#goethite — Public Fediverse posts

💁🏻‍♀️ TIL: Asa Barber’s team at the University of #Portsmouth found that common #limpet #teeth are five times stronger than #spider #silk, making them the strongest known natural material.

Their goethite nanofiber #protein composite can withstand pressures comparable to turning #carbon into #diamond and could inspire synthetic materials.

👉 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/spider-silk-loses-top-spot-natures-strongest-material-snails-teeth-180954346/

#snails #science #biomimicry #nature #spiders #nanotechnology #goethite #biology #engineering #royalsociety #animals #wildlife #mollusks

Quartz with biotic goethite filaments.

Photograph: Manfred Heising/Nikon Small World

#photomicrography
#quarts
#goethite

#Goethite on #Quartz. San Valentín Mine (San Valentín Open pit), Sancti Spiritu, Sierra Minera de Cartagena-La Unión, La Unión, Murcia, #Spain.
Specimen size 24x19x11mm
By #GeologicalWondersToo / Carlos Pareja
#Geology #GeologyPage #Nature #Minerals #Crystals #Gems #Nature #NatureLovers #NaturePhotography #Photographer #RockPorn

Spherical spray of #Goethite with a black-coated #Hematite rose
Marmoraton Mine, Marmora, Ontario.
Photo by Michael Bainbridge
By #GeologicalWondersToo / Karen Kemp
#GeologyPage #Nature #Minerals #Crystals #Gems #Nature #NatureLovers #NaturePhotography #Photographer #RockPorn

Red-coated #Hematite rosettes with #Goethite needles
Marmora, Ontario
Field of view: 2.4 x 1.8 mm
Photo by Michael Bainbridge
By #GeologicalWondersToo / Karen Kemp
#GeologyPage #Nature #Minerals #Crystals #Gems #Nature #NatureLovers #NaturePhotography #Photographer #RockPorn

Ask your husband (I asked mine:), your mom, your next-door neighbor! It’s that close! Vote Goethite now! Link below! #Goethite

Vote here: https://www.mineralcup.org/2023/campaigns/round-1-match-6

@vickyveritas I voted for #Goethite. I've got a soft spot for it since my wife did a bunch of XRD on goethite as an undergrad researcher #mincup23

Less than 50 votes needed for #Goethite to win! Vote here now: https://www.mineralcup.org/2023/campaigns/round-1-match-6 Description in ALT text! #MinCup23

@MineralCup This could go either way! Vote #Goethite

#Goethite from the Natural History Museum of London. Go, go Goethite! #MinCup23

#LRT come on vote for #goethite! Don't upset the limpets! :blobcateyes: #MinCup23

In the #Goethite v. #Topaz round of #MinCup23, I have been convinced to go #TeamGoethite by limpet teeth and their fascinating feeding tracks! (I have a dental appointment soon and I may yet be wishing I had super hardened goethite teeth rather than these flaky biomineralised apatite ones...)

https://fosstodon.org/@silicatefondue/111017901455009829

https://mastodon.sdf.org/@Cormac_McGinley/111000776319190235

limpet teeth, a composite containing #goethite, are the strongest known biological material in tension -twice as strong as spider silk.
#MinCup23 #Limpet #Minerals #Materials
https://daily.jstor.org/worlds-strongest-material-limpet-teeth/

Rumney, R.M.H., Robson, S.C., Kao, A.P. et al. Biomimetic generation of the strongest known biomaterial found in limpet tooth. Nat Commun 13, 3753 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31139-0
Open Access
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31139-0

Repost of Cormac McGinley's photo of limpet feeding tracks, cut by #goethite teeth.
#MinCup23

https://fosstodon.org/@Cormac_McGinley@mastodon.sdf.org/111000777265914932

Okay, so looks like neither is very chaotic this round - #topaz is primarily used for pretty-shinies (and do we blame them? No), and #goethite is *bog iron*, y'all.

However! I'm voting goethite and lemme tell you why: 1) it has a cool habit of coming in after other minerals and taking over where they were, crystal shape and all! (Okay a lot of opportunistic minerals do this, but I think it's cool every time.)

(I've got more reasons, hang on, hitting char limit.) #MinCup23

Oooo #topaz vs #goethite. Iirc topaz is fairly inert on the chaos scale... but I don't remember what goethite is off hand.

Lemme get comfy and I'll get into it...

(It's probably worth noting that I'm just a nerdy amateur rock collector that likes to collect safely, not a geologist or mineralogist or anything of the sort. So I use basic sources, because I can more or less understand them lmfao. When I'm wrong, tho, pls feel free to kindly teach otherwise!) #MinCup23

One of the coolest things about #Goethite is that it frequently replaces other minerals taking on their shapes as a psuedomorph. Below is Goethite after Marcasite, Goethite after Selenite, Goethite after pyrite iron cross twins, and a lovely gothy Goethite crystal spray just for fun. #MinCup23

Limpet (Patella sp.) feeding trails - the one in the centre was clearly eating on the go! It's trail reminds me of a bungee rope.
Limpet teeth are made up of fibers of Goethite - one of the strongest known natural substances. County Clare, Ireland.

Cormacscoast.com Walking tours

#wildatlanticway #walkingtours #discoverireland #keepdiscovering #marinelife #biodiversity #Limpet #limpetfeedingtrail #goethite #Ireland