Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Constituents of sand

The most common constituent of sand, in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal settings, is silica (silicon dioxide, or SiO2), typically in the form of quartz, which, because of its chemical inertness and considerable hardness, is resistant to weathering. The composition of sand varies according to local rock sources and conditions. The bright white sands originate in tropical and subtropical coastal settings are ground-up limestone. Arkose is a sand or sandstone with significant feldspar content which is derived from the weathering and erosion of a (usually nearby) granite. Some locations have sands that contain magnetite, chlorite, glauconite or gypsum. Sands rich in magnetite are dark to black in color, as are sands derivative from volcanic basalts. The chlorite-glauconite bearing sands are usually green in color, as are sands derived from basalts (lavas) with a high olivine content. The gypsum sand dunes of the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico are famous for their bright, white color. Sand deposits in some areas have garnets and other resistant minerals, with some small gemstones.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Granite

Granite is a common and generally occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock.
Granites are frequently medium to coarse grained, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the groundmass forming a rock known as porphyry. Granites can be pink to dark gray or even black, depending on their chemistry and mineralogy.
Outcrops of granite tend to form tors, rounded massifs, and terrains of smoothed boulders cropping out of flat, sandy soils. Granites sometimes take place in circular depressions surrounded by a range of hills, formed by the metamorphic aureole or hornfels.
Granite is nearly always massive, hard and tough, and it is for this reason it has gained widespread use as a building stone.
The word granite comes from the Latin granum, a grain, in situation to the coarse-grained structure of such a crystalline rock.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Heart cancer

Heart cancer is an very rare form of cancer of the heart. Heart cancer is separated into primary tumors of the heart and secondary tumors of the heart. Most heart cancers are benign of myxomas, fibromas, rhabdomyomas and hamartomas, although malignant sarcomas (such as angiosarcoma or cardiac sarcoma) have been well-known to occur. In a learning of 12,487 autopsies performed in Hong Kong seven cardiac tumors were found, most of which were benign. However, cancer can also reach to heart from other parts of the body. In addition the heart can be affected by handling for cancer in other parts of the body.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Diamond

Diamonds do not show all of their attractiveness as rough stones; instead, they must be cut and polished to exhibit the characteristic fire and intensity that diamond gemstones are known for. Diamonds are cut into a variety of shapes that are commonly designed to accentuate these features.Diamonds which are not cut to the specifications of round brilliant shape (or subsequent variations) are known as "fancy cuts." Popular fancy cuts include the baguette (from the French, meaning rod or loaf of bread), marquise, princess (square outline), heart, briolette (a form of the rose cut), and pear cuts. Newer cuts that have been introduced into the jewelry industry are the "cushion" "radiant"(similar to princess cuts, but with rounded edges instead of square edges) and "Asscher" cuts. Many fancy colored diamonds are now being cut according to these new styles. Generally speaking, these "fancy cuts" are not held to the same strict standards as Tolkowsky-derived round brilliants and there are less specific mathematical guidelines of angles which determine a well-cut stone. Cuts are influenced heavily by fashion: the baguette cut—which accentuates a diamond's luster and downplays its fire—was all the rage during the Art Deco period, whereas the princess cut—which accentuates a diamond's fire rather than its luster—is currently gaining popularity. The princess cut is also popular amongst diamond cutters: of all the cuts, it wastes the least of the original crystal. The past decades have seen the development of new diamond cuts, often based on a modification of an existing cut. Some of these include extra facets. These newly developed cuts are viewed by many as more of an attempt at brand differentiation by diamond sellers, than actual improvements to the state of the art

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Infrared

Infrared (IR) emission is electromagnetic emission of a wavelength longer than that of noticeable light, but shorter than that of radio waves. The name means "below red" (from the Latin infra, "below"), red being the color of detectable light of longest wavelength. Infrared radiation spans three instructions of magnitude and has wavelengths between about 750 nm and 1 mm.

These divisions are suitable by the different human response to this radiation: near infrared is the area closest in wavelength to the radiation detectable by the human eye, mid and far infrared are gradually further from the visible regime. Other definitions follow different physical mechanisms (emission peaks, vs. bands, water absorption) and the newest follow technical reasons (The common silicon detectors are sensitive to about 1,050 nm, while Inga As sensitivity starts around 950 nm and ends between 1,700 and 2,600 nm, depending on the specific configuration). Unfortunately the international standards for these specifications are not currently obtainable.

The boundary between visible and infrared light is not precisely defined. The human eye is markedly less responsive to light above 700 nm wavelength, so longer frequencies make irrelevant contributions to scenes illuminated by common light sources. But particularly strong light (e.g., from lasers, or from bright daylight with the visible light removed by colored gels [1]) can be detected up to approximately 780 nm, and will be apparent as red light. The onset of infrared is defined (according to different standards) at different values typically between 700 nm and 780 nm.