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some info not in the summary or article:

Formula: (Mg,Fe)SiO3
System: Orthorhombic
Name:
Named in 2014 by Chi Ma and Oliver Tschauner in honor of Percy Williams Bridgman [April 21, 1882 Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA - August 20, 1961 Randolph, New Hampshire, USA], winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1946 for his work in high-pressure physics.

Like the other replies to this post, I completely agree -- I wish more teachers thought like this (and not *just* in chemistry). Teaching chemistry using "theory only" is like teaching programming using pen and paper (which I'm old enough to remember, and greatly resent).

This is about mnemonics. Associate formulas, tables, ratios and reactions with visual memory -- seeing is remembering. Sometimes you don't even have to do the experiment in class -- if something is either dangerous or expensive, there's probably plenty of videos online of the process. This is actually a subject matter in which youtube is a "good resource" (for the visuals, anyway).

Here are a few sites that either give examples of practical/cheap experiments or provide videos of all sorts of chemistry-related material:
thenakedscientists.com
http://www.rsc.org/education/teachers/learnnet/videoclips.htm
http://www.planet-scicast.com/experiments.cfm

Here are a few additional online chemistry resources (the more visual information, the better):
webelements.com
chemicool.com
periodictable.com
periodicvideos.com
practicalchemistry.org
mindat.org

It's like any other subject -- get the students *interested* in _topic_, and they'll teach themselves.

Did you look it up? It is apparently the chemical formula for a mineral called... wait for it... cummingtonite.

dual purpose, can be also used as flame shield...

"One form of cummingtonite (a variety called "amosite") is asbestos-form and can be used as asbestos. Asbestos has many industrial uses despite some health risks and is made from different minerals, all with a fibrous habit. Serpentine and tremolite asbestos are considered the better varieties due to their greater flexibility and tensile strength, but cummingtonite asbestos has its uses and is being mined for this reason in South Africa."

http://www.galleries.com/minerals/silicate/cummingt/cummingt.htm

http://www.mindat.org/min-1170.html

http://webmineral.com/data/Cummingtonite.shtml

"4 points, in which any two vertices are connected by an edge." Isn't that a tetrahedron?

There are tetrahedral crystals. The last picture on that page is an unusually nice one.

The possible crystal forms for an element depend on the bond angles, and I don't think carbon will hold a stable tetrahedral lattice. Not sure, though.

The real mineral is called "Jadarite", or at least it will be officially when it's published later this year. At the moment it has the official memorable name of "IMA2006-036" - but as the name "Jadarite" has leaked out onto the internet already, there's no big surprise about the forthcoming announcement. In fact these leaks on the internet pushed the Natural History Museum to release this press release now.

More information about Jadarite at: http://www.mindat.org/min-31570.html
 
Jolyon

So not only do you get air to breath, you get materials with which to build your base.

Set up a base running this process, add a Lunar beanstalk to L1, and you have a cheap source of material for building items in Earth orbit.

I noticed this as well. If a moon base with this technology is established, might it be economical not just to throw the Ti up to L1, but down to Earth? A quick search on titianium mining turns up a whole lot of problems with current terrestrial methods, primarily because the most economic method involves strip-mining with all its environmental degradation. Seems like we'd be better off sending large chunks of Ti through the atmosphere into the desert for future retrieval.

An interesting side note: the article discusses " the Ilmenox process, named after the process' ability to produce oxygen from the lunar mineral ilmenite." But Ilmenite isn't just a lunar material; it's named for a Russian mountain range. In Soviet Russia, Titanium mines YOU!

Alumina (aluminium oxide) is not the same as aluminium, that's like saying that water ice(hydrogen oxide) is 'Transparent Hydrogen'.

Alumina or corundum as the natural material is known, is found in nature as a clear mineral - different colour variations give you Ruby and Sapphire.

Jolyon

But you can find more here. Or just try a Google Search.

Transparent aluminium oxide has been known for a very long time, naturally it's known as Corundum, and red varieties are called Ruby and other colours (not just blue) are called Sapphires.

And artificial transparent rubies and sapphires have been made for around 100 years - so apart from maybe a new fabrication process there isn't really anything new in this story!

Jolyon

ps. Alum isn't used as an ore of aluminium - there isn't enough of it found naturally, the ore of aluminium is Bauxite, a mixture of aluminium oxides and hydroxides.

Transparent aluminium oxide has been known for a very long time, naturally it's known as Corundum, and red varieties are called Ruby and other colours (not just blue) are called Sapphires.

And artificial transparent rubies and sapphires have been made for around 100 years - so apart from maybe a new fabrication process there isn't really anything new in this story!

Jolyon

ps. Alum isn't used as an ore of aluminium - there isn't enough of it found naturally, the ore of aluminium is Bauxite, a mixture of aluminium oxides and hydroxides.