Of all the minerals in the #OreCup for my art/physics use voting scheme copper wins hands down!
Ok, molybdenum has some applications as catalyst/electrodes/in alloys but copper is the conductor par excellence.
In art we have all of bronze & copper sculpture & many blue/green pigments! Vote copper!
Vote for #copper here: https://www.mineralcup.org/vote-results/vote-r3m1
I’ll grant Ilmenite a titanium-iron oxide mineral with idealized formula FeTiO3 some arts points for titanium dioxide white paint but it’s no match for copper’s centuries of blue-green pigments, bronze sculpture & direct use through art history! Vote Copper!
Vote here: https://www.mineralcup.org/vote-results/vote-r2m1
Round 1 Match 4: Lovely peacock ore bornite gets arts points as a source of copper, but so is rare carrollite, which is also a source of cobalt… and cobalt is important for pigments including cobalt violet, cobalt yellow, cobalt titanite green, and of course, cobalt blue.
#OreCup
Cobalt blue can be prepared by heating a mixture of cobalt (II)-chloride CoCl2 · 6H2O and aluminum oxide Al2O3.
Vote here: https://www.mineralcup.org/vote-results/results-r1m4
Round 1 Match 3 of #OreCup25 #OreCup
is Ilmenite vs Jadarite
Ilmenite as a titanium-iron oxide mineral wins the arts vote for titanium dioxide white paint in modern art (like this Franz Klein).
Though Jadarite, only discovered in 2004 gets some physics points as a source of lithium (& use in batteries) & some arts points for boron (used in ceramic & glasses) #scicomm #arthist
Vote here: https://www.mineralcup.org/vote-results/vote-r1m3
Voting for minerals is back this week with the new #OreCup! I am taking my art and physics applications voting scheme from the #MinCup25, but the #OreCup25 is making it hard pitting 2 strong contenders against each other in the first round! Found worldwide Copper & Galena have been used since antiquity (see the woodcut of early Galena smelting via Agricola here). Both used for pigments (as with the copper-based verdigris used in this Van Eyck).
A tough call for the #MinCup25 semi-final but I think I have to give dioptase the arts vote as a pigment since ancient times (i.e. on Neolithic sculpture, Asian murals & Russian icons), though ‘reindeer blood’ tenebrescent, & phosphorescent, tugtupite “King of Fluorescent Minerals” is also a gem, gaining both art and physics points from me.
Vote here: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r4m02
Though kyanite is used in the arts, hematite is the most important pigment left standing, & vital to millennia of art history so easily wins the art vote. Red ochre, earth, Venetian red, mars red & English red. A stable, rich, vibrant red in cave paintings through contemporary paintings! #MinCup25
Vote for hematite here: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r4m01
Cuprosklodowskite was mistakenly named for sklodowskite, in turn named for Marie Skłodowska-Curie. Dioptase has been used as a pigment since ancient times. You find it on Neolithic sculpture. Asian murals & Russian religious icons. It’s also used in jewellery. Dioptase wins the arts vote!
#MinCup25
Vote for #dioptase here: https://www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r3m04
Plastyczny Online
Nora Jean Stone
Ele Willoughby, PhD