Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/06/04/hypnotic-film-of-iridescent-cr.html
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I thought I was watching 2001. “Please stop Dave, Dave, please stop.”
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when will nasa make the connection…
I like crystals.
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Movies like The Andromeda Strain have clearly ruined me…
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Ooooh! Ooooh! Me! Me!
The crystals themselves aren’t iridescent; the film is shot through a polarising microscope with cross planars. This is birefringence caused by light passing through the crystals in two vibration directions - one faster than the other, creating interference colours.
Geologists spend a lot of time looking down polarised microscopes; interference colours help distinguish minerals in thin sections and let you do cool things such as work out in which order a magma crystallised or the chemical composition of a crystal/
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it’s also great for figuring out what has asbestos in it.
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You like CRYSTAL. There, I fixed it for you. 
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