08-19
08-19. Cobaltite #7.
4 cobaltite crystals architecture.
From a resource by P. Bayliss.
isometric system
08-18
08-18. Cobaltite #6.
I found the mischief maker in the cobaltite crystal!
This little yellow green atom, half sulfur, half arsenic is starting to affect the cobalt atom next to it and breaking what would be otherwise a very solid symmetry.
From a resource by Giese and Kerr.
08-17
08-17. Cobaltite #5.
The binding pattern between the cobaltite atoms makes for a nice tiling background.
I brought in the whole structure in the foreground to show what it looks like from a 3D perspective
From a resource by Giese and Kerr
08-16
08-16. Cobaltite #4.
From a resource by M. Fleet and P. Burns.
08-15
08-15. Cobaltite #3.
The harvesting of cobaltite atoms. Maybe inspired by the Perseid meteor shower last week end?
From a resource by P. Bayliss.
08-14
08-14. Cobaltite #2.
From a resource by Giese and Kerr, the crystal structures of ordered and disordered cobaltite.
08-13
08-13. Cobaltite #1.
Cobaltite – the leprechaun of minerals! Kobold (Goblin in German), cobalt, cobaltite, that’s where the name cobalt is coming from. It must have inspired this picture. From this angle, the cobaltite structure looks like a trio of munchkins taking over the stage of an alternate space production of the Wizard of Oz.
There is still a debate regarding the exact crystal structure of Cobaltite and its geometry. It fits into the isometric system, but its lack of full crystal symmetry. And it is also part of the orthorhombic system. Cobaltite can be a brilliant blue stone found as veins in numerous environments. It also comes in reddish silver white, violet and steel gray. Despite its appearance, it is not a usable ore.
06-10
06-10. Spinel #7.
Last spinel of the series. I really enjoyed the calm, inspiring symmetry of its geometry.
From a resource by Peterson, Lager, and Hitterman
06-09
06-09. Spinel #6.
From a resource by Redfern, Harrison, O’Neill, and Wood.
06-07. Spinel
06-08. Spinel #5.
This one could have come from one of Escher’s sketch book. More simply, it is 4 different sizes of the same polyhedral arrangement of a spinel unit cell.
Prof. Kosters wrote an interesting article on Escher and gemology. It really brings to light how and to what degree Mathematics and Applied Sciences affected his work.
From a resource by Peterson, Lager, and Hitterman.
