Round 1 Match 15

Written By Mika McKinnon

Voting for each match starts at 06:00 GMT and runs for 24 hours. Any votes received after that time will disappear into the void, having no impact on the results chart. Please vote only once per match. Your honesty is appreciated (as is your patience). While we could enact anti-cheating measures, we’d rather make the game as accessible as possible and trust our players to not ruin their own fun.

Fan Campaign Highlights

We see you campaigning for your favourite minerals! Here’s some highlights we caught across the social media platforms we’re monitoring. Please tag us or send a note if you think we missed an educational, hilarious, or catchy campaign moment.

My day job is protecting calcite in spectacular cave systems from pilfering tourists 🙄 This image is from a gated cave with the longest-running climate study in the world, where the crystal holds rainfall records going back thousands of years. I would protect calcite with my life 🤪

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— Jinni Winter (@jinniwinter.bsky.social) September 15, 2024 at 5:39 AM

Today's the day: vote for ME (by which I mean the mineral Celestine) in MinCup! Celestine is the bestine!!! 🩵

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— Celeste Labedz (@celestelabedz.bsky.social) September 15, 2024 at 2:02 PM

Sure Celestine can make cut gems but it’s hard to overstate Calcite’s importance in art history. Calcite wins the art vote hands down with millennia of marble & limestone sculpture and chalk drawing and as a pigment in paint. Plus it’s birefringent on the physics front. Vote calcite! #MinCup24

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— Ele Willoughby (@minouette.bsky.social) September 15, 2024 at 6:42 AM

Y'all geology fans, I hope you're participating in the most important even of the year :) Also, "Geologist's Primer" is coming to Backers super, super soon! 💎

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— Double Proficiency (@2xproficiency.bsky.social) September 15, 2024 at 12:50 AM

Celestine has lovely blue crystals (and can be found in geodes) but chemically it's strontium sulfate, SrSO₄. That means if you grind it up, you can use it to make red flames! The strontium is the important part. Pyrotecnicians usually use strontium carbonate, but any strontium salt should work.

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— Judith Butlerian Jihad (@xanindigo.bsky.social) September 15, 2024 at 5:29 AM

#Celestine is one of my favorite minerals. Not only because it reminds me of one of my early teens favorite books (it seems quite esoteric in retrospect, but back then it was great), but also because it contains Strontium, one of the elements central to modern rock dating. Vote #Celestine!

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— Matthias M. M. Meier (@mmmmeier.bsky.social) September 15, 2024 at 1:21 AM

But seriously, calcite is amazing because it is such an integral part of the oceans. Be it reactions on mid-ocean ridges, subduction zones, biology in the surface waters, or even preferences for building blocks by some hairless monkeys - there is calcite.

— Or M. Bialik (@obialik.bsky.social) September 14, 2024 at 11:23 PM

As a physics instructor, I'm always a fan of calcite. 🎢

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— Physgal👩🏻‍🔬 (@physgal.bsky.social) September 15, 2024 at 8:48 AM

ROTD #MinCup24 R1M15 #Calcite V #Celestine 🧪⚒️ Calcite has so many forms, from caves to optical illusions, this sometimes uv reactive mineral is gorgeous. Celestine is too soft to be a gem, but it's so pretty naturally, it's a shame to cut it! www.mineralcup.org/2024/vote/r1...

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— Ketamine and Old Lace (@corgiseveryhour.bsky.social) September 15, 2024 at 8:12 AM

Calcite makes me deeply happy in many, many ways. Teaching the science-magic of how to identify it with acid & bubbles is SO FUN, double refraction feels surreal, the crystals are a geometry lesson, & I can do a full paleoclimate lesson with a seashell. But I have such a soft spot for Celestine.

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— Mika McKinnon (@mikamckinnon.bsky.social) September 15, 2024 at 8:56 AM

The Earth laughs in flowers. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson #Calcite #MinCup24

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— Vicky Veritas (@vickyveritas.bsky.social) September 15, 2024 at 11:32 AM

Calcite is...fine? Celestine demands attention both in mineral form and as an ingredient in glow-in-the-dark paint and fireworks. Don't go with the mineral that has been in 7 #MinCup contests without winning. Vote #Celestine! www.mineralcup.org/2024/vote/r1... #MinCup24 📷cell phone pics mine

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— Susie Leopold (@blastylavagrrrl.bsky.social) September 15, 2024 at 11:30 AM

#Celestine does caves: the world’s largest known geode 35 ft (11 m) in diameter in Put-in-Bay, Ohio has celestine crystals as wide as 18 inches (46 cm) across, estimated to weigh up to 300 pounds (140 kg) each. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal... #MinCup24

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— Susie Leopold (@blastylavagrrrl.bsky.social) September 15, 2024 at 11:59 AM

CALCITE!!! Retrograde soluble! Phosphorescent! Fluorescence! Double refraction! Alabaster jars! Invisibility cloaks! What can it not do?!? #MinCup24 www.mineralcup.org/2024/vote/r1...

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— jane (@yesmissjane.bsky.social) September 15, 2024 at 1:26 PM

Now it’s time to recruit more players! Chat in the comments or on the social media platform of your choice (tag us and use #MinCup24 when you can). Everyone deserves to learn more about minerals, choose favourites, and enjoy.

Mika McKinnon
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Round 1 Match 16
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Round 1 Match 14