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a dense,heavy stone

  • 28-04-2010 11:01AM
    #1
    oflynno
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 729 ✭✭✭


    i hope this is the best place to ask this question,i could not see a thread for geology.

    i have a stone here at home that appears to be very dense and heavy compared to other stones of similar size

    i am from a farming background so i would be well used to picking them and noticing the weight

    it looks like a red sandstone to me but the weight is all wrong.

    anybody into geology here?


Comments

  • #2
    Sligo22
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 80 ✭✭Sligo22


    oflynno wrote: »
    i hope this is the best place to ask this question,i could not see a thread for geology.

    i have a stone here at home that appears to be very dense and heavy compared to other stones of similar size

    i am from a farming background so i would be well used to picking them and noticing the weight

    it looks like a red sandstone to me but the weight is all wrong.

    anybody into geology here?


    I did earth science as part of my archaeology course. honestly its very hard to say without a picture or more realistically seeing it first hand! If its red/orangy in colour the heaviness could be caused by a high Iron content in the rock but as i said i cant really say. I'm no geologist so even if you had pics...i still prob wouldnt be of much help! sorry!


  • #3
    B11gt00e
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 170 ✭✭B11gt00e


    Hello Oflynno. An unusally high density can be a characteristic of a metorite rock.

    Call somebody in the college geology dept at UCC there... An expert would have no bother identifying it and would be very interested in an unusual find... it's through accidents like that that a lot of good scientific materials pop up in strange places.

    Sligo22 has a good point on Iron content as well as the only clue you gave was the red'ish' colour which could indicate a high iron content.


  • #4
    oflynno
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 729 ✭✭✭oflynno


    hello again,

    thanks for the info there
    i actually got out the camera today and took a few pictures of the size in relation to other objects,namely a football-size 5 and a 12" ruler

    i also weighed it on a scales

    june2010126.jpg

    june2010123.jpg

    it weighed very close to 10kgs
    a similar sized piece of red sandstone weighed 6.5 kgs

    i might just pop into UCC and find the geology dept

    i feel like indiana murphy now:D


  • #5
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 96,053 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    fill a bucket with water,
    add the stone if you can cathttp://b-static.net/vbulletin/images/editor/color.gifch the water that spills out you can work out the density of the rock

    long way , weigh bucket of water, on weighing scales then weigh it again afterwards , you want the difference. Divide the weight by this to get the density. This should give a clue.

    Test the rock with a a magernet , you never know !


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