#MinCup26 Hydrofluoric acid (HF) is used to dissolve silicates. HF is rather scary stuff. #Quartz is the most common silicate on Earth. Don't make geochemists studying trace elements have to use HF. Vote for #skutterudite.
@bowtiediene.bsky.social
@bowtiediene.bsky.social#MinCup26 Hydrofluoric acid (HF) is used to dissolve silicates. HF is rather scary stuff. #Quartz is the most common silicate on Earth. Don't make geochemists studying trace elements have to use HF. Vote for #skutterudite.
@bookandswordblog.scholar.social.ap.brid.gyChose chaos! Vote #Skutterudite #MinCup26
@brainmist.bsky.social
@janelleshane.comWhile #Quartz can make valuable laser components, #skutterudite can make a laser into powerful pulses, according to 2018 paper "Femtosecond mode-locking of a fiber laser using a CoSb3-skutterudite-based saturable absorber". #skutterudite has the edge.
@speleoseb.bsky.socialRight!?? Who would vote for something so annoying as sand - in your boots, in your frying pan, in your windscreen … wtf! None of this is likely to happen with #Skutterudite! 😅
@bowtiediene.bsky.social#MinCup26 #Quartz, the white bread toast of minerals. Vote #skutterudite. #anyMineralButQuartz
@geographile.bsky.social#Skutterudite looks so much more badass, but I will never not love the perfection of #quartz. It can do so much. It is so lovely.
@crystallised-cricket.comAs some of us in Aus settle in for the Grand Final, as a Hawthorn fan I'm more focused on the Quarter Final of #MinCup26. From a crystal structure view battle of octahedra coordination within #Skutterudite vs tetrahedral coordination within #Quartz. Tough call today, but #Quartz gets the call.
@bowtiediene.bsky.social#MinCup26 Come on #skutterudite - discovered in Norway and loaded with arsenic. Not normally on team poison, but let's go team poison!
@schisty.bsky.socialI have no idea why I can’t vote for #Quartz, I wanted to, but no, I voted for #Skutterudite. Quartz isn’t even a ‘boring’ mineral, I just don’t want it to win, I guess.
@mineralcup.bsky.social#MinCup26 Quarterfinal 2
Both of today's minerals can be found in hydrothermal vein deposits as cobalt arsenide #Skutterudite is against classic silicate #Quartz for a spot in the semi-finals.
Vote: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...
Results: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...
@minouette.bsky.socialVesuvianite may be a pretty gem but Skutterudite has played a role in art history as smalt, a pigment in paint, glass and ceramics for centuries so I am voting #Skutterudite!
![Title: Snuff Bottle with Antiquarian Design
Period: Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Date: late 18th–early 19th century
Culture: China
Medium: Blue glass [made with smalt/skutterudite] with rose quartz stopper
Dimensions: H. 2 11/16 in. (6.8 cm); W. 1 5/16 in. (3.3 cm); D. 1 3/8 in. (3.5 cm)
Classification: Snuff Bottles
Credit Line: Bequest of Mrs. Fanny Shapiro, 1971
Object Number: 1971.117.3a, b
Curatorial Department: Asian Art
Via The Met.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:narxeyurvwub7q22cip7npjt/bafkreielbezwyyypqxtokveck6dsti2ufy64ecieiqe7ex5ebnzosdc7ba@jpeg)
![Title: Cup
Date: 17th century
Geography: Attributed to Iran
Medium: Stonepaste; luster-painted on opaque blue glaze [smalt/skutterudite] (exterior) and white glaze (interior)
Dimensions: Ht. 1 9/16 in. (4 cm)
Diam. 3 in. (7.6 cm)
Classification: Ceramics
Credit Line: Edward C. Moore Collection, Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 1891
Object Number: 91.1.190
Curatorial Department: Islamic Art
Via The Met.
This is a small, rounded slightly conical ceramic cup which is white inside and dark blue outside with a darker stylized floral pattern.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:narxeyurvwub7q22cip7npjt/bafkreid4hytheeacihksqch6ud35kvb5akwpss5wyv6wbwq35cisssbww4@jpeg)