Now this is funky. Vesuvius turned a guy's brains to glass? https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/22/mount-vesuvius-eruption-victim-brain-glass …
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Replying to @Tuumaru
I thought glass came from sand? Isn't it more likely that some kind of liquid entered his skull and solidified? I'm no scientist or chemist, but...
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Replying to @16thCenturyGirl
I don't quite understand it, either, have to reread. But the article said some bones showed glassiness as well. Which makes more sense to me. In any case, mentions of what extreme heat does to human body make both gruesome and oddly fascinating reading.
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Replying to @Tuumaru @16thCenturyGirl
It’s evidently a different kind of glass. Not a silica-based one. Glass encompasses a wider definition than what we generally think of as glass.
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Replying to @16thCenturyGirl @Tuumaru
For example, this looks a great deal like obsidian which is a type of glass which also happens to be volcanic. So perhaps that’s what happened here. Not a geologist though. I’ll have to see the actual scientific article rather than the media reports.
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Replying to @AdmiralHip @Tuumaru
So are the components of obsidian available in the brain and bones? Or, like I asked, could they have entered the skull as liquid and solidified, making it seem like it came from the brain/bone?
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No idea, sorry. Obsidian is made from volcanic material. It was just an example of a glass that isn’t “glass”. I’d have to see the scientific report.
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Replying to @AdmiralHip @16thCenturyGirl
Think obsidian has a high quartz content, but might be wrong. Not that it's helpful here anyway. :) I'm ever more interested in all this, though. Will try to get answers.
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