• It Would Be Penny-Wise To Accept Them
    (1,278 thumbs up)
  • October Theme Of The Month: Halloween!

    Animal, Mineral, Debatable

    | Boston, MA, USA | Math & Science

    (The store I worked at sells rock and mineral specimens, so it’s quite common that customers don’t know much about what they are buying. Luckily, I have a geology background, so I can explain in detail what things are.)

    Customer: *points up at a piece* “What is that?”

    Me: “It’s a chrysanthemum stone.”

    Customer: “Well, what is that?”

    Me: “It’s strontium sulfate that forms on top of a black limestone.”

    Customer: “But what IS that?”

    Me: “Strontium sulfate is Celestite. This is just a different form of it, but deposited on a limestone; it looks like a flower.”

    Customer: “But what is THAT though? It’s not a fossil of a flower, is it?”

    Me: “No, it’s a mineral on top of a limestone. Limestones are a fine-grained sedimentary rock. The crystallization just makes it looks like a flower.”

    Customer: “So it’s a rock on top of another rock?”

    Me: “Not technically, but sort of…I don’t know how to explain it simpler than that.”

    Customer: “So, it’s two rocks in one! I’ll take it.”

    Me: “Okay, great. I’ll assume you want an info card on it?”

    Customer: “Nah, it’s just a rock on a rock. That’s all I need to know!”