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Using the blowpipe for the chemical analysis of minerals

blowpipe kit
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Non-Optical Instruments
Introduction
An instrument that played an important role in 19th century
mineralogy was the blowpipe.
Its contribution to qualitative chemical analysis of minerals,
from the end of the 18th century to the middle of the 19th century,
was immense. Various instrument models as well as kits for blowpipe
analysis (sometimes with implements for quantitative analysis)
were developed by prominent scientists and were offered by various
manufacturers. Because of high demand a large number of blowpipe
sets was produced and therefore many of them have survived.
Throughout the 19th century different physical techniques made
their entrée in mineralogical laboratories. These include equipment
for testing magnetic properties of minerals as well as balances
and areometers for measuring the specific gravity. From
the introduction of the hardness scale by Mohs (1812) the scratch
test was used to support mineral determination. For more precise
hardness determinations, sclerometers
were developed.
References
- Burchard, U. (1994) The History and Apparatus of
Blowpipe Analysis, The Mineralogical Record 25,
251-277.
- Burchard, U. (2004) The Sclerometer and the Determination
of the Hardness of Minerals, The Mineralogical Record
35, 109-120.
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