Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #MinCup2019
Most recents (10)
I rolled the dice to randomize the #MinCup2020 bracket.
I’m pretty sure my dice hate me. These are both SUCH GOOD MINERALS, and I’m still working on a deadline so can’t thread yet.
I’m pretty sure my dice hate me. These are both SUCH GOOD MINERALS, and I’m still working on a deadline so can’t thread yet.
My campaign for #gypsum in #MinCup2019:
We’ve played a few games with #gold.
I played out the consequences of some seriously creepy fiction:
& you thoroughly investigated gold during #YouFindARock:
I played out the consequences of some seriously creepy fiction:
& you thoroughly investigated gold during #YouFindARock:
I promised I’d be nice to #Quartz this #MinCup, although SOME people think it’s mean to point out you can access quartz’s electrical properties by hitting, squishing, or sawing it.
So, fine. Strategy tip. Why not tap existing Steven Universe fans to recruit voters?
So, fine. Strategy tip. Why not tap existing Steven Universe fans to recruit voters?
The .gif opportunities are amazing considering Amethyst (the purple gem of #Quartz) is a major character.
Here she is getting a helping hand from #MinCup2018’s champion #Garnet:
Here she is getting a helping hand from #MinCup2018’s champion #Garnet:
One of the reoccurring #MinCup2019 arguments is that #Quartz is more stable than #IceMin at surface temperatures.
You’ve got a .gif for that. NO ONE USED IT THE ENTIRE CUP. Come on, it’s in the first handful of “Amethyst Steven Universe” .gifs pre-loaded into the Twitter app!
You’ve got a .gif for that. NO ONE USED IT THE ENTIRE CUP. Come on, it’s in the first handful of “Amethyst Steven Universe” .gifs pre-loaded into the Twitter app!
Ok Moose, are you ready to showcase the #MinCup2019Final contestants for our pocket friends? 
It’s still only autumn in the Pacific Northwest, but are you looking forward to first snowfall, Moose?
Those delicate #IceMin crystals show up so well on your chocolate brown!
Those delicate #IceMin crystals show up so well on your chocolate brown!
Ahh! Yeah, I know, Moose, you’ve had rather painful experiences with #Quartz.
But try to find a comfy spot so we can grab a pic? Just, uh... maybe pretend it’s a Bed of Nails demo?
But try to find a comfy spot so we can grab a pic? Just, uh... maybe pretend it’s a Bed of Nails demo?
It’s the #MinCup2019 final match. After a month of arguing about minerals, come vote one more time?
For ice, the most lickable of minerals.
For ice, the most lickable of minerals.
Previously in #MinCup2019, we got into technical definitions, fun physical properties, & how #IceMin can survive in the heart of diamonds:
We also got into how curling is an applied physics exam about using fundamental forces to manipulate the geophysical properties of #IceMin:
#MinCup2019 semifinals at @PMEUBC:
#Quartz: from Arkansas, USA
Amethyst: from Anahi Mine, Bolivia
#Calcite: detailed description of how 12% by mass is atmospheric carbon from 495 million years ago, what that tells us about ancient worlds, & how carbon is captured into crystal
#Quartz: from Arkansas, USA
Amethyst: from Anahi Mine, Bolivia
#Calcite: detailed description of how 12% by mass is atmospheric carbon from 495 million years ago, what that tells us about ancient worlds, & how carbon is captured into crystal
If you can’t grow it, you mine it.
I’ve seen plenty of #MinCup2019 arguments that #quartz is in smartphones, but it doesn’t seem like many realize #calcite. Both semifinalists are in your phone display screen.
I’ve seen plenty of #MinCup2019 arguments that #quartz is in smartphones, but it doesn’t seem like many realize #calcite. Both semifinalists are in your phone display screen.
#Calcite & #quartz are battling it out in the semifinals of #MinCup2019. Quartz took a strong early lead, but calcite is creeping closer.
Quartz has never won despite the entire competition being founded to promote it.
I voted calcite.
Quartz has never won despite the entire competition being founded to promote it.
I voted calcite.
Curling is a hilarious & fantastic sport where you modify physical properties of minerals to manipulate momentum.
You need ice, brooms, and a stone. The brooms & stone can be improvised. #IceMin cannot.
You need ice, brooms, and a stone. The brooms & stone can be improvised. #IceMin cannot.
Curling started with granite stones on frozen loch, earning its name from the rumbling growl of rock over rough wild ice.
Makes sense to incorporate massive rocks if you’re going to frolic on frozen lakes that house beloved monsters.
Makes sense to incorporate massive rocks if you’re going to frolic on frozen lakes that house beloved monsters.
Canadians take great delight in claiming curling as ours, dumping phenomenal R&D into developing pub teams into Olympic contenders.
We spend even more time fucking around with not-even-pub-teams with improvised brooms & stones any time we find a big enough patch of #IceMin.
We spend even more time fucking around with not-even-pub-teams with improvised brooms & stones any time we find a big enough patch of #IceMin.
We’re in the semi-finals of #MinCup2019 & I Have Opinions.
This is the year of #ClimateChange, the year we hit the tipping point of enough people caring to finally get to the large-scale hard work.
Our winner has to be ice or #calcite (tomorrow’s semi-finalist). #IceMin
This is the year of #ClimateChange, the year we hit the tipping point of enough people caring to finally get to the large-scale hard work.
Our winner has to be ice or #calcite (tomorrow’s semi-finalist). #IceMin
#Olivine is a good mineral, a former 2017 #MinCup champion & one I campaigned for in past years.
It has so many cool quirks, including making green sand (!!). But it already won before.
It has so many cool quirks, including making green sand (!!). But it already won before.
Every year, people are startled to learn #IceMin is a mineral!
It’s naturally occurring, solid, has definite composition, & a repeating crystalline structure. As long as you find it in the wild, it checks every box.
Want it solid at room temperature? Ice VII trapped in diamond.
It’s naturally occurring, solid, has definite composition, & a repeating crystalline structure. As long as you find it in the wild, it checks every box.
Want it solid at room temperature? Ice VII trapped in diamond.
SIGH. I still can’t believe I have to say nice things about #Quartz this year.
#Quartz starts with a Q, so you can flip to the end of the stack to find it instead of wading around in the endless C’s hunting for #Chalcopyrite
#Quartz has such inexplicably devoted fans that @MineralCup was invented to make them feel better.
#Chalcopyrite doesn’t inspire that steadfast devotion in the face of years of defeat by other minerals.
#Chalcopyrite doesn’t inspire that steadfast devotion in the face of years of defeat by other minerals.
Today is a matchup of the industrial minerals.
If you can’t grow it, you need to mine it. You might not notice them, but you encounter these rock-friends several times a day.
If you can’t grow it, you need to mine it. You might not notice them, but you encounter these rock-friends several times a day.
#Borax is getting its ass kicked in #MinCup2019.
Poor hon, if only Nuclear Twitter would show up as a single-topic voting block to support the mineral that goes diving with nuclear reactors...
Details: ne.anl.gov/pdfs/reactors/…
Poor hon, if only Nuclear Twitter would show up as a single-topic voting block to support the mineral that goes diving with nuclear reactors...
Details: ne.anl.gov/pdfs/reactors/…
I’m tired & my rocks are still packed in boxes instead of properly organized, so I just licked a bunch of clear mineral sheets to find the gypsum.
I found a lot of salt so here are pix from last year:
I found a lot of salt so here are pix from last year:
Today’s #MinCup2019 is a face off between Very Interesting Properties.
Lots of minerals have neat optical effects, but #Ulexite is a bit different.
Light doesn’t pass straight through, like with #quartz or #halite (salt), nor does it have the birefringence of #calcite. Instead it’s a mineral of natural fibre optic channels transmitting light.
Light doesn’t pass straight through, like with #quartz or #halite (salt), nor does it have the birefringence of #calcite. Instead it’s a mineral of natural fibre optic channels transmitting light.
#Ulexite grows as a bundle of fibers, each of which totally internally reflects light. It’s the same basic optics behind why diamond is sparkly.
