Fulgurite
Fulgurite (from Latin fulgur , "lightning"), also lightning glazing, lightning sinter, lightning tubes , are tubes created by lightning strikes in the rock or sand .
description
Due to the temperatures of up to 30,000 ° C arising during the impact, the walls are glazed by melting the rock. The tubes measure about 2 cm in cross-section and are often several meters long. Often the ends branch out. According to the rocks struck by lightning, a distinction is made between sand and rock fulgurites. Relatively rare minerals and chemical compounds have been detected in fulgurites, such as the mineral lechatelierite , which was otherwise only found in tektites and impact glasses . If the sand was mixed with organic substances, fullerenes can also be formed, which otherwise occur very rarely in nature.
Demarcation
Pseudofulgurite is the name given to tube-like structures that look similar, but which can be traced back to other causes (for example bioturbate traces such as burial structures of marine crustaceans). These structures are called bioturbatures . Sometimes tubular sintering and erosion phenomena are confused with fulgurites, such as the so-called " lightning tubes " from Battenberg.
Under the name Fulgurit , building materials from Fulgurit-Werk Luthe , such as roof panels, are also sold in the building materials industry . Asbestos building materials are no longer manufactured under the brand name.
history
In 1817 the shape and mineralogical-physical properties of lightning tubes were described in detail. Their emergence from lightning strikes was considered certain after other possible causes had been discussed, known finds were listed and properties of the sites were explained. The author of the scientific article had roamed the “well-known sand desert” Senne with the discoverer, the Lippe economist Hentzen, and vividly describes his own finds and their preparation. The objects were first discovered in Germany, namely in the Senne, by the above-mentioned layman and made known by him as lightning tubes in 1805.
literature
- Lexicon of Geosciences Volume 2. Spectrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-8274-0423-1 .
- Dr. Phil. Karl Gustav Fiedler: About the flash tubes and their origin , in: Annalen der Physik, Volume 61, Chapter III; 1819; Pp. 235-263
Web links
- Fulgurite in the mineral atlas
Individual evidence
- ↑ Karl Gustav Fiedler: About the flash tubes and their origin. In: Annals of Physics. 55, 1817, pp. 121-164, doi : 10.1002 / andp.18170550202 . Two attached panels contain copperplate engravings of lightning tubes from the Senne - some with ramifications.
- ^ Johann Karl Wilhelm Voigt: Message from the lightning tubes. Magazine for the latest state of natural history 10 (1805) 491-495. Tubes of this type have already been described, but their origin has not been attributed to lightning.