I'm going with #quartz this round of #MinCup26. Even though it doesn't produce laser light, quartz IS a very important optical material. You can easily use it to make the windows and mirrors and lenses in your laser. Never met #asagiite, laser potential seems unlikely.

Support strange deep ocean life.

Vote #Quartz today.

#MinCup26

Quartz is an amazing intersection: it’s (relatively) easy to find, absolutely beautiful, *not poisonous*, and to top it off, tremendously useful in industry and technology. The whole package.

I’m on Team #Quartz for sure.

It's #Quartz year.

Yep.

Mmm-hhhmmm.

Absolutely.

#MinCup26

Ok, everyone, let’s go #quartz

It’s a travesty quartz has not won mineral cup yet. But this could be the year.

Based on the #MinCup26 picture, #Asagiite is prettier, but my favorite color is purple, and amethyst is a variety of #Quartz! I'm #TeamQuartz for this round.

All I can say is, I adore #quartz. It is the entire reason the Mineral Cup was launched, and yet the reflexively contrarian impulsives just stick their tongue in their cheeks and shoot it down. For no good reason. Have you *seen* all the ways it shines?! 🔮 #MinCup26

It's finally going to be #Quartz this year!

No contest here in today's #MinCup26 match - from a structure point of view #Quartz is as basic as it gets. Love #Asagiite, with cheeky Nickel atoms in the corners and a lovely silicate sheet guarded by sulphate. Fantastic structure - vote #Asagiite

#Quartz has never won #MinCup in 10 years of this contest (not running every time)!? It's time (like in your watch) to change that. This year, I am #TeamQuartz. This mineral needs recognition for its near ubiquity in crustal rocks. #MinCup26

‘’Phantoms’’ in minerals are snapshots of earlier stages of growth captured inside due to changes in pressure, temperature, or hydrothermal chemistry as in this #quartz. More 👇🏼

www.geologyin.com/2023/12/phan...

#MinCup26 ⚒️ sci-fi 🧪 🖖🏼 scifi Geosciences #WomenInSTEM geology #geosky #GIS 🍎 🪐 🔭 🌋

Well, I’ve tried voting three times, and once gave back an error page, and twice switched me to the results page for Match 5. Likely doesn’t matter, as I’m sure #Quartz will win. I wanted to vote for the newbie, #Asagiite

#MinCup26 Round 1 Match 6
It's a classic vs a newbie as the most common named mineral in the crust #Quartz is up against an exceedingly-rare sea foam-green mineral discovered just a few years ago #Asagiite.

VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...
RESULTS: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...

A cute #quartz “inclusion” before Match 6 while it’s still #Caturday. Is this FINALLY quartz’s year? Make it so.

#MinCup26 ⚒️ sci-fi 🧪 🖖🏼 scifi Geosciences #WomenInSTEM geology #geosky #GIS 🍎 🪐 🔭 🌋

www.mineralcollection.eu/product/2410...
Anatase on quartz from Hardangervidda West, Ullensvang, Norway
4 cm x 1 cm excl. stand
18 gram incl. stand
€ 50
#anatase #quartz #oxides #silicates #hardangerviddawest #norwegianminerals #minerals #rocks #crystals #stones

#Quartz is piezoelectric due to its symmetry (its lack of a center of inversion): if you squeeze quartz it creates an electrical potential across the sides (likewise an applied voltage distorts the crystal). This can be used to create a resonator that vibrates […]

[Original post on fosstodon.org]