FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Kat Coupe]

Hi,

I am new to your forum as I am looking for some help with geology. I have a 7 (almost 8 year old step daughter) we often take her fossil hunting or collecting rocks and mineral samples. Although I love geology, I know very little about it in reality. My daughter has become quite interested in sample collecting so I wanted to encourage this youthful passion and to get her hooked on this wonderful subject. I remember that minerals fluoresce under various UV waves and that this may be a great way to get her on the path of geology with a huge WOW factor. What my question to you all is.. What is the best form of light for me to buy? and if possible from where? and secondly, which minerals will be the best for me to search for on the internet to buy? We are not well off so a budget is very important to us. I have just bought her a digital microscope for Christmas so I thought this may be a good addition.

Thank you for your time

x Kat

[Peter Megaw]

Kat, great idea to get her involved. There are a number of UV lights and references available...ranging from very inexpensive to very expensive. You get what you pay for and most of the really cheap units are pretty worthless (especially the "scorpion lights" sold in hardware stores). You can probably get more specifics from the Fluorescent Mineral Society (Google it) and there are folks there who can steer you to what's right for you.

Remember that a UV light is not a toy and that you need to wear goggles to prevent retinal damage, so be careful!

[Kat Coupe]

Thank you Peter for taking the time to reply to my query :D I will definitely contact that company. I did use google but became over whelmed rather quickly (I swear I am turning in to my parents when it comes to technology). I will not be allowing any of the children to use the light unsupervised and googles will be a must. Science is such an amazing subject which offers such a range of subjects that I hope to provide an environment where it can grow freely. All your help is greatly appreciated x thank yo once again K

[Les Presmyk]

My first major purchase ($30) as a young collector was a blacklight (short wave and long wave) which I have today. So, after 52 years it still works and I occasionally bring it out just to see what Arizona specimens I have that might light up with this light. The Fluorescent Mineral Society is a great place to start. And, it is a part of the hobby that fascinates everyone whether they want to admit to it or not. If you need further help please ask.

[kushmeja]

I'll just add a few things :

- always wear glasses with UV lights, as stated above, as they will damage the eyes

- there's a difference between a blacklight and a shortwave / longwave UV light. Black lights emit UV that falls in the LW spectrum, but it's a bit different from a true LW UV light that has he light filtered to a more specific range. A blacklight will therefore produce different results than a true LW UV light. Similarly SW UV will produce completely different responses than LW UV light in many cases.

- you absolutely get what you pay for as far as lights go. Prices range anywhere from $30 all the way up into the thousands of $$$'s. Some are only SW, some only LW, some only MW (midwave) and some have a combination of the 3. I would suggest against getting a really cheap model, as I don't believe you will be pleased with the quality. The cheapest decent model I've seen that has SW UV is a dual-wave (SW+LW) handheld light that looks like a smaller handheld blacklight fixture, which retails for around $60. That's what i started with, and even with that, I wasn't happy with the strength of the light because it required that you hold the light within a foot of the specimen. I bought a more powerful SW/LW light after about a month, which was much more expensive, but it works great and I love it.


There's a myriad of FL rocks from the Franklin / Ogdensburg, NJ area, as well as many other localities. I live about and hour and a half from Franklin and collect there often. If you would like to message me your address, I can send you out a box with a few different labeled samples for free to get your started.

[Kat Coupe]

thank you once again for all your advice and information as it is a huge help. I will be going through all the info on the suggested site but I think it will take me a while hahaha

Thank you so much kushmeja for your incredibly generous offer of sending me a starter box for my daughter but I actually live in the UK. (some one has to I guess ;) )

I have to say it is all the talk of some minerals requiring short and some requiring long that has me in a twist. I will no doubt be an obsessive mineral hunter after I have finished all my research to support her.

[Peter Perkins]

Kat,
In my experience of teaching in schools and showing minerals and fossils to youngsters of all ages your step daughter will be more enthralled by the three dimensions of minerals in ordinary light - the colours, reflections from crystal faces, the shapes, etc. Can you arrange a trip down to the museum in Manchester during the Christmas school holidays? Peter (in Norfolk)

[Kat Coupe]

Thank you Peter :D I think you are right. I gave her a few of my small samples of an amethyst geode (I think that's what they are called :\ ) and a few clusters (quartz) as well as a labradorite, Black obsidian with a gold sheen ball, as well as fossils. I was hoping that we could see the detailed structures better with the digital microscope which will excite her :D We have also started to grow various crystals as a home experiment. I guess like all parents I want to support my children's passions and interests .. guess we can sometimes get a bit too carried away hahaha. I really appreciate your help . Your all so lovely and friendly..

And Manchester is one of our local museums (I basically grew up in there).. we can always plan a visit. I will check what they have planned this holiday time. x

Thank you for taking the time to help me. I will be staying on here and absorbing all the amazing posts from you all x

[Josele]

Coming back to the UV lamps question, we must differentiate between long wave (UVA) and short wave (UVC).
Long wave UV is available in small and very cheap LED torch, and I think this is a good instrument for beginners. Commercial UV LEDs emits in about 380 - 420 nm radiation which is almost innocuous to humans, although emits some blue visible light which mask little bit the real fluorescence. A special filter to avoid visible light can be adapted to these UVA LED torches improving their performance.
Short (UVC, about 250 nm) and medium (UVB, about 300 nm) UV lamps are available for mineral purposes with prices of some hundred dollars. These yes they are dangerous and must be managed with special care.

I think is a good idea to introduce childrens to the mineral world through special properties of some minerals as fluorescence, magnetism, birefringence and others. Personally I remember museums as a really boring thing when I was a child!

Here can see my Fluorescent Minerals Gallery

[Kat Coupe]

Josele thank you so much for explaining that to me as it finally made it clear what is needed. I do think the basics would be fine for her, I just want to demonstrate how amazing the world around us is, and to show how fascinating science is. By the way your photos are fab :) x