See:synthetic stone
a. A diamond produced artificially by subjecting a carbonaceous material
to extremely high temperature and pressure; currently and commonly called
MM and/or manmade diamond. See also:manmade diamond
b. A misnomer for sintered tungsten carbide. Long
One artificially made from chemicals. Schaller
An artificial substance having all the properties of a mineral.
Hurlbut
Material that is the equivalent of, or better than, natural ore, can be
put to the same uses, and is produced by means other than ordinary
concentration, calcining, sintering, or nodulizing.
In chemical composition and in all their physical characters, including
optical properties, synthetic ruby and synthetic sapphire are true
crystalline ruby or sapphire, but they are produced in quantity in the
laboratory by fusing pure precipitated alumina with a predetermined amount
of pigmentary material. They can be distinguished from natural stones only
by the most careful examination. Syn:synthetic sapphire
See:synthetic ruby
A man-made stone that has the same physical, optical, and chemical
properties, and the same chemical composition, as the genuine or natural
stone that it reproduces. Many gem materials have been made synthetically
as a scientific experiment, but only corundum, spinel, emerald, rutile,
garnet, quartz, chrysoberyl (alexandrite), opal, and turquoise have been
made commercially and cut as gemstones for the jewelry trade.
Syn:imitation
A feeder placed under a bin, hopper, or ore pass opening (or raise) that
vibrates by the use of magnetic force to distribute ore evenly onto a
moving conveyor belt. It can by adjusted to regulate the flow through
various degrees of vibration.
A brick for tapping metal from the cupola, the primary object of which is
to eliminate the tapping and botting up of the cupola tap hole each time
metal is drawn off. With the syphon brick, the orifice from which the
metal is drawn is continually open to the atmosphere, and the flow of
metal is controlled by shutting the blast on and off. The case of control
permits the use of quite small ladles at the cupola, so that there is no
need for redistribution from large to small ladles. Osborne
Trade name for almandine garnet, of gem stone quality. CTD
Former name for iridosmine.
a. A standard, worldwide division; contains rocks formed during a
fundamental chronologic unit, a period. An example is the Devonian system.
AGI
b. The fundamental time-rock unit is the system. AGI
c. In crystallography, the division of first rank, in the classification
of crystals according to form. The six systems ordinarily recognized are
the isometric, tetragonal, hexagonal, orthorhombic (or rhombic),
monoclinic, and triclinic; some divide the hexagonal system into hexagonal
and trigonal.
d. Applied to the sum of the phases that can be formed from one, two
(binary system), three (ternary system), or more components under
different conditions of temperature, pressure, and composition.
Holmes, 2
e. The term system or general system of work means simply that the work,
as it is commenced on the ground is such that, if continued, will lead to
a discovery and development of the veins or orebodies that are supposed to
be in the claim, or, if these are known, that the work will facilitate the
extraction of the ores and mineral. Ricketts
Any error that persists and cannot be considered as due entirely to
chance, or an error that follows some definite mathematical or physical
law or pattern and that can be compensated, at least partly, by the
determination and application of a correction; e.g., an error whose
magnitude changes in proportion to known changes in observational
conditions, such as an error caused by the effects of temperature or
pressure on a measuring instrument or on the object to be measured.
CF:random error
a. An error that arises from some basic defect in the sampling or
preparation process such that the result obtained is always either higher
or lower than the true figure. Systematic errors are additive; i.e., if
there are two sources of error, the total error is obtained by adding the
individual errors. Nelson
b. An error due to some known physical law by which it might be predicted;
those errors produced by the same cause affect the mean in the same sense
and do not tend to balance each other but rather give a definite bias to
the mean. An error that results from some bias in the measurement process
and is not due to chance, in contrast to random error.
McGraw-Hill, 1
The setting of timber or steel supports regularly at fixed intervals
irrespective of the condition of the roof and sides; a support in
accordance with a system specified in rules made by the manager of the
mine. Nelson
Placing mine timbers according to a predetermined plan, regardless of roof
conditions. Zern
The seven large divisions into which all crystallizing substances can be
placed, namely isometric (or cubic), tetragonal, hexagonal, trigonal,
orthorhombic (or rhombic), monoclinic, and triclinic. This classification
is based on the degree of symmetry displayed by the crystals. CMD
A white to yellow acicular mineral, MgBO2 (OH) . Probably
orthorhombic. Occurs in nodules; related to camsellite. Syn:ascharite
Larsen; Dana, 2
See:smithsonite
A monoclinic mineral, FeSO4 .H2 O ; kieserite group.