Light intensity and its variations reveal deformations in the material.
#science #physics #experiment #doityourself #doityourselfscience #materials #birefringence #photoelasticity #light #greenlight #polarizedlight #setsquare
Got myself a piece of calcite!
#ITeachPhysics #Birefringence #Optics
Today #calcite is on of the competitors in #Mincup24. That's all I need to know: in memory of Ornella I'm in #TeamCalcite, or team #sunstone because of the very high #birefringence of #mineral calcite. First picture is from Ornellas
first MineralCup
#mineral #GeologyWithCats
A contender in this round of #MinCup23, #Calcite comes in several forms, including #Optical Calcite, sometimes called #Iceland Spar or #Iceland Crystal, the strong #birefringence properties are on display in this #photograph as the #crystal creates a small #rainbow-like formation on the right side. This property has made it a candidate for the somewhat mysterious #SunStone from #Viking legend, able to find the Sun despite overcast conditions by looking for the double #refraction.
This form of calcite often cleaves into parallelepiped (parallelogram extended into 3D) sections, such as the one pictured.
Vote in #MinCup23: https://www.mineralcup.org/2023/campaigns/campaigns/campaigns/round-2-match-5
Get a print with this image, or other merchandise at https://heronfox.pixels.com/featured/calcite-specimen-4-heron-and-fox.html
#OpticalCalcite, #IcelandSpar, #Minerology, #VoteCalcite, #Photograph, #MacroPhotography