back above Earth and rotated around it which gave Earth rings similar to Saturn. Scientists now know that Earth was hit by rocks which came from Mars. It is thought that primitive microbial life would be able to withstand the journey from Mars to Earth. Earth had enough gravity to hold its oceans which allowed for constant changes in weather. It is thought that life began on Earth 4,300,000,000 (4.3 billion) years ago and that life became sophisticated 2,800,000,000 (2.8 billion) years ago. Despite the Earth being hit 6x catastrophically which was once thought to have sterilized all life, primitive life forms lay dormant in suspended animation within the salt rock which was produced from the immense heat during each catastrophic event. The microbes lay waiting until conditions became more favorable at which time they started reproducing and thriving. Scientists tested this first hand by drilling into salt rock which was created during a catastrophic event to release 200,000,000 (200 million) year old sea water which held tiny microbes called asilospermians which were reanimated when left within a nutrient rich solution for 4 months

The Reason Quartz and Gold are Found Together

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The California gold rush during the 1840’s caused hundreds of thousands of people to engage in mass migration. After any gold laying upon the surface had been excavated, miners dug into the ground to continue in their search. Miners surveyed for quartz veins as quartz virtually always meant that gold was nearby. Most gold sinks into the Earth’s core with other heavy metals like iron but occasionally, some gold remains with lighter minerals like quartz which is why gold can often be found imbedded inside of quartz. The reason gold nestles in with quartz is because earthquakes cause natural fissures to occur which provide pathways for superheated water containing minerals. This mineral packed water then cools down and the minerals carried within the flooded cracks left from the fissures, crystallize

Dating Pottery Using Thermoluminescence

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The dating of pottery artifacts can be accurately performed by using a technique referred to as “thermoluminescence”. Thermoluminescence involves taking a small sample of an artifact of pottery and heating it up using doses of high energy radiation which creates excited electron states in crystalline materials like pottery. In some materials, these electron states are trapped or arrested for extended periods of time by a localized defect, or imperfection. In terms of the quantum world, these states are stationary states which have no formal time dependence, however they are not stable energetically and when the material is heated it enables these trapped energy states to interact with photons to rapidly decay into lower energy states, causing the emission of photons in the process. The photons are measured and dependent of how many escape, a specified measurement of the total age can be determined. This technique can be used on most minerals and is the only method available to provide exact dating in respect to pottery as the results yielded do not have to be compared against a comparison artifact. Certain minerals store energy from the sun at a known rate and this energy is lodged in the imperfect lattices of a mineral’s crystals. Heating these crystals when creating pottery empties the stored energy reserves, after which time the mineral begins absorbing energy again. Thermoluminescence dating is a matter of comparing the current energy stored in a crystal to what should be there had not pottery not been heated during the creation process thereby establishing a “last heated during” marker or date