Pyrite : a natural history of fool's gold / David Rickard.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rickard, David T. (David Terence), 1943- author.

Series:

Oxford scholarship online.

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pyrites.

Pyrites--History.

Mineralogy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (329 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York, New York : Oxford University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Geochemist David Rickard explores pyrite's influence on human history, culture and science, and reveals how fool's gold became a universal symbol for everything overvalued.

Contents:

Cover; Pyrite; Copyright; Contents; List of Figures; Preface; Prologue; Plates; 1 Foole's Gold; So What Do You Do?; Foole's Gold; Fool's Gold as Pyrite; Pyrite and the Founding of Canada; Frobisher's Scam; Pyrite and the Founding of the United States of America; Fool's Gold in the Modern World; 2 Pyrite and the Origins of Civilization; The Gods of Fire; The Origins of Human Culture; The Earliest Chemical Industry; Big Pharma; Pyrite and the Origins of the Modern Arms Industry; Pyrite Feeds the World; Pyrite, Civilization, and Culture; 3 What Is Pyrite?; The Importance of Names

Classical OriginsMarcasite and the Arab Interlude; Late Medieval Confusion; Renaissance Revisions; The Iron Mystery; Renaissance Clarification; Elements and Minerals; Berthollet Redux; 4 Crystals and Atoms; Introduction; Pyrite Habits; Pyrite and the Foundations of X-Ray Crystallography; Pyrite Structure: Counting Atoms; Cubes and Atoms; Dodecahedra Exist, Almost; Octahedra and How Pyrite Crystals Grow; Pyrite Raspberries; Designer Pyrite; 5 Hell and Black Smokers; Ancient Ideas of Mineral Formation; Pyrite and Volcanoes; Pyrite and the Problem of Geologic Time

Pyrite and the Origin of the Earth's Interior HeatPyrite in Geothermal Springs; Deep-Ocean Hydrothermal Vents; Black Smoker Chimneys and Massive Pyrite Deposits; Massive Pyrite Deposits as Fossil Hydrothermal Systems; 6 Microbes and Minerals; Rotten Eggs; Blue Mud; Source of Hydrogen Sulfide; Bacteria Hold the Key; Bacteria and Pyrite; Pyrite Isotopes; 7 Acid Earth; Chemical Pyrite Oxidation; Microbial Pyrite Oxidation; Acid Rivers; Eternal Fires; Acid Rain; Smog; Acid Sulfate Soils; Acidogene; 8 Pyrite and the Global Environment; Pyrite Formation and Burial

Pyrite as a Key Component of the Earth SystemDeath Zones in the Unfriendly Sea; Pyrite Formation and the Evolution of Life; Pyrite Sulfur Isotope Signatures and the Silver Bullet; Other Earths; 9 Pyrite and the Origins of Life; Abiogenesis; The Iron-Sulfur World; The Oldest Pyrite; The Frankenstein Experiment; Pyrite and the Synthesis of Biomolecules; Pyrite and the Earliest Organisms; Pyrite, Biofilms, and Ancient Lagoons; 10 Full Circle; Pyrite, Alchemy, and Metal Extraction; Pyrite and the Electronics Industry; The Pyrite Resolution Board; Pyrite, Free Radicals, and Life

Extraterrestrial PyriteNot So Foolish Gold; Epilogue; Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-19-755948-4

0-19-020369-2

0-19-020368-4

OCLC:

904548064