On this St Paddy's day, malachite, especially this form of the copper carbonate hydroxide replacing the limestone of stalactites or stalagmites, is our featured green mineral.
Malachite's name derives from the Greek Μολοχίτης λίθος molochitis lithos, "mallow-green stone", from μολόχη molōchē, variant of μαλάχη malāchē, "mallow". The mineral was given this name due to its resemblance to the leaves of the mallow plant. You've likely seen these (marsh) mallows ;-) before:
The resembance to other forms of malachite is remarkable:
Malachite is fairly common and was used as a mineral pigment in green paints from antiquity until the 19th century. The pigment is moderately light-fast, very sensitive to acid, and varies in color.
It has also been used extensively in jewelry (with no shellacking ;-)):
One of the greatest occurrences of malachite is in the Ural Mountains in Russia. It is mined fairly easily with other copper minerals, especially azurite.
Uploading images on Blogger has been hiccuping here all night--must be the green beer at the local Irish pub.
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Enjoy all the green today and all the way into spring!
Happy St Paddy's Day all ye Malachites!
Steph
And footware for 3/17 is now easy as pi:
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Enjoy all the green today and all the way into spring!
Happy St Paddy's Day all ye Malachites!
Steph
And footware for 3/17 is now easy as pi:
The mallow plant reminds me of a favorite boyhood candy bar, the Mallow Cup. The cardboard inside the wrapping was printed with a coin valued from 1 cent to a dollar. Save $5, send them to the Brothers Boyer, and receive a 10-pack carton of Mallow Cups in the mail!
ReplyDeleteThe Boyer brothers (baseball, not candy) were both playing third base for classic teams around this time and, later, against each other Civil war-like in the 1964 Fall classic.
The colorful pictures on this blog make Puzzleria! green with envy! Green agates!
EmeraldLegossi
I'd not heard of Mallo Cups before. . . and saw they were acquired by American Maize Products. Were they (are they) good? And hopefully, not green?
DeleteEmerald Legossi had me green with envy.
They still make 'em, smaller and more expensive, of course. But they are still scrumptious. There's always room for Mall-o.
DeleteAmerican Maizie!? is that a subdivision of Noosa Products Inc.?
LegoJoeSkedaddlePaddy!
Yes, I believe it is, Lego.
DeleteHappy birthday your wife, jan!
^^^ to
DeleteI'd always assumed that malachite was names for the Old Testament prophet. Or at least, for the protagonist of Kurt Vonnegut's Sirens of Titan (speaking of gas giant planets, as we often are).
ReplyDeleteSo, Steph, you're saying that footwear for 3/17 is as easy as 22/7? Subtract 1 from the 3, move it over to the denominator, and double the numerator? Now, that's reallynew math!
I thought that about the Old Testament too, jan.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's pretty fancy new math. . .and what is it about minerals and rocks that inspires footwear (see also migmatite flip-flops)?
I thought that about the Old Testament too, jan.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's pretty fancy new math. . .and what is it about minerals and rocks that inspires footwear (see also migmatite flip-flops)?
Continuing last week's theme...
ReplyDeleteBest fishy doppelgänger for my money.
Delete'Twould have been better if it were a new species of gecko named Greedo.
DeleteLegordon
Agreed. Although now I cannot shake the image of a Gecko named Greedo in a Speedo. . .Thanks, Lego ;-)
DeleteSNOW CARROTS
ReplyDeleteOn one of those days after it had snowed carrots and dogs, if the carrots were sufficiently "packy" we would roll them into giant orange spheres, stack 'em one upon another and build a giant "carrotman." We used an actual stovepipe for his hat. Real hats were to small. Once, we filched a giant ad-display corncob pipe from our local smoke shop and stuck it in our carrotman's maw.
ReplyDeleteBut we could never find anything big enough for his nose. These snow carrots woulda been perfect!
LegoThe20CarrotFrostyIcePalace
This amazing Rosetta photo feature on the NY Times site today inspired me to check out the ESA's mission site, which has even more info and pictures. Kind of a "mountain and Mohammed" counterpoint to snow carrots.
ReplyDeleteWow! Now I'm counting down the days to the perihelion, also! Great music on the Rosetta site. I also like the clear and crisp typeface. Any idea what typeface it is?
DeleteI think it's Google's Open Sans.
DeleteThanks. The lowercase rosetta in that typeface works very well.
DeleteGuesses on the meaning of duoliteral (without googling)? It surprised me.
ReplyDeleteOK, without googling or consulting any reference book, I'll say "consisting of two letters, like as, if, be, we, in, to, of, ..."
DeleteAa, oh, ya! Fa bu lo us, Pa ul.
DeleteTide of the 18 years Perhaps the geology of Mont Ste. Michel will be a future PEOTS topic. How did that lump of granite make it to the surface so far from the coast of France?
ReplyDeleteLook who's the poster child for a new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, our tardigrade amigos! Good choice.
DeleteNew post is out there (way out there): "A Picture a Day Picnic: Down the NASA Rabbit Hole with the Pelican Nebula and Opals"
ReplyDelete