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How to see through a rock
My first job was at the British Museum of Natural History in South Kensington. As a Scientific Assistant my work involved cutting rocks up for analysis by our and other scientists around the world. It was interesting work and meant that I got to see some ground breaking results. In detail I cut a section from the rock with a diamond saw. After that I stuck it onto a glass with Canada Balsam, which had the same visual properties as water. Next I ground down the section using a wheel, somewhat like a potters wheel, with course carborundum powder, until it was thin enough to see some translucency. Then I started to use finer and finer abrasive until the section was thin enough to see through. The section had to be an exact thickness, measured by using a polarising microscope and checking that the colour of the quartz mineral within the rock was light grey. Finally I placed some Canada Balsam on top of the section and put a thin glass slide on top of this, cementing the section and protecting it from any damage. Each rock was returned with its thin sections to the scientist who had brought the rock in for analysis. Occasionally a new meteorite was discovered and I had the task of taking a thin section of it. Rocky meteorites were treated as rock, but the metal meteorite was cut onto a slide and polished to a shiny surface, where it could be analysed more readily. I did this work for 2 years, and got geology qualifications, but never was lucky enough to go out into the field at a professional level.
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Contributor's Note
This job was more interesting than any other job I have had since. Given that I have worked for 50 years and am now retired that is some observation!
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So you can make stone thin enough to see through without breaking it? Amazing! I bet you got some really pretty patterns, too.
 | | nick Sep 22, 2008 16:03 | |
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
Usually the thin section consted of a high proportion of minerals in crystaline form.
This produced some very nice patterns indeed.
Quartz was white and Feldspar was grey but Olivine was Orange. The entire mixture could be very colourful.
I've always wanted to work next door at the science museum, you are a very lucky man having had such a rewarding job.
Graphics of see through moon rocks would greatly enhance this intel 
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
My work on rock thin sections took place in 1959, before the moon samples became available.
I felt moon sample thin sections might be out of place.
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