National Geographic Glow in the Dark Crystal Growing Kit

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Boats lit by luminous gems are a variant of the illumination idea. Rabbinic Judaism had a tradition that " Noah had a luminous stone in the Ark that "shone more brightly by night than by day, thus serving to distinguish day and night when the sun and moon were shrouded by dense clouds." (Harvey 1957: 15). The Genesis Rabbah describes the Tzoar that illuminates Noah's Ark (Genesis 6:16) as a luminous gemstone (the King James Version translates as 'window'). [ citation needed] The Mormon Book of Ether describes "sixteen small stones; and they were white and clear, even as transparent glass", being touched by God's hand so that they might "shine forth in darkness." The Jaredites placed a stone fore and aft on each ship and had "light continually" during their 344-day voyage to America (Ball 1938: 500). Laufer concludes that the "coincidences in these three Chinese versions and the story of the Greek author, even in unimportant details such as the thankful bird returning after one year to the marquis of Sui, are so striking, that an historical connection between the two is obvious." (1915: 60). Laufer cites three c. 4th-century Chinese grateful-animal stories that parallel Heraclea's stork. The Shiyi ji ("Researches into Lost Records"), compiled by the Daoist scholar Wang Jia (d. 390 CE) from early apocryphal versions of Chinese history, recounts an anecdote about King Zhao of Yan (燕昭王, r. 311–279 BCE) and grateful birds with dongguangzhu (洞光珠, "cave shining pearls"). The American sinologist Edward H. Schafer proposes that the phosphorescent "emeralds" of classical antiquity, such as the brilliantly shining green eyes of the marble lion on the tomb of King Hermias of Atarneus (d. 341 BCE) on Cyprus, were fluorite, even though the Hellenistic alchemists had methods, "seemingly magical, of making night-shining gems by the application of phosphorescent paints to stones", the most famous being their "emeralds" and "carbuncles." (1963: 238).

Glow in Dark Crystal - Etsy UK Glow in Dark Crystal - Etsy UK

Mineralogical luminosity [ edit ] Thermoluminescence from heating chlorophane specimens on a hotplate. Triboluminescence from rubbing together two quartz crystals. If you think regular crystals are boring, try growing glow in the dark crystals. These magical creations are easy to make, but you need to apply a bit of science to get them to work. Why Glow in the Dark Crystal Kits Don’t Work A modern parallel to ancient miners seeking luminous gems at nighttime is mineworkers using portable shortwave ultraviolet lamps to locate ores that respond with color-specific fluorescence. For instance, under short-wave UV light, scheelite, a tungsten ore, fluoresces a bright sky-blue, and willemite, a minor ore of zinc, fluoresces green (Ball 1938: 501).

Rabbinic Judaism includes a number of references to luminous gems. For example, the first century Rabbi, Rav Huna, says he was fleeing from Roman soldiers and hid in a cave illuminated by a light that was brighter in the night and darker in the day. [ citation needed]

Grow Your Own Glow in the Dark Crystals Kit

Skippon, Philip (1732), "An Account of a Journey made through Part of the Low Countries, Germany, Italy, and France about 1663-5," Churchill's Voyages, The earliest known story about a grateful animal with a luminous gem is the Chinese Suihouzhu (隨侯珠, "the Marquis of Sui's pearl") legend that a year after he saved the life of a wounded snake, it returned and gave him a fabulous pearl that emitted a light as bright as that of the moon (Ball 1938: 504). Sui (隨, cf. 隋 Sui dynasty), located in present-day Suizhou, Hubei, was a lesser feudal state during the Zhou dynasty (c. 1046 BC–256 BCE) and a vassal state of Chu. Several Warring States period (c. 475-221 BCE) texts mention Marquis Sui's pearl as a metaphor for something important or valuable, but without explaining the grateful snake tale, which implies that it was common knowledge among contemporary readers. If you’re like me and using a pretty crystal you found in the ground, your first step will be to clean the stone and let it dry completely. If you think your stone is already clean, wipe it down anyway, to remove any residue. Li Shizhen's 1578 Bencao Gangmu pharmacopeia describes leizhu (雷珠, "thunder pearls/beads") that the divine dragon shenlong "held in its mouth and dropped. They light the entire house at night" (tr. Laufer 1912: 64). Chinese dragons are frequently depicted with a flaming pearl or gem under their chin or in their claws. According to the German anthropologist Wolfram Eberhard, the long dragon is a symbol of clouds and rainstorms, and when it plays with a ball or pearl, this signifies the swallowing of the moon by the clouds or thunder in the clouds. The moon frequently appears as a pearl, and thus the dragon with the pearl is equal to the clouds with the moon. The pearl-moon relationship is expressed in the Chinese belief that at full moon pearls are solid balls and at new moon they are hollow. (1968: 239, 382). Eberhard, Wolfram (1968), The Local Cultures of South and East China, Alide Eberhard, tr. Lokalkulturen im alten China, 1943, E.J. Brill.After his third visit to Persia in 1686, the French jeweler and traveler John Chardin wrote that the Egyptian carbuncle was "very probably only an Oriental Ruby of higher Colour than usual." The Persians call it Icheb Chirac, the Flambeau ["burning torch"] of the Night because of the property and Quality it has of enlightening all things round it", and "They tell you that the Carbuncle was bred within the Head of a Dragon, a Griffin, or a Royal Eagle, which was found upon the Mountain of Caf." (Chardin 2010: 166–167)

Glow in the Dark Crystals - Etsy Glow in the Dark Crystals - Etsy

Hill, John (2015), Through the Jade Gate – China to Rome (A Study of the Silk Routes 1st to 2nd Centuries CE), revised edition, 2 vols., BookSurge. The first theme is using legendary luminous gems to illuminate buildings, for navigation lights on ships, or sometimes as guiding lights for lost persons (Ball 1938: 498–500). If you’re pleased with the glow, you can continue to the next step, which is sealing the stone. Otherwise, you may wish to apply another 1-2 coats of paint. Scholars have proposed many identifications for myths about luminous gemstones described for over two thousand years. Most frequently rubies or carbuncles (often red garnets), which classical and medieval mineralogists did not differentiate, and less commonly other gems, including diamonds, emeralds, jade, and pearls (Ball 1938: 497).

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Gem mining legends [ edit ] Peridot from Zabargad Island Scheelite under ultraviolet light Willemite under ultraviolet light