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Microscopical Practicum

Type of study Bachelor
Language of instruction English
Code 541-0010/08
Abbreviation MP
Course title Microscopical Practicum
Credits 2
Coordinating department Department of Geological Engineering
Course coordinator Mgr. Kristýna Schuchová, Ph.D.

Subject syllabus

1. Character of light - theoretical introduction. A quarry and a reflection of light. Polarization of light. The breakdown of substances according to optical properties. Polarization microscope.
2. Determination of grain size. Properties of minerals observed in uncut nickels. Preparing microscopic slides - selecting rock and cutting it.
3. Characteristics of minerals when observed in cross-linked nickels. Discarding. Interference colors. Lapping and grinding the slide.
4. Compensators. Clots and transformations. Character of the zone (stroke of length). The optical nature of the mineral. Working with compensators. Sticking the slide.
5. Systematic mineralogy – an overview of the optical properties of selected rock-forming minerals. Polishing the process and finalising it.
6. An overview of magma rock structures.
7. Overview of sedimentary rock structures.
8. Digital image analysis and its possibilities in mineralogy and petrography. Special microscopic techniques, dark fields, fluorescence.
9. Reflected light, inverse ore microscope design, types of screens, eyepieces and lenses.
10. The types of microscopic preparations used in reflected light, the preparation of the coatings.
11. The color of minerals, the difference between minerals colored and colorless. Errors in determining mineral color.
12. The luminosity of ore minerals and coal mass. Observations in exterior slanting light - the internal reflexes of ore minerals.
13. Characteristics of minerals in polarized light, sources of error in observations in polarized light. Evaluation of a set of unknown ore minerals in reflected light in terms of their optical properties.

Literature

MACKENZIE, W. S. a A. E. ADAMS. A colour atlas of rocks and minerals in thin section. London: Manson, c1994. ISBN 1-874545-17-0.
DEER, William Alexander, R. A. HOWIE a Jack ZUSSMAN. An introduction to the rock-forming minerals. 2nd ed. Harlow: Pearson Prentice Hall, 1992. ISBN 0-582-30094-0.
PICOT, P., JOHAN, Z.: Atlas of ore Minerals. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1982, 458 s.
WINCHELL, A. N.: Elements of Optical Mineralogy. – Vydav. John Wiley and Sons New York, 1976.

Advised literature

KLEIN, Cornelis, Barbara DUTROW, James Dwight DANA a Cornelius Searle HURLBUT. The 23rd edition of the manual of mineral science: (after James D. Dana). 23rd ed. Hoboken: Wiley, c2008. ISBN 978-0-471-72157-4.
MACKENZIE, W., S.; ADAMS, A., E. A Colour Atlas of Rocks and Minerals in Thin Section. Manson Publishing, 1994.