I Can’t Sleep - Opal | Relaxing Bedtime Reading for Sleep

Episode Date: April 7, 2022

Unwind with this calm bedtime reading on opals, a peaceful way to ease insomnia and drift into sleep. Benjamin’s gentle cadence explores the beauty, history, and science of these shimmering gemstones, from their unique play of color to their cultural significance across time. This is not whispering or hypnosis—just soothing, fact-filled narration to quiet the mind, relieve stress, and bring comfort during restless nights. Learn something new while your body relaxes and your thoughts settle. Press play, close your eyes, and let the calm rhythm carry you into restful dreams. Want More? Request a Topic: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/request-a-topic Ad-Free Episodes: https://icantsleep.supportingcast.fm/ Shop Sleep-Friendly Products: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/sponsors Join the Discussion on Discord: https://discord.gg/myhGhVUhn7 This content is derived from the Wikipedia article on Opal, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. Read the full article: Wikipedia – Opal. Happy sleeping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to a Glassbox media podcast. What if I told you that most of the modern day self-help advice you've been hearing could actually make you worse? The key to a better life isn't about feel-good gimmicks that sound catchy. The Mentally Stronger Podcast gives you access to a licensed therapist who shares science-backed tools that will actually change your life. Hi, I'm Amy Morin, psychotherapist, mental strength trainer, and international best-selling author. In each episode, we cover research-back strategies, like how to stop relying on willpower and start creating habits for lasting change. And the five mental strength-building exercises you can do from your couch.

I also speak to world-class experts like Dr. Nicole Kane, who shares how to permanently heal anxiety by addressing the root cause. With over 200 episodes in our catalog, this podcast is for you if you're ready to crush self-doubt, conquer challenges, and become stronger than ever with therapist-approved strategies that can change your life. Listen to Mentally Stronger with Therapist Amy Morin, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast, where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice. I'm your host, Benjamin Boster. Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled Opal. Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silica.

Its water content may range from 3 to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6% and 10%. Because of its amorphous character, it is classed as a meteoroid, unlike crystalline forms of silica, which are classed as minerals. It is deposited at a relatively low temperature and may occur in the fissures of almost any kind of rock, being most commonly found with limonite, sandstone, riolyte, marl, and basalt. Opal is the birthstone of October, and the stone that celebrates the 14th anniversary of marriage. The name opal is believed to be derived from the Sanskrit word opula, which means jewel, and later the Greek derivative opalios, which means to see a change in color.

There are two broad classes of opal, precious and common. Precious opal displays play of color, common opal does not. Play of color is defined as a pseudo-chromatic operative, effect, resulting in flashes of colored light from certain minerals as they are turned in white light. The internal structure of precious opal causes it to diffract light, resulting in play of color. Depending on the conditions in which it formed, opal may be transparent, translucent, or opaque, and the background color may be white, black, or nearly any color of the visible spectrum. Black opal is considered rarest, whereas white, gray, and green are the most common.

Precious Opel Precious Opel shows a variable interplay of internal colors, and though it is a mineraloid, it has an internal structure. At microscopic scales, precious opal is composed of silica spheres, some 150 to 300 nanometers in diameter and a hexagonal or cubic close-packed lattice. It was shown by J.V. Sanders in the mid-1960s that these ordered silica spheres produced the internal colors

by causing the interference and diffraction of light passing through the microstructure of the opal. The regularity of the sizes and the packing of these spheres is a prime determinant of the quality of precious opal. Where the distance between the regularly packed planes of spheres is around half the wavelength of a component of visible light, the light of that wavelength may be subject to diffraction from the grading created by the stacked planes.

The colors that are observed are determined by the spacing between the planes and the orientation of planes with respect to the incident light. The process can be described by Bragg's law of diffraction. Visible light cannot pass through large thicknesses of the opal. This is the basis of the optical band gap in the photonic crystal. The notion that opals are photonic crystals for visible light was expressed in 1995 by Vasilia Estradaev's group. In addition, micro-fractures may be filled with secondary silica and form thin lamellae

inside the opal during solidification. The term opalescence is commonly used to describe this unique and beautiful phenomenon, which in gemology is termed play of color. In gemology, opalescence is applied to the hazy, milky, turbid sheen of common, or poach opal, which does not show a play of color. Opalessence is a form of adular essence. For gemstone use, most opal is cut and polished to form a cabbashon. Solid opal refers to polished stones consisting wholly of precious opal.

Opal's too thin to produce a solid may be combined with other materials to form attractive gems. An opal doublet consists of a relatively thin layer of precious opal, backed by a layer of dark-colored material. most commonly ironstone, dark or black common opal, potch, onyx or obsidian. The darker backing emphasizes the play of color and results in a more attractive display than a lighter potch. An opal triplet is similar to a doublet, but has a third layer, a domed cap of clear quartz or plastic on the top. The cap takes a high polish and acts as if a pletetet. protective layer for the opal. The top layer also acts as a magnifier to emphasize the play of color of the opal beneath, which is often an inferior specimen or an extremely thin section

of precious opal. Triplit opals tend to have a more artificial appearance and are not classed as precious gemstones. Jewel applications of precious opal can be somewhat limited by opal's sensitivity to heat, due primarily to its relatively high water content and predisposition to scratching. Combined with modern techniques of polishing, a doublet opal can produce a similar effect to solid black or boulder opal at a fraction of the price. Doublet opal also has the added benefit of having genuine opal as the top visible and touchable layer, unlike triplet opals. Common opal. Besides the gemstone varieties that show a play of color, the other kinds of common opal include the milk opal, milky bluish to greenish, which can sometimes be of gemstone quality.

Resin opal, which is honey yellow with a resinous luster. Wood opal, which is caused by the replacement of the organic material in wood with opal. Menelite, which is brown or grazenous. Highlight, a colorless glass clear opal, sometimes called Mueller's glass. Geyserite, also called salacious cinter, deposited around hot springs or geysers, and diatomaceous earth, the accumulations of diatum shells or tests. Common opal often displays a hazy, milky turbid sheen from within the stone. In gemology, this optical effect is strictly, defined has opal essence, which is a form of aduller essence. Other varieties of opal.

Fire opal is a transparent to translucent opal with warm body colors of yellow to orange to red. Although it does not usually show any play of color, occasionally a stone will exhibit bright green flashes. The most famous source of fire opals is the state of Coretoreto, in Mexico. These opals are commonly called Mexican fire opals. Fire opals that do not show a play of color are sometimes referred to as jelly opals. Mexican opals are sometimes cut in their rheolitic host material if it is hard enough to allow cutting and polishing. This type of Mexican opal is referred to as a cantera opal. Also a type of opal from Mexico referred to as Mexican. and water opal, is a colorless opal which exhibits either a bluish or golden internal sheen.

Jerosol opal is a term sometimes mistakenly and improperly used to refer to fire opals, as well as a type of transparent to semi-transparent type milky quartz from Madagascar, which displays an asterism or star effect when cut properly. However, the true gyrisolol opal is a type of highlight opal that exhibits a blue or a blueishol or blueish glow or sheen that follows the light source around. It is not a play of color as seen in precious opal, but rather an effect from microscopic inclusions. It is also sometimes referred to as water opal too when it is from Mexico. The two most notable locations of this type of opal are Oregon and Mexico. Peruvian opal, also called blue opal, is a semi-opaque to opaque

blue-green stone found in Peru, which is often cut to include the matrix in the more opaque stones. It does not display a play of color. Blue opal also comes from Oregon and Idaho and the Hawaii region, as well as from Nevada around the Virgin Valley. Opal is also formed by diatoms. Diadems are a form of algae that, when they die, often form layers at the bottoms of lake, bays, or oceans. Their cell walls are made up of a hydrated silicon dioxide, which gives them structural coloration and therefore the appearance of tiny opals when viewed under a microscope. These cell walls or tests form the grains for the diatomaceous earth. This sedimentary rock is white, opaque, and chalky and texture.

diatamite has multiple industrial uses such as filtering or absorbing since it has a fine particle size and very porous nature and gardening to increase water absorption history opal was rare and very valuable in antiquity in europe it was a gem prized by royalty until the opening of vast deposits in Australia in the 19th century, the only known source was Servenica beyond the Roman frontier in Slovakia. Opal is the national gemstone of Australia. Sources. The primary source of Opal are Australia and Ethiopia,

but because of inconsistent and widely varying accountings of their respective levels of extraction, it is difficult to accurately state what proportion of the global supply of opal comes from either country. Australian opal has been cited as accounting for 95 to 97% of the world's supply of precious opal, with the state of South Australia accounting for 80% of the world's supply. In 2012, Ethiopian opal production was estimated to be 14,000 kilograms by the United States geological survey, USGS data from the same period, 2012, reveals that Australian opal production to be $41 million. Because of the units of measurement, it is not possible to directly compare Australian and Ethiopian opal production, but these data and others suggest that the traditional

percentages given for Australian opal production may be overstated. Australia The town of Cuberpidi in South Australia is a major source of Opel. The world's largest and most valuable gem Opel Olympic Australis was found in August, 1956, at the 8-mile Opel field in Cuberpity. It weighs 17,000 carrots and is 11 inches long, with a height of 4 and 3⁄4 inches and a width of 4.5 inches. The Mintabi opal field located about 250 kilometers northwest of Cuberpidi

has also produced large quantities of crystal opal and the rarer black opal. Over the years it has been sold overseas incorrectly as Cuberpity Opel, the black opal is said to be some of the best examples found in Australia. Endemica in South Australia is also a major producer of Matrix Opel, Crystal Opel, and black opal. Another Australian town, Lightning Ridge, in New South Wales, is the main source of black opal, opal containing a predominantly dark background, dark gray to blue-black displaying the play of color, collected from the Greenman Creek formation. Boulder opal consists of concretions and fracture fillings in a dark, salicious ironstone matrix. It is found sporadically in western

Queensland from Kynuna in the north to Yawa and Koroit in the south. Its largest quantities are found around Junda and Kualpi in southwest Queensland. Australia also has opalized fossil remains, including dinosaur bones in New South Wales and South Australia and marine creatures in South Australia. Ethiopia. It has been reported that Northern Africa opal was used to make tools as early as 4000 BC. The first published report of gem opal from Ethiopia appeared in 1994, with the discovery of precious opal in the Menskish district, North Shawa Province. The opal, found mostly in the form of nodules, was a volcanic origin, and was found predominantly within weathered layers of rhyolite. The Shawa province, opal, was mostly dark brown in color,

and had a tendency to crack. These qualities made it unpopular in the gem trade. In 2008, a new opal deposit was found approximately 180 kilometers northwest of Shero Province, near the town of Weigiltena in Ethiopia's Wollo Province. The Wollo Province opal was different from the previous Ethiopian opal finds and that it more closely resembled the sedimentary opals of Australia and Brazil was a light background and often vivid play of color. Wolo Province Opel, more commonly referred to as Waylo or Wello Opel,

has become the dominant Ethiopian Opel in the gem trade. Virgin Valley, Nevada The Virgin Valley Opel fields of Humboldt County in northern Nevada produce a wide variety of precious black, crystal, white, fire, and lemon opal. The black fire opal is the official gemstone of Nevada. Most of the precious opal is partial wood replacement. The precious opal is hosted and found in situ within a subsurface horizon or zone of bentonite, which is considered a load deposit.

Opals which have weathered out in the same. in the N-Ciduid deposits are alluvial and considered placer deposits. Myocene age opalized teeth, bones, fish, and a snakehead have been found. Some of the opal has high water content and may desiccate and crack when dried. The largest producing mines of Virgin Valley have been the famous Rainbow Ridge, Royal Peacock, Bonanza, Opal Queen, and W.R.T. Shon Tree Black Beauty Mines. The largest unpolished black opal in the Smithsonian Institution, known as a Roebling Opel,

came out of the tunnel portion of the Rainbow Ridge Mine in 1917 and weighs 2,585 carrots. The largest polished black opal in the Smithsonian Institution comes from the Royal Peacock Opel Mine in the Virgin Valley, weighing 160 carrots, known as the Black Peacock, Mexico. Opal occurs in significant quantity and variety in central Mexico, where mining and production first originated in the state of Corretero.

In this region, the opal deposits are located mainly in the mountain ranges of three municipalities, Colón, Tequiscopan, and Ezekiel Montes. During the 1960s through the mid-Nitobae, 1970s, the Coetero mines were heavily mined. Today's opal miners report that it was much easier to find quality opals with a lot of fire and play of color back then, whereas today the gym quality opals are very hard to come by and command hundreds of U.S. dollars or more. The oldest mine in Coretero is in Santa Maria deliris. This mine was opened around 1870 and has been reasoned. opened at least 28 times since. At the moment, there are about 100 mines in the regions around

Coetero, but most of them are now closed. The best quality of opals came from the mine, Santa Maria deliris, followed by La Hacienda, La Esperanza, Fuentesuelas, La Carbonera, and La Trinidad. Important deposits in the state of Haldisco were not discovered until the late 1950s. In 1957, Alfonso Ramirez of Corretero accidentally discovered the first opal mine in Halisco. La Unica located on the outer area of the volcano of tequila near the Hutsicillopin Farm in Magdalena. By 1960, there were about 500 known opal mines in this region alone. Other regions of the country that also produce opals of lesser quality are Querero. which produces an opaque opal, similar to the opals from Australia.

Some of these opals are carefully treated with heat to improve their colors, so high-quality opals from this area may be suspect. There are also some small opal mines in Morelos, Durango, Chihuahua, Baja California, Guanhuado, Pueblo, Mijo Juan, and Estado, de Mexico. other locations. Another source of white base opal or creamy opal in the United States is Spencer, Idaho. A high percentage of the opal found there occurs in thin layers. Other significant deposits of precious opal around the world can be found in the Czech Republic,

Canada, Slovakia, Hungary, Turkey, Indonesia, Brazil, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. In late 2008, NASA announced it had discovered opal deposits on Mars. Synthetic Opal Opals of all varieties have been synthesized experimentally and commercially. The discovery of the ordered sphere structure of precious opal led to its synthesis by Pierre Gilson in 1974. The resulting material is distinguishable from natural opal by its regularity. Under magnification, the patch,

of color are seen to be arranged in a lizard skin or chicken wire pattern. Furthermore, synthetic opals do not fluoresce under ultraviolet light. Synthetics are also generally lower in density and are often highly porous. Opals which have been created in a laboratory are often termed lab-created opals, which, while classifiable as man-made and synthetic, are very different from their resin-based counterparts, which are also considered man-made and synthetic. The term synthetic implies that a stone has been created

to be chemically and structurally indistinguishable from a genuine one, and genuine opal contains no resins or polymers. The finest modern lab-created opals do not exhibit the lizard's skin or column or pattern of earlier lab-created varieties, and their patterns are non-directional. They can still be distinguished from genuine opals, however by their lack of inclusions and the absence of any surrounding non-opal matrix. While many genuine opals are cut and polished without a matrix, the presence of irregularities in their play of color continues to mark them as distinct from even the best lab-created synthetics. Often research in macroporous structures have yielded highly ordered materials

that have similar optical properties to opals and have been used in cosmetics. Synthetic opals are also deeply investigated in photonics for sensing and light management purposes. Local atomic structure of opals The lattice of spheres of opal that cause interference with light is several hundred times larger than the fundamental structure of crystalline silica. As a mineraloid, no unit cell describes the structure of opal. Nevertheless, opals can be roughly divided into those that show no signs of crystalline order, amorphous opal, and those that show signs of the beginning of crystalline order,

commonly termed cryptocrystalline or microcrystalline opal. Etymology The word opal is adapted from the Latin term opalus. The origin of this word in turn is a matter of debate, but most modern references suggest it is adapted from the Sanskrit word Upala. References to the gem are made by Pliny the Elder. It is suggested to have been adapted from Ops, the wife of Saturn, and goddess of fertility.

the portion of Saturnalia is devoted to Ops was Apolia, similar to Apollos. Another common claim that the term is adapted from the ancient Greek word Apollios. This word has two meanings. One is related to seeing, and forms the basis of the English words like opaque. The other is other, as in alias and altar. It is claimed that. that Apollos combined these uses, meaning to see a change in color. However, historians have noted the first appearances of Apollos do not occur until after the Romans had taken over the Greek states in 100 BC, and they had previously used the term Pederos. However, the argument for the Sanskrit origin is strong. The term first appears in Roman references around 250 BC, at a time when the opal was

valued above all other gems. The opals were supplied by traders from Bosporus, who claimed the gems were being supplied from India. Before this, the stone was referred to by a variety of names, but these fell from use after 250 BC.