FMF - Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Paul S]

While browsing the list of IMA approved minerals I came across ice. I was a bit surprised about it, but it is actually very logical. I am however wondering if there is a single mineral specimen of ice in someones private collection.

You would have to get a very specific climate to store the specimen and prevent if from melting. The transport would also be very difficult and you could never touch with your bare hands!

So is there anyone out there with mineral ice specimen in their collection?

[crocoite]

I had one once, but I put it down somewhere, and now I can't find it...

[Jim Prentiss]

Hello,

Kinda makes you think. One of the most important minerals to man is Ice in its molten form.

[ian jones]

Have a small collection of cubes that I keep in the fridge for gin & tonics!

[Peter Megaw]

Check out Edwin Cloptin's excellent article on the crystallography of ice in: Rocks and Minerals 1994, v. 69 #2! Got best article of the year award for it!

[alfredo]

I don't keep ice, but I do have some other mineral specimens that have to be kept in the refrigerator, like some nice melanterite crystals, which would only last a few hours in a regular display case.

[Tobias Martin]

[Matt_Zukowski]

I know a bunch of people who have spent their entire careers studying ice. My MS thesis for geology was entitled, A study of Northern Alaskan Snow Chemistry, and my chairman was an expert in seasonal snow. One of the things i did for my assistantship money was dig innumerable snow pits noting many thing including stratigraphic changes in snow xtal habit. During a typical seasonal snow cycle, snow falls as an igneous rock, evolves as a metamorphic rock, undergoes partial melting episodes, and finally becomes magma again.

[Carl]

Ice (H2O in solid state) has an exceptionally rare characteristic that if it did not have it there would likely be no life on earth. H20 in its solid form is less dense than in its liquid form. If ice was heavier than water it is likely that the Earth would not have thawed following the snowball-Earth periods.

[amethystguy]

gin and tonic...lol..hmm..might need to come over and see your mineral collection some time:)

[James]

Last winter I broke into a 2m x 1m x 50cm cavity next to a large boulder that was full of amazing ice crystals. Some were up to 3cm long and on the side of the cavity there was a 10+cm group of crystals that had developed as an amazing spray. It was truely amazing and one of the best crystal cavities I have found. My children were with me so we had a great time looking at this fantastic crystal pocket.

Sadly I had no camera with me and clearly could not bring any of the specimens home. If I had they would have been a fantastic addition to the collection.

James

[Screenname]

Would be a hard to store, even in a freezer because when you open and close a freezer moisture gets in and forms ice in the freezer, in case anyone didn't know what is why the inside of a freezer frosts. Any how that frost would alter the specimen. Pictures would be the best way to preserve these specimens, I have herd of many people who photograph snowflakes, though I am not sure it is for a mineral collection most likely a photography collection but it is likely this is the best way to collect ice crystals.

And making your own ice isn't considered an actual mineral, it's actually an artificial mineral like growing your salt crystals at home

[Matt_Zukowski]

In northern Alaska you get thick layers of completely recrystalized snow with large xtals as you describe. Often they are hoppered. These vapor recrystalization layers lack strength, and are great at generating avalanches.

Once when I was up on the slope cruzing around on my snow machine, there was a wide valley with a thick weak layer about 1 foot thick waiting to fall. As I entered the valley, the snow near me fell first, and the collapse field moved out radially at a speed faster than my snow machine. It was one of the most amazing (and trippy) things I have ever seen. I stopped the machine and watched in awe.

Snow xtal habit is usually controlled by water vapor saturation and temperature. A good figure can be found at:
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/primer/morphologydiagram.jpg
(link normalized by FMF)

One of the bibles of water physics when i was in grad school was "Properties of ordinary water-substance in all its phases: water-vapor, water, and all the ices."
by N. Ernest Dorsey