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Growing synthetic opal (Patreon)

Published:
2020-12-03 05:45:14
Imported:
2026-06
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Spent the last several months working to grow synthetic opal and the end result was a pretty solid success. Just waiting on the sponsor to approve and then this will be set live. So enjoy an early preview 

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Growing Synthetic Opal From Scratch

Special Christmas deal! Get 68% off of a 2-year plan and get an 4 additional months free. Just go to https://nordvpn.org/thoughtemporium and use our coupon code thoughtemporium at checkout. __________________________________________________________________________ Opal is easily one of the most beautiful gem stones and surprisingly it is also quite easy to grow synthetically. Unlike other gems which are solid crystals, opal is made of silica nanoparticles which have to be stacked together in just the right way to produce their magnificent colors. By growing silica nanoparticles of the right size, synthetic opal can be grown that looks just as amazing as the real thing. Videos/channels I mentioned: Smartereveryday - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHecdSDz4uU Nilered - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0HfmYBlF8g Applied science - https://www.youtube.com/user/bkraz333 Papers: Stober process - https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11051-016-3691-8.pdf Opal preparation - http://www.pinfire.de/opal-literature/Some-Aspects-of-Opal-Synthesis.pdf Supercritical opal drying - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273286020_The_application_of_supercritical_drying_in_the_synthesis_of_silica-based_materials _________________________________________________________________________ Support the show and future projects: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thethoughtemporium Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/thoughtemporium Become a member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV5vCi3jPJdURZwAOO_FNfQ/join _________________________________________________________________ My Social Media Pages: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thethoughtemporium/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thethoughtemporium/ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/emporiumthought Website: http://thethoughtemporium.com/

Comments

Evan Nibbe

This is awesome! I think I know the way to eliminate the tiger-striping: send the supercritical drying chamber and the thing being used to store the solution while it settles into a Falcon-9 rocket to go into LEO and send another mission up there to collect it safely once dried and de-orbit it. I think the tiger-striping mainly has to do with gravity causing things to settle via stacking.

Evan Nibbe

I do not see the links to the papers in the description here.

Evan Nibbe
>>48857531

The cheaper way to avoid the tiger stripes may be to have a lot more places where the opal is being deposited so that the width of the tiger stripes is the same as the height, and then sinter the pieces on top of each other at the end (with resin) to have a final block with no apparent stripes (more like squares).

Adric Menning

Hello, longtime follower, first time supporter, The common way they stabilize turquoise (my states gemstone) is with CA glue.. so might also work with opal. its fast, can have very low viscosity and is pretty stable, the other thing i know they use is epoxy a tip i got from a old stone worker who got health problems from the epoxy dust.. He said they add acetone to the two part epoxy to thin it. so it penetrates better. i think they also sometimes put it under some pressure in a pressure pot to shrink down any bubbles and get it further into the rock.

bTTvs

This has amazed me for over a decade as gilson/stöber Opals are borosilicate glass compatible. I would love to further discuss opal growing and start in to my own production! Hello and thank you for all of your videos and work!