• Question: Hi Danny I was wondering what type of experiments do you do on the rocks you study?

    Asked by Noah to Danny on 11 Nov 2020.
    • Photo: Danny Hnatyshin

      Danny Hnatyshin answered on 11 Nov 2020:

      Hey Noah I hope you are having a good week!

      The main type of experiment I run is to test how old a rock is! Often rocks have special minerals in them (I use pyrite) that are slightly radioactive. The key idea is that radioactivity goes away over time. So the older the rock is the less radioactive it is. To measure these radioactive particles and the things they produce we have to use a complicated chemistry procedure using things like acids and organic chemicals to extract them. Once extracted I bring them to scientific instruments to measure (I use a mass spectrometer)

      I do other experiments too. I will often try and find what chemical elements make up a rock on a microscopic scale. For this I use a special laser to analyze my rocks!

      Hope that was interesting!?!

Comments

  • Photo: Noah

    Noah commented on :

    Thanks Danny thats so interesting. What’s the oldest rock you’ve found?

    • Photo: Danny

      Danny commented on :

      The oldest The oldest rocks that I have ever found for my research were 1 billion years old, which was from Canada. However, I have seen pieces of the oldest rocks in the world which are almost 4 billion years old, these are the Acasta Gneiss rocks. I have also looked at meteorites which were as old as the solar system at 4.5 billion years!
      Just to compare
      Dinosaurs lived: 65-230 million years ago
      Earth: 4.5 Billion years old
      Most Irish Rocks: 300-400 million years old