Thames And Kosmos 551101 Crystal Geodes User Guide

WONDERY KIDS
BREAK-OPEN
CRYSTAL GEODES
WOW-TO  GUIDE

SAFETY INFORMATION

CAUTION:
Broken geodes may have sharp edges or points. Adult supervision required.
Warning! Always wear eye protection. Eye protection for supervising adults is not included. Keep young children, animals and those not wearing eye protection away from the experimental area.
Warning! Not suitable for children under 3 years.
Choking hazard — small parts may be swallowed or inhaled.
The geodes in this kit are naturally occurring specimens that are sourced from the ground.
We cannot make any guarantees as to the quality or composition of the contents. Please exercise caution when working with natural materials. Do not ingest the materials and wash your hands after experimenting.
Keep the packaging and instructions as they contain important information.
WARNING! Never look directly into the sun, either with your naked eye or through the magnifying glass. You could blind yourself! Never leave the magnifying glass unattended in the sun. Fire danger!
The process of breaking geodes open can produce dust and airborne rock fragments. Be careful not to breath any dust. We recommend working outside or in a well-ventilated space.

Have any questions? Missing any parts? Want to tell us a joke? Our tech support team will be glad to help you!
Thames & Kosmos US
Email: support@thamesandkosmos.com
Web: thamesandkosmos.com
Phone: 1-800-587-2872

©2024 Thames & Kosmos, LLC, Providence, RI, USA
Thames & Kosmos® is a registered trademark of Thames & Kosmos, LLC. All rights reserved.
© 2024 Wondery LLC and Tinkercast, LLC
This work , including all its parts, is copyright protected.
Image credits: p. 4 (geode) Nessis, p. 7 (pyrite) stellar, p. 7 (zircon) Björn Wylezich , p.7 (apatite) Björn Wylezich, p. 7 (quartz) Mara Fribus, p. 7 (topaz) dataimasu, p. 7 (selenite) bjphotographs, p. 7 (amazonite) marcel, p. 8 (prism) YummyBuum, p. 9 (quartz) sergey, p. 9 (amethyst) Minakryn Ruslan, p. 9 (calcite) songkran, p. 9 (celestite) theartofphoto, p. 9 ( jasper) wojtekmt, p. 9 (sepatarian) Evgeny, p. 9 (agate) Minakryn Ruslan (all previous: © stock. adobe.com)
Distributed in North America by Thames & Kosmos, LLC. Providence, RI 02903
Phone: 800-587-2872; Web: thamesandkosmos.com
The right to technical alterations is reserved.
Printed in China

KIT CONTENTS

You will also need: A hammer and chisel, or a hammer and an old sock

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to your Crystal Geodes Wow-To guide! GUY RAZ
(WOW IN THE WORLD HOST) A geode is a hollow stone lined with shiny crystals inside!
MINDY THOMAS
(WOW IN THE WORLD HOST)
But the only way to find them is by breaking in from the outside! This guide will help you. Also, be sure to use the qr code below to hear some wow-worthy geode facts, from us! Oh, and we included a special display case for all of your geodes to sparkle, shine, and WOW!

Wow in the World is the #1 kids science podcast hosted by Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas!

https://wondery.com/qr/wow-in-the-world/break-open-crystal-geodes/

Start here!

1. Grown-ups! Scan this QR code to start your audio journey.
2. Listen to Track 1 , a Wow in the World Bonus Episode!
3. Unlock exclusive Wow Facts from Guy & Mindy when you see this symbol in the guide!

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BREAKING OPEN THE GEODES

Make sure you have read all safety warnings before starting. Always wear safety goggles. Adult supervision is required. It can often take several tries to crack open a geode, and kids often need help from an adult. Break your geodes on a hard surface such as a concrete or stone area. Make sure it is okay if the surface takes a little damage, like scratches or chips.

Using a hammer and chisel
Use this method for the highest likelihood of getting large geode halves. Place the geode on the hard surface. Using a hammer and chisel, create a scoring line around the middle of the geode. Tap with enough force to chip the outside, but not to crush the whole geode to bits. As you work your way around, a crack will form. Continue to chisel along the crack until it breaks open. Using a hammer and sock
This is an easier and safer method for younger kids. It will prevent geode pieces from flying around, but the resulting pieces may be smaller.

Put the geode into an old sock. Place it on the hard surface. Hit it through the sock with the hammer — gently at first and then a little harder —until it breaks.
Remove the pieces from the sock.

INVESTIGATING YOUR GEODES

Examine your opened geodwith the magnifying glassunder bright lighting. What do you see? Record your observations on page 8.

What’s going here?

QUARTZ GEODE

A geode is a rock formation with crystals inside .
A crystal is a special kind of rock that has a neat and organized structure of tiny particles called molecules. It can be transparent or shiny.
Some crystals, like the sparkly gemstones you might have seen, are really beautiful and come in different shapes.
Geodes are usually formed in volcanic rock.
As the lava flow cools, gas bubbles form, which can create cavities with diameters ranging from a few centimeters to several meters.
Water containing lots of minerals then seeps into these cavities and crystallizes over time. The crystal-filled bubbles become geodes.
Geodes can be made of many different types of minerals and can have different impurities, resulting in many different colors. Clear quartz and purple amethyst geodes are common. See page 9 for examples of different geodes.

SETTING UP YOUR DISPLAY CASE

1. Snap the back panel into the base as shown.
   Push hard until it clicks.

2. Slide the main case piece intothe base as shown.

3. Open the back panel of the display case by pushing in and down on the locking tab at the top and then folding the panel downward.
   Place your favorite geode specimens into the display case for safe keeping. PUSH IN AND DOWN ON THE LOCKING TAB

4. Decorate the display case with the included stickers!

“Hold me closer, tiny hammer”

WHERE ON EARTH ARE G EODES FOUND? Geodes can be found wherever the geological conditions are suitable for them to form. Many of the geodes that are sold commercially come from Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, and Namibia. Brazil, in particular, is known for amethyst geodes that are several meters tall, found in the large igneous province (an accumulation of igneous rocks) called the Paraná-Etendeka traps. Geodes are also found in North America and England, where they are sometimes called “potato stones.”

HOW DO CRYSTALS FORM?

The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, a 4,000-year-old wonder of the world, is like a gigantic model of a crystal.
It can help us understand the structure of a crystal, which is too small to see with the naked eye. This pyramid was built from over two million rectangular blocks stacked on top of one another in such a way that they form the pyramid’s shape. This is a lot like how crystals aformed, except in their case the building blocks are much tinier —not much bigger than atoms. These are known as unit cells.
Unit cells can be assembled in various ways depending on the type of material involved. Some consist of molecules, or atoms connected to each other in a certain way (one example being rock candy).
With other substances, they can consist of nothing but identical atoms (this applies to diamond crystals, for example, which are composed only of carbon atoms). In addition, unit cells can be made of ions, which are electrically charged atoms or groups of atoms. Substances made of ions are known as salts — like table salt, which is made of sodium and chloride ions.

A crystal forming in a solution (or cooling from molten rock) is like a h i ghly active construction site.
Strong physical forces of attraction are drawing the unit cells together. The unit cells are constantly collecting on all parts of the growing crystal, staying for a bit and then zooming away again. This happens moston the edges and corners, and a little less on the flat surfaces. Usually, the arriving unit cell doesn’t fit well into its landing site, so it quickly flits off.
Sometimes, though, the right unit cell joins just the right place on a growing crystal structure, or lattice, and it is held tight there. That is how a crystal grows, layer by layer.

“Volcanoes are geode factories”

SHAPE UP, CRYSTALS!
The chemical makeup of the unit cell of a crystal affects the shape in which the crystal forms. There are seven basic crystal shapes, called crystal systems, each characterized by its unique geometric arrangement of crystal faces.
“Glow -in-the-dark geodes”

Crystal Systems

Name| Description| Diagram| Example
Cubic (Isometric)| Symmetrical shapes with equal sides and angles, like cubes or dice.| |
Tetragonal| Crystals with a four-sided prism shape, where two sides are longer
or shorter than the other two.| |
Hexagonal| Crystals with a six-sided prism shape, often resembling a pencil orcolumn.| |
Trigonal
(Rhombohedral)| Crystals with a three-sided prism shape, similar to hexagonal crystalsbut with different angles.| |
Orthorhombic| Rectangular-shaped crystals with three unequal axes at right angles
to each other.| |
Monoclinic| Crystals with three unequal axes, but only two are at right angles to
each other.| |
Triclinic| Crystals with three unequal axes, none of which are at right angles to each other.| |

WHY ARE CRYSTALS SO S PARKLY?

Crystals sparkle and create rainbows because of how light passes through them.
The regular, repeating arrangement of unit cells causes light waves to be refracted — or change direction — as they pass through the crystal. The refracted light bouncing off of surfaces inside the crystal is what causes it to sparkle.
Similar to the sparkle effect, rainbows in crystals are caused by the dispersion of light. When light enters a crystal, it may be separated into its component colors (like a rainbow) due to the crystal’s ability to refract different colors of light by different amounts.
The dispersion of light can create beautiful rainbow-like patterns within or around the crystal, especially when the crystal has flat, reflective surfaces for the light to bounce off of.

GEODE FIELD NOTES
Describe each of your geodes below. You can record things like the geode’s size, shape, color, the number of pieces it broke into, and the appearance of the crystals inside.

“A rocky bubble bath”

GEODES OF THE WORLD

“From rocks to riches”

Quartz Geodes: Filled with various forms of quartz crystals, these geodes often have an outer layer of chalcedony, which is a form of silica with extremely fine crystals resulting in a dull, waxy appearance. Amethyst Geodes: Filled with purple amethyst crystals, a purple variety of quartz, these geodes are prized for their beautiful, rich coloration. Calcite Geodes: Filled with calcite crystals, these geodes may exhibit a range of colors, including white, orange, yellow, or pink.

Celestite Geodes: Containing crystals of celestite, these geodes display delicate blue hues. Jasper Geodes: Filled with jasper, a type of chalcedony, these geodes can exhibit a range of warm, earthy colors and patterns.
Fun fact: Geodes that are completely solid inside, like this one, are called thundereggs.

Septarian Geodes: Composed of a combination of minerals, including calcite, aragonite, and barite, septarian geodes often display distinctive patterns of cracks filled with different minerals. Agate Geodes: Agate is a rock consisting primarily of alternating layers of chalcedony and crystalline quartz. These geodes can have a variety of colors, patterns, and degrees of transparency within their banded layers.
Druzy Geodes: This refers to all geodes with a layer of very tiny crystals on the inner surface, which can look something like sparkly velvet. It can occur with different minerals.

NEXT-LEVEL CHALLENGES

Try these experiments on your own!

1. Start a rock collection and put the specimens you find in the display case.
2. Make your own geodes by forming a bowl of modeling clay and growing alum crystals inside.
3. Use jewelry wire wrapped around a geode fragment to make a geode ring you can wear.

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This kit was completed by:
Write your name(s) in the spaces below.

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