Elemental Silver

Elemental Silver

Elemental silver is silver that is not chemically combined with any other substances, minerals.

Silver is listed on the Periodic Table as an element with an atomic weight of 47 and is lustrous, a transition metal, shiny or white.  Its symbol is Ag.  It exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and reflectivity of any metal.

I bought this "card" of elemental silver samples in June at the fair grounds.  The come from Bulldog Mtn., Creede, Colorado.

According to geology.com Elemental Silver is rare.

Elemental Silver

When found, it is often in the same location with quartz, gold, copper, sulfides of other metals, arsenides of other metals, and other silver minerals.  As I stated above, elemental silver is a pure element.

 

Brochantite

Brochantite

This sample comes to us from "near Paoli", Pauls valley, Oklahoma.  The field of view is 1.25mm.  The Chemical formula is Cu4So4(OH)6.  As you can see here its colors can be green, emerald green, or black.  It is a sulfate minera. and is a common product of corrosion of bronze sculptures.

Brochantite

 It was named for Andr`e Brochant de Villers by Serve-dieu Abailard L`evy in August 1772.  The Type Locality:  Mednorudyanskoye Cu Deposit, Nizhnii Tagil, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia.

Brochantite

I've read that it can be used in Healing:  may be used for water retention to get rid of free-radical oxides and offer protection from environmental contaminates.  It may be used  for treatment of the pancreas, prostate, spleen and to balance the flow of blood in the body.

Kisling Slide Show Part 2

Kisling Slide Show Part 2

This is hard work.  I know because I have worked on a farm up until age 18.  Many of us don't respect farmers but we should because they grow our food at great financial risk.  We should be thankful to them.  I know people who lived and grew up on a farm and still know little if nothing about them.  That is hard for me to understand!

I will try and get back to microphotomacrography now.  This project has caused me to get way behind from my three day goal of publishing this.  Sorry.

Kisling Slide Show Part 1

My Neighbor, Keith Kisling, gratiously allowed me to photograph on his farm.  For his kindness, I am deeply grateful.  I'm in the process of cleaning things up a "Larry's Images" in the office and workroom.  This slide show is my way of showing gratitude.  I have gone through thousands of images, I have more than 25,000 catalogued presently and found ~ 600 which include images of Keith's operation, farm, crops, and assorted other images which I thought might interest him.  I would like to share them with you also if you care to look.  Wish me luck.  I am unsure how I will do that on the this platform.

Title Slide

While I was waiting for the conversion to complete, I became thankful that I have been able to spend my life as I have.  I realized a new outlook.  I once felt that I have done some dumb things.  I no longer feel that way.  I have struggled to keep that which is truly relevant a top priority and for the most part succeeded.  It has been a privilege for me to be me.  I have contributed to this world and am grateful for having had that chance.

Keith is busy right now with his harvest.  Later he will have more time to view these.

Depth of Field in photomicrography

chalcotrichite

 Do you recognize this sample from a previous blog?  What is the more or less vertical line through the left side of the frame?

It is the only part of the frame which is in focus.  How do you do that?  You can't set you depth of field that shallow.  This is a shot from a stack of images.  The stack captures multiple shots each one close to the vertical line in the one above.  It continues until the entire frame has been captured with each part of it in focus.  Special software takes all of the captures and uses just the in focus parts to make an entire image that is in focus.

chalcotrichite

Some of the major software used for this is Helicon Focus and Zerene Stacker.  There are others also.  I'm told that Photoshop does this now but I haven't tried it.

See if you can see the "ridge" in the totally in foxus image above.

I made the capture of this stack with a Pentax 200mm having a Nikon 10x objective mounted at the front.  The field of view, horizontally, is 2.25mm.

Camera Setup

This is how the 10x is mounted on the front of the lens.  This is a different objective but I think you get the idea.

GNC Fall Colors 2015

CNC Rainbow

It's Autumn and time to look for fall color.  We may not have a colorful time this year  so I thought I would share color from 2015.

            

Thoughts on Global Warming

Leaf on Ice

Global Warming

I've read that global warming has ocurred periodically as long as history records the weather.  Extenctions have been associated with it in the past as they will be this time.  I read a report about ice cores that makes a strong case for the effects that this global warming event are much more threatening because of our use of fossil fuels and the CO2 emissions associated with that use.  Scientists can track history from ice cores drilled at the poles. They can obtain air samples from whatever the historical period they choose as dated from the ice cores. They then compair the concentrations in the air bubbles to air concentrations currently.  According to the information I obtained the amounts of greenhouse gases, methane, CO2 etc.  during the current event are much higher than they have been recorded during any period historically.  They did not give numbers but they showed a graph where the G-H gases have risen far beyond the levels previously recorded.  That graph alarmed me! 

Following the global warming comes mass extinctions where multiple species die off.  What about the human species?  After global warming  comes global winter where ice sheets cover portions if not all of the earth. Global winter can be caused by super volcano erruptions. nuclear explosions, and asteroid strikes.  Will we live long enough to see the coming Global Winter?

The reasons we should avoid global warming relates to sea level rising.  According to the USGS sea levels could rise as much as 265 feet as the glaciers melt.  Walk to the nearest ocean and look how high the water is and then try to imagine how high it would be if it rises 265 feet.  That would be slightly more than 1/4 the height of a 1000 foot sky scraper if you're in NYC.  I think that our efforts are warrented in this instance.  We need to stop burning fossil fuels.  We need to generate electricity, a commodaty we cannot live with out, with wind power, falling water power, and solar power.  Coal and oil burning emit green house gases!  Maybe we need to avoid flying except only when necessary or invent a different power source for aircraft.  I'm sure our efforts will bring big changes to our lives.

With population of earth reaching 7.7 billion this October, how long can the earth support us, the people?  What about the food supply?  I'm sure you have realized that food does not grow in the grocery store!  I've read that population experts say the earth can support only 8 to 10 billion.  We seem to be reaching the earth's limit.  Any way you think of it, large changes are coming to our lives.