Can You Name this Rock?
Saturday July 28, 2007
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- location: railroad beds in southeast Ohio
- hardness: harder than carbon steel file (Mohs about 6.5), able to be polished using an aluminum oxide rouge wheel (corundum is 9 on the Mohs scale)
- magnetism: non-magnetic
- appearance: silvery metallic, crystalline
- density: 2.13 g/cm3
- non-porous
- electrically conductive
- pieces usually about 2 cm in diameter, relatively uncommon along the tracks
- sample shatters when struck with a hammer
Photo: Sample with surface filed using an aluminum oxide rouge wheel. (Greg Weinfurtner)
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Comments
This appears to be some slag that is a biproduct of the steel industry. When the raw ore is being melted for purification, a glass-like deposit is formed by the abundance of impure minerals in the raw ore.
it is possible that it could be a biproduct. However, the description of the mineral was that it was non-metallic though it does conduct electricity and most ore biproducts are more often than not, magnetic.
This is just a guess, but I am going to say perhaps a Hematite. It has the possiblity of being either metallic or non-metallic which would cover the biproduct idea but it ALSO covers the non-magnetic part as well….
sorry…I’m currently taking a course in Geology so this is kind of good practice for me