Recent comments in /f/askscience

Garbleshift t1_j68j5h7 wrote

Reply to comment by SkriVanTek in can gemstones be melted into a gradient? by Acceptable_Shift_247

The description above still applies to the parts you melt.

The point is that when you heat a rock and then cool it, in different circumstances from those in which it was originally formed, you're making a different kind of rock, with different physical properties. Every atmospheric oxygen and moisture are an issue. And minerals haven't been refined the way industrial metals have, so you don't even really know exactly what you're heating up. The chance of the molten part staying stuck to the part that didn't melt is pretty slim.

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MxPunkin t1_j68j3ty wrote

Reply to In the absence of cosmic radiation, would an object placed in space eventually cool to absolute zero? by IHatrMakingUsernames

Energy can neither be created or destroyed, so as long as the object had some heat to it, then it could never cool down to 0k because that initial heat it brought with it would be in the system somewhere. Unless you were to isolate the object, and then remove the energy from the quarantine, then that energy will still be in the system somewhere.

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Methixsks t1_j68ipoi wrote

Reply to can gemstones be melted into a gradient? by Acceptable_Shift_247

Not really an answer to the brief, but you could always look into lab created products that have mixed colors. They're usually either nanosital (a fancy artificial glass that has properties like quartz) or artificial corundum.

Here's one of each:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1232825635/bi-color-nanosital-synthetic-lab-created?click_key=6909ed3bc63bb88ea777de4127479b612501652a%3A1232825635&click_sum=822e951a&ref=shop_home_active_31&sts=1

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1043423445/bluepink-bi-color-lab-created-corundum?click_key=bc6eb37252990424573afbc428cefc558e201562%3A1043423445&click_sum=b36ec25e&ref=shop_home_active_35&frs=1&sca=1&sts=1

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s00perguy t1_j68i3y9 wrote

Reply to comment by CrustalTrudger in can gemstones be melted into a gradient? by Acceptable_Shift_247

Oh sweet Jesus that's some good sourcing.

Hey,while it isn't quite like mixing dyes and creating a gradient, you could grind the gemstones in question and create a resin suspension for a similar effect, assuming none of them react in any way with standard 2 part epoxy. You could grind them fine, mix them into their respective resins, mix them, and let it cure.

Or, if you're more concerned about carrying over the crystal structure of the original stones than getting a strictly smooth gradient, you could polish them to a uniform shape and bond them somehow. Suspending in epoxy is still an option for that.

Just some ideas, idk if that works on all fronts.

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VandolinHimself t1_j68ey0h wrote

Reply to Why do planet's rings match their rotations? by Ultimaurice17

The best answer is this…. It is angular momentum that plays a role but not quite as described. Because the planet is spinning, it creates a non perfect spherical shape. To put it simply, the area around the equator moves fastest as the planet rotates, and it is this area where more material converges, creating a bulged, subtle saucer or egg like shape. Because of this convergence, gravitational force over the equator is greater than say over the poles. This is an oversimplification, but it’s simple and easier to understand. To elaborate, gravity can be generalized into a single vector or direction as with Newtonian mechanics. The same idea is indoctrinated into relativity, but is expanded on for particular directions (tensor products) which average out to an overall force in a single direction. When considering accretion of rings, you must consider the relativity point of view. The overall force may have a single direction, but this way of thinking is too narrow to describe what happens when rings form. If you consider that the direction towards the equator is greatest, perhaps the same notion that discerns Newtonian mechanics can be used to intuitively understand that the overall force will draw things towards the equatorial plane. More of the planets mass is concentrated there, hence gravity drawing more there. Give a system enough time to evolve and material will collect there.

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