{"id":131433,"date":"2024-11-29T14:32:29","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T07:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=131433"},"modified":"2024-11-29T14:32:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T07:32:29","slug":"the-worlds-rarest-mineral-is-so-rare-its-only-ever-been-found-once-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=131433","title":{"rendered":"The World&#8217;s Rarest Mineral Is So Rare It&#8217;s Only Ever Been Found Once : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>There&#8217;s a mineral so rare that only one specimen of it has ever been found in the entire world.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s called kyawthuite (<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NHMLA\/status\/879432327310450688?lang=en\">cha-too-ite<\/a>), a tiny, tawny-hued grain weighing just a third of a gram (1.61 carats). On first glance, you might mistaken it for amber or topaz; but the unassuming mineral speck has value beyond measure.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>The stone itself was purchased in 2010 at a market in Chaung-gyi in Myanmar by gemologist Kyaw Thu, who thought the raw gem was a mineral called <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Scheelite\">scheelite<\/a>. After he faceted the stone, though, he realized that he was looking at something unusual.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Unable to match the mineral with anything known, he sent it to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) Laboratory in Bangkok, Thailand. There, mineralogists were able to relate the stone to synthetic BiSbO<sub>4<\/sub> \u2013 bismuth antimonate \u2013 though with the formula Bi<sup>3+<\/sup>Sb<sup>5+<\/sup>O<sub>4<\/sub>, an arrangement never before found in nature.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_145339\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-145339\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/kyawthuite-body.jpg\" alt=\"This Is The World's Rarest Mineral. We've Only Ever Found It Once\" width=\"642\" height=\"480\" class=\"size-full wp-image-145339\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/kyawthuite-body.jpg 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/kyawthuite-body-555x415.jpg 555w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/kyawthuite-body-600x449.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-145339\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The tiny stone measures just 5.8 by 4.58 by 3 millimeters. (Kampf et al., <a href=\"http:\/\/pubs.geoscienceworld.org\/minersoc\/minmag\/article-abstract\/81\/3\/477\/285376\/Kyawthuite-Bi3-Sb5-O4-a-new-gem-mineral-from-Mogok\"><em>Mineral. Mag.<\/em><\/a>, 2017)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;This is the first in the world. It is not found in other countries,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20160712224355\/http:\/\/www.mmtimes.com\/index.php\/national-news\/21307-world-s-rarest-gem-named-after-myanmar-mineralogist.html\">Thu told <em>The Myanmar Times<\/em><\/a> in 2016.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;From studying in the field and buying stones from the Khanae market, [I could tell that] this stone was a little strange and I bought it. Then, when I reached Yangon, I examined it [and determined that] this was not like any other gem we&#8217;ve ever found.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>We don&#8217;t know much about the stone itself. It has a saturated orange color, with a red overtone and a white streak; that&#8217;s the color of the powder the gem produces when it is dragged across a coarse surface. It also has hollow, tube-shaped inclusions called <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/En_echelon_veins\"><i>en echelon<\/i> veins<\/a> that are caused by shear stress \u2013 evidence of its natural formation.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pubs.geoscienceworld.org\/minersoc\/minmag\/article-abstract\/81\/3\/477\/285376\/Kyawthuite-Bi3-Sb5-O4-a-new-gem-mineral-from-Mogok\">Geologists think that was likely igneous in origin<\/a>, an inclusion in a type of common volcanic rock called <a href=\"https:\/\/nature.berkeley.edu\/classes\/eps2\/wisc\/peg.html\">pegmatite<\/a>, common in the region where the stone was found. Like granite, pegmatite&#8217;s composition is similar to that of a fruit cake, with different minerals jumbled together; it&#8217;s common to find large crystals of gems in pegmatite.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_145335\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-145335\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/en-echelon-veins.jpg\" alt=\"This Is The World's Rarest Mineral. We've Only Ever Found It Once\" width=\"642\" height=\"361\" class=\"size-full wp-image-145335\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/en-echelon-veins.jpg 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/en-echelon-veins-600x337.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-145335\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The <em>en echelon<\/em> veins. (Kampf et al., <a href=\"http:\/\/pubs.geoscienceworld.org\/minersoc\/minmag\/article-abstract\/81\/3\/477\/285376\/Kyawthuite-Bi3-Sb5-O4-a-new-gem-mineral-from-Mogok\"><em>Mineral. Mag.<\/em><\/a>, 2017)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Traces of titanium, niobium, tungsten, and uranium in the kyawthuite are consistent with a pegmatite formation. Additionally, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deepdyve.com\/lp\/unpaywall\/comparison-of-bismuth-stereochemistry-in-bio2-n-and-bi2o2-n-layers-eFiHWLbLZn\">experiments in the lab<\/a> show that bismuth antimonite crystals form at high temperatures consistent with the temperatures of cooling magma. Since the mineral appears to be so rare, there are likely other special circumstances about how it forms, but we don&#8217;t know what they are.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>The value of kyawthuite is currently listed as priceless. The world&#8217;s second-rarest gem, a mineral called painite, is valued at <a href=\"https:\/\/luxe.digital\/lifestyle\/jewelry\/painite\/\">US$50,000 to $60,000 a carat<\/a>. Oof.<\/p>\n<p>The world&#8217;s only known piece of kyawthuite is <a href=\"https:\/\/research.nhm.org\/newsletters\/pdfs\/2017-06.pdf\">currently housed<\/a> safely at the National History Museum of Los Angeles County.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/the-worlds-rarest-mineral-is-so-rare-its-only-ever-been-found-once\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s a mineral so rare that only one specimen of it has ever been found in the entire world. It&#8217;s called kyawthuite (cha-too-ite), a tiny, tawny-hued grain weighing just a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=131433\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8628],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=131433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=131433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=131433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=131433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}