Crystal Power CeLL by John Hutchison

[jeanna]

I've also been analysing some of these reactions under my microscope. One can clearly see the effect of sodium carbonate solution on quartz grains. A crystaline coating of sodium silicate developes around each grain and eventually binds all the grains together.

@Ian
Excellent, I would love to see a/some pics.
I have a microscope. I would like to know more about that.
You say crystals formed. was it a crystal then? I am thinking how powdery mine was when dry.
Did it ever become powdery?
Interesting. This is pretty much how Davidovits seems to describe how his rocks were formed. I wasn't seeing this. I assume you have the formula?
I am not a chemist. I remember in chemistry lab we made a supersaturated solution of something which stayed in liquid form until we struck the side of the container sharply. I suppose this is the reason you shook it?

did measurements on self-potentials in gypsum, in agate stones,

@Koen 1, I would be very interested in a more detailed review. Thank you.

Thank you, both
jeanna

[jeanna]

@Ian,
I have been thinking about this siezing up of the solution. I will need to go back to the library. I read a book on chemistry for artists. In it there was some information about the crystalline structure of Silicon. There were 3 drawings.2 of tetrahedral-type structure and a third that was not tetrahedral but the elements were held together in tight strings but in non repeating form. But it was solid. I will be more specific, but it may take a few more days to get the book out from the library again.
jeanna

[ian middleton]

G'day all.

@jeanna:  Thanks for researching that extra bit of info, every bit counts. It would appear I've saved humanity again. That white stiff gel I made turns out to be a form of SOAP! 
It's the best silver cleaner. lol.

The batch of mix I made yesterday was very dissapointing, in fact of all the mixes I have made, this one returned the lowest voltage, 120mV. However I have everything well documented so I'll know what not to do next time.

Here are a couple of photos of silicon carbide in sodium carbonate solution. Sorry about the focus.
As you can see there is a crystal bridge between the darker SiC grains. I'm not sure how much of the bridge is made up of sodium silicate. But keep these in mind for when I post the quartz grain photos.
I'll be setting that up today.

see you soon

Ian

[jeanna]

Ah soap! I guess it takes a real chemist to know that!

I'm curious, Are those colors visible to your eye or are they some artifact of taking a picture into a microscope?

thank you for posting those photos
jeanna

[ian middleton]

g'day all,

jeanna, well spotted again. the colours around the crystals are visible , thats because I forgot to swing the polarizing filter out of the way  .

I made a small movie of the quartz/ NaSiO3 growth. It was very dynamic, unfortunately it's 200mb.
The "pie" is still sitting at 0.43V.
I'm working on a new formula for a mix but my hunch is towards electrode conditioning as the main factor. Nitridation. ( I think)

I'm going to the south coast tomorrow (Saturday) to collect a few kilos of pure quartz sand.
Might catch a few rays while I'm at it.

All the best  Ian