Saturday, May 24, 2008

zabba what's a seashell?

i know that animals live in them but where do they come from? what are they made of? does the ocean make them? why are they so pretty?

i dont know if you know the answers to any of these questions but i figured you were my best bet

p.s. australia has some pretty cool rocks, and a really big one called uluru...makes me think of you!
at

5 comments:

  1. perpetuallyphilMay 26, 2008 at 11:12 PM

    zabba dont care

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  2. dead.in.denverMay 27, 2008 at 12:05 AM

    why are they so pretty?

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  3. zabbaMay 28, 2008 at 2:32 PM

    First of all, phil shut your fingers. Second of all: organisms can take ions from sea water, mainly calcium or silica, and then secrete them to make a hard shell (we do the same thing to make finger nails, teeth and hair). For instance, calcium can not precipitate below a certain depth (~4500 m), due to pressure. That makes calcium easy to filter from sea water for say, nautilus'. The irridesant portion of a shell can be composed of aragonite (CaCO3) or opal (SiO2) among others, but these being the most common. The irridesence is a function of light refraction. The crystal structure (or lack there of, opal is not a crystal) bends the light as it enters and exits, similar to a prism. Hope that explains some stuff.

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  4. tltMay 29, 2008 at 3:21 PM

    wow. isn't he so smart?

    ReplyDelete
  5. EaZyEMay 31, 2008 at 9:56 AM

    Hue rock Zabba!
    Phil... Be gneiss!

    ReplyDelete