Page Index Toggle Pages: 1 Send TopicPrint
Normal Topic Using Specific Gravity to Identify (Read 3032 times)
JoeM
God Member
*****
Offline


I Love YaBB 2.5 AE!

Posts: 4211
Location: Wake County, NC
Joined: Sep 30th, 2010
Gender: Male
Using Specific Gravity to Identify
Jan 26th, 2012 at 10:29am
Print Post  
There are several tests that can be used to try and identify
those rocks you are not sure what they are.
The Scratch Test, to check for the Hardness of the material.
The Streak Test, to see what color the specimen in question
leaves on a clean white piece of unglazed porcelain.
Fluorescence, can be a telling test, especially on specimens
that you are unable to perform either of the above tests on.
And Specific Gravity, which is finding what the "density" of
your specimen is.
All minerals have a calculated designated Relative Density.
This Relative Density (RD), in the past has been called the
Specific Gravity (SG) of a material. Today RD is the preferred
term, but either is still accepted.

Finding the SG/RD of a material is probably the hardest of
all the tests to perform since you have to make a device
to test for it. It is not Rocket Science however and anyone
with access to the needed parts should be able to manage.

Here is a picture of such a home-made device I borrowed
from a member of our local rock club.
It has a small scale as the platform with a small plastic cup
attached and suspended below the platform. The bottom
portion of the plastic milk container to the right is filled with
water and the small plastic cup is submerged so that is not
touching either the sides or bottom.

  

Specific_Gravity_007.jpg ( 216 KB | 103 Downloads )
Specific_Gravity_007.jpg
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
JoeM
God Member
*****
Offline


I Love YaBB 2.5 AE!

Posts: 4211
Location: Wake County, NC
Joined: Sep 30th, 2010
Gender: Male
Re: Using Specific Gravity to Identify
Reply #1 - Jan 26th, 2012 at 10:53am
Print Post  
The four rocks surrounding the quarter in the bottom of the
above picture are our test specimens. Their identity is
supposedly already known.
Starting with the quartz crystal and going clockwise they are;
Quartz Crystal, Polished Quartz, Polished Topaz, and Pyrite.
Below is a closer picture of the test specimens and another
picture of the SG/RD measuring device. There is a specimen,
(not one of the above) on the scale, and the small plastic
cup is now suspended in the water container.
First you weigh your specimen on the scale and get its'
"Dry weight". Then you reset the scale and place the
specimen in the submerged cup for its' "Wet weight".
Then subtract the Wet weight from the Dry weight.
This will give you the "Volume" of your specimen.
Now, to figure the SG/RD of your specimen you simply
divide the Dry weight of your specimen by the Volume.

  

Specific_Gravity_002.jpg ( 214 KB | 74 Downloads )
Specific_Gravity_002.jpg
Specific_Gravity_019.jpg ( 219 KB | 91 Downloads )
Specific_Gravity_019.jpg
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
JoeM
God Member
*****
Offline


I Love YaBB 2.5 AE!

Posts: 4211
Location: Wake County, NC
Joined: Sep 30th, 2010
Gender: Male
Re: Using Specific Gravity to Identify
Reply #2 - Jan 26th, 2012 at 11:23am
Print Post  
So here are our test results.
I will list the correct designated SG/RD for each mineral
after the heading.

Quartz-  SG/RD,  2.65
Quartz Crystal;
Dry7.44 - Wet4.64 = 2.80.  7.44/2.80 = 2.65
Polished Quartz;
Dry5.32 - Wet3.31 = 2.01.  5.32/2.01 = 2.646

Topaz-  SG/RD,  3.4 - 3.6
Dry8.24 - Wet5.90 = 2.34.  8.24/2.34 = 3.521

Pyrite-  SG/RD  4.9 - 5.2, average 5.0
Dry17.84 - Wet14.12 = 3.72.  17.84/3.72 = 4.795

In this test our results for the Pyrite is the only one that
falls considerably outside the designated range. This makes
me want to look up the SG/RD for other possibilities such as
Marcasite or Chalcopyrite.

And one final test.
Pictured below is a cabochon I made out of some of our
local pink Feldspar. There are many types of Feldspar and
I have assumed this would be an Orthoclase.
First I looked up the designated SG/RD for a few types
of Feldspar.

Anaclime-  SG/RD 2.2 - 2.3
Orthoclase-  SG/RD 2.5 - 2.6
Plagioclase-  SG/RD 2.62 - 2.76

Test results on the cabochon;
Dry5.27 - Wet3.20 = 2.07.  5.27/2.07 = 2.5458

Which places it firmly within the range of Orthoclase. Smiley

  

Specific_Gravity_024.jpg ( 256 KB | 113 Downloads )
Specific_Gravity_024.jpg
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Scott LaBorde
RHL Administrator
*****
Offline


"Rock it" science!

Posts: 2975
Location: Wake Forest, NC
Joined: Sep 28th, 2010
Gender: Male
Re: Using Specific Gravity to Identify
Reply #3 - Jan 26th, 2012 at 1:43pm
Print Post  
Very nice report on specific gravity.  That is probably one of the best ways besides x-ray diffraction or spectrograph to get more info. on unidentified rocks.  Excellent!!
  

Scott LaBorde
RockHoundLounge Creator
Back to top
IP Logged
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send TopicPrint