[Jewelry making - Article 00180] - Re: [Orchid] Stones on Demand

[Peter]

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>     The process for making aerogel uses silicone liquids and what is
>     called a sol gel process to make a rubbery solid which is then
>     heated to 600 deg C to burn off the organic and watery parts. A sol
>     gel is rather like non-drip paint inasmuch as it has a loose
>     crystal structure bonded by water and adding a suitable reagent
>     will set it into a proper solid with an opal type structure, which
>     when fired shrinks and solidifies with a high porosity (up to 99%)
>     When making molds for these blocks they have to be careful what
>     they use as the molding compound can be reacted by the process so
>     things like silicone rubber, certain plastics and any quartz based
>     investment plaster are out. 

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerogel 

    says aerogels can also be made from alumina, chromia, tin oxide and
    carbon. Who knows what minerals will be used in these synthetic
    bubbly stones as material science R&D proceeds? 

    Mother Nature makes bubbly stone. Is there any synthetic bubbly
    stone chemists make now or may make in the future, which cannot be
    found somewhere in the cosmos amongst billions of stars x billions of
    galaxies? 

    You know the old trick of pressing an otherwise fragile egg shell
    between your palms. It withstands great force. Isn't it the shape of
    the bubbles which gives bubbly stone its strength? Are "Bucky Balls"
    so strong because of the C in them or because of their shape? 

    There is great variety in the volcanic dusts I am prospecting here
    in the mountains around BC's Fraser Valley. Some of it is considered
    to be "graphitic". Some of it contains a very fine material and toxic
    which I would call soot (my fingers are still swollen from carelessly
    handling some of it). "Fly ash" from industry is also being made into
    synthetic stones now. Some BC volcanic dusts will have future uses in
    artificial stone making I expect. 

PtP
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