G is for Galena
Wikipedia states: 'One of the earliest uses of galena was as kohl, which in Ancient Egypt, was applied around the eyes to reduce the glare of the desert sun and to repel flies, which were a potential source of disease.
Galena is a semiconductor with a small bandgap of about 0.4 eV which found use in early wireless communication systems. For example, it was used as the crystal in crystal radio sets, in which it was used as a point-contact diode to detect the radio signals. The galena crystal was used with a safety pin or similar sharp wire, which was known as a "cat's whisker". '
More information is at Digital Geology. And I notice that two of my blogs make reference to galena. One a poem, Galena Whispers, and the other is a short prose piece, Old-Time Radio, with a link to a site where you can listen to radio from the past. I love that place.
Some years ago, a tour of a local mine produced samples of galena and this not-very-great photo is of one of those samples. It's not your regular rock.
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36 comments:
Interesting post for the day!! Hope you are having a great week!
Sylvia
Very interesting. Never even heard of galena.
RnPB: Ch 013 - Clean Up
Sure isn't your regular rock! Very interesting info as always.
I wonder what kinds of effect that might have had on one's skin? Using galena for the eyes, I mean. Thanks for the lesson. You know I love stuff like this!
This is a new word and information for me too. I love all the things we learn through ABC Wednesday.
Thanks
Loads of info I didn't know there.
Thanks for another info I learned today. :)
These days we take technology for granted - but it's amazing how far we've come in a relatively short timeframe. In the future perhaps microchips will be the subject of 'ancient' trivia.
I think I would have mistaken this for coal without your explanation. That was interesting.
I had heard about kohl but never about galena! Always good to learn something new!
Take care.
A very interesting looking rock.
I learn so much from ABC Wednesday! Thanks.
Sherry
The first memory I have of radio was the crystal set my father had in his basement, and no doubt galena was involved in some way. Very interesting, - thank you for stirring memories too.
Wonderful very informative post.
Thanks for sharing a piece of geological interest.
The alphabet meme offers a lot of information which is absolutely new to me! Thanks for sharing this! Thanks for your visit.
I bed you found the most unic word for today's G, lol !
Fascinating - I'd never heard of this mineral before and hadn't even thought to ask myself what 'kohl' actually was! Thank you for this. :)
Wednesday is always a day for learning!
Thanks so much for contributing to the fun!
Denise (ABC Team)
Interesting information, thanks for sharing.
Interesting piece of information. Thanks for sharing.
very educational and informative, thanks for posting.
You have thought me something I didn't know, and knowledge is never wasted.
This struck a chord with my husband, taking him back to his boyhood and his crystal radio. We record and listen to a lot of Old Time Radio - great stuff for a long journey!
I didn't know that about galena and radios! Fascinating. I have a piece somewhere, but I'm pretty sure I can't persuade it to pick up radio signals, safety pin or no! LOL!
Wow! Splendid post and educational too (not easy to manage that combo). What a pretty word - Galena.
Whoever said geology was boring was crazy. Thanks for making galena come to life. My attention was hijacked by our image created on the Bamboo Fun Tablet post that follows this one. I love it!
Now this is a G that I would never had known about.... Thanks!
I'd never heard of Galena before ... who'd have thought geology could be interesting ;)
Fascinating, never knew that. I love radio and remember you used to be able to buy crystal radio kits and make your own. The Old Time Radio link looks like hours of pleasure. I like BBC Radio 7 which mixes old and new.
so interesting. Thanks for that neat radio link too!
You can tell it has metal in it - just look at that shine. That is really neat!
Interesting item I was only vaguely familiar with.
hey, that's nice! I work in the solar cell industry and it was nice to see a "familiar rock" in a totally different setting.
Galena is something entirely new for me! With posts like yours, abc-Wednesday becomes a real learning experience.
Thank you for stopping by my blog and leaving your kind words about my abc-"G is for green"-post. I chose a very common word and you chose one that is perhaps the least well known.
Best wishes,
Anna
Interesting post and G!;-)
what a good read very interesting
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