Chemical synthesis can be fun! No, really. Doing solid state chemistry in the lab can be an adventure, and sometimes you can even make some compounds that you didn’t know existed! Such is the story of my attempt (with cohort Dr. Dawnika Blatter of the USGS) to synthesize cobaltous oxide, a compound that I was […]

A short video of what it looks like to quench an experiment run in a TZM-type (MHC) pressure vessel. This particular run, performed at the USGS Menlo Park (California), was held at 900 °C and 1,000 bar for three days in order to synthesize a hydrous comendite glass.

On July 21st, 2015 at 2:41:14 local time, a 4.1 magnitude earthquake occurred in Fremont, California. This is the story of how the chemical analysis of a volcanic rock from North Korea at a facility in Stanford University recorded the event. Much of the San Francisco area was jolted awake last night at 02:41:14 local […]

When wondering around central Paris, one may not expect to stumble upon a Geek haven filled with sci-fi merchandise, steam-punk design, a time lord inspired ceiling mural, and plenty of geeks playing games, having fun, and drinking geeky cocktails. Le Dernier Bar Avant La Fin Du Monde (The last bar at the end of the […]

There’s a simple new excel spreadsheet available on the Tools for Petrologists page. The tool Calculate fO2 Buffer allows you to determine the “delta” of a several oxygen fugacity buffers (for example: ΔNNO, ΔQFM, etc.) when the value of logfO2 is known. Here’s a screenshot of the inputs and outputs: References: B. R. Frost in […]

I’ve discovered an error in the Glass Density Calc spreadsheet, posted on the Tools for Petrologists page. The original version of the spreadsheet, used to calculate the density of a volcanic glass or magma, contained incorrect values for the partial molar volumes of the oxide components and incorrect corresponding dV/dT values. The new version (version […]

I’ve discovered another very nifty tool for you all and it’s posted in the Tools For Petrologists section of this site. The model of Giordano, Russell, and Dingwell to calculate the viscosity of a melt at various temperatures given the melt’s composition and H2O content is available online both as a javascript web applet and […]

Yet another update to the Tools for Petrologists page this week with the Glass Density Calc tool. This Excel spreadsheet allows you to input the composition of your silicate glass in terms of oxide wt% in addition to the water content in wt% plus the temperature and pressure of your sample and outputs the density […]

I’ve just updated the Tools for Petrologists page with a new conversion tool. It’s the Oxide to Element Conversion Tool, an Excel spreadsheet that will convert composition values from wt% oxides (ie. SiO2, Na2O, K2O, etc) to wt% element (ie. Si, Na, K, etc.) and vice versa. After some googling, I found that some tools […]

Over the years, I’ve developed a lot of helpful little tools for myself that I use in my experimental petrology research. Mostly in the form of excel spreadsheets, VisualBasic macros, and gathered up bits of the literature, I feel that some one else out there may benefit from the tools I’ve created in their own […]