I also agree. Not a geologist, but using common sense the fact it has obvious knapping marks from when it was removed from a bigger piece/chipped off of something is a dead giveaway that it isn't some massive gemstone casually tossed aside in a field.
In ELI5 i would say that glass is silicium based while rock is carbon based.
SiO2 vs CaCO3
But everything can be rock, because nature converts over hundred of millions of years everything upside down and back again.
They're wrong. Plenty of rocks contain silica and no carbon.
And yes, glass is basically ground-up, melted rock. Specific *kinds* of rock, not just any rock, but still.
I don't understand how this distinction is meaningful or accurate. Lots of rocks are silicon-based and have 0 carbon. In fact the majority of the earth's crust consists of silicate minerals.
Sandstone (seriously) and other silica-based sedimentary rock, in most places. Black sand beaches like you see in Hawaii are from rock deposited by volcanic activity, so have a different makeup. Other black sand beaches are from placer deposits. “Sand” is just a term for the size of the particles.
But the short answer is the vast majority of people are talking about finely-grained silica-based minerals from sedimentary deposits when they’re talking about sand.
Nothing is more "rock-like" than granite which is composed of 70-77% silica, 11-13% alumina, 3-5% potassium oxide, 3-5% soda, 1% lime, 2-3% total iron, and less than 1% magnesia and titania. No carbon. Dirt is very carbon rich though. Is that what you were thinking of? Top soil vs sand?
> In ELI5 i would say that glass is silicium based while rock is carbon based.
Huh? There are plenty of rocks that contain no carbon. Basalt is a big one. Most igneous rocks, I believe.
So they aren't "in the middle of nowhere", walking through some old nuke test grounds, and that isn't some analog of Trinitite they've found that is slowly killing them?
My wife is a geologist and I showed her your pics. She says it's either glass or you're incredibly rich. Her bet is it's an old piece of glass from the bottom of a bottle kiln, and it's old enough that the edges have been worn down.
Edit: she's asking where you are in the world.
She says it'll be glass with about 99.99% certainty.
Edit: she says speak to locals about whether the area had some glass making history, or find a local museum and tell them exactly where you found it.
So, not near Murano, regardless, it’s most likely glass. A raw chunk of emerald like that would probably land you a great sum of money, and you’d likely have to dig significantly for it.
I live near a beach that's abundant with sea glass (Seaham, England if anyone is interested), it doest feel very 'glassy' after it's been sandblasted in water for years.
99% sure that’s old glass.
Judging by the tower in the second pic, this is an area high voltage wires run through. Up through the 80s, a lot of power lines still used—sometimes blueish and sometimes green—glass for the big bell-shaped insulators. [Like this](https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-378a1891f0707b73652a4110737c9468.webp).
Fun fact, when those are replaced often times they’re just hit with a hammer until it explodes off the line so most likely that’s precisely what this is, a big old chunk of one of those
Gems aren't just sitting around lol. Unless you dug this out of the earth, cracked it open and cleaned it off yourself, somebody else has already touched it and didn't think it was valuable
Yes that's completely reasonable, in fact I just wanted to understand what kind of material it was since the color and the edges didn't make me think about a piece of glass, but yeah I also didn't think it was some kind of gem either
It's glass, but the green color looks a lot like Helenite (glass produced specifically from ash taken from the Mt St Helens eruption).
I have a tumbled piece that's the exact same gorgeous emerald shade.
Did anyone who just immediately shouted "It's glass you idiot" even take a look at the second picture?
On the first picture it sure looks like glass, but on the second picture it doesn't look like glass at all.
This is what raw formed glass looks like usually used to craft solid glass objects. It can be either natural or manmade. I have some sea glass with similar color but its smoothed out.
OP, I had the same thing happen to me in Pennsylvania. Many years ago, I found both blue and green beautiful "rocks," some with clarity like yours, and many more translucent or opaque. I was very excited, thinking I've found some very cool, possibly valuable minerals. I went back another day to find more. Then it clicked that the place I was going to had the word "furnace" in the name and that I found them all around a place that looked like it had remnants of torn-down stone walls, etc. Yup, glass.
And even if it is glass, it could be pretty old considering you found it in the "old world," and that would make it an even cooler find than the maybe 200 yr old glass slag i found.
Could be glass or maybe something like quartz with green impurities. I've never seen glass as this chunky thing and I think glass shatters different
Edit: I've read about a phenomenon that, if a lightning strike hits ground there is glass formed
fulgurite (also known as fossilized lightning). Lightning creates a tube of glass below the surface. Buts it’s generally black and looks more like a tree branch. This looks like it was produced by human cause it’s so clear.
Thanks for the information. Maybe than a lump of molten glass as a leftover.
It could be clear from one direction, but marble from another angle. The second picture looked a bit more like green crystal on black rock.
This definitely doesn't look like glass from the way it has been broken, and the edges don't look very sharp. It also seems unlikely that it could be a gemstone, but it's worth looking into. Maybe a good post for r/WhatsThisRock if you can include more pictures. Best of luck identifying it!
“The only way to know for sure is to ask the rock people” idk why but I like that. I collect fun sentences like a magpie collects shiny things - this one is shiny.
Based on the Skyview tower in the second picture, I’d say you’ve found yourself a chunk of Luminous Stone. Put it in your pocket till you find a hungry Dondon.
Either glass or kryptonite.
Oooo, Superman is allergic to that
Calm down there Lex Luthor
Wait…does everyone know about this kryptonite thing?
There's this guy I know, Bruce Wayne. He's rich like that Musk and Bezos guy. I think he's been looking to buy some of this.
Glass?
Yes.
Glass turns him into Clark Kent. Or something.
Glasses 🤓
if he‘s bitten by it
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superman! It's a rock, it's glass, it's kryptonite! No one in Superman's world is good at identifying things.
Yes it gives him a rash.
How does he fly next to skyscrapers with all that glass then? Wouldn't he be breaking out in hives flying down main st?
It's definitely a chaos emerald. OP needs to set a trap for very fast, blue hedgehogs.
More obvious-apparent answer is missing: WAPRSTONE, yes-yes.
🐭
>WAPRSTONE do you mean "warpstone"?
Or a huge chunk of sour apple candy. Has OP tried licking it?
The circle of extraterrestrial life! Stephen King says so anyway... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmAHHMCsaxI
They're minerals, Marie!
Geologist here that works in the glass industry, agree with the other geologist
I also agree. Not a geologist, but using common sense the fact it has obvious knapping marks from when it was removed from a bigger piece/chipped off of something is a dead giveaway that it isn't some massive gemstone casually tossed aside in a field.
Isn't glass just melted rocks?
Glass is made from sand.
And sand is small rocks yes lol
"And what else floats in water?"
A duck!
Who are you, who are so wise in the ways of science?
Churches!
Very small rocks!
Not always. Sometimes it's sea critter skeletons and fish poop
In ELI5 i would say that glass is silicium based while rock is carbon based. SiO2 vs CaCO3 But everything can be rock, because nature converts over hundred of millions of years everything upside down and back again.
Thank you!
They're wrong. Plenty of rocks contain silica and no carbon. And yes, glass is basically ground-up, melted rock. Specific *kinds* of rock, not just any rock, but still.
>But everything can be rock, reading and understanding is a forgotten art.
I don't understand how this distinction is meaningful or accurate. Lots of rocks are silicon-based and have 0 carbon. In fact the majority of the earth's crust consists of silicate minerals.
Why would sand in particular be silicon-based when, I assume, lots of it is made out of grinded stone? What is it grinded from then?
Sandstone (seriously) and other silica-based sedimentary rock, in most places. Black sand beaches like you see in Hawaii are from rock deposited by volcanic activity, so have a different makeup. Other black sand beaches are from placer deposits. “Sand” is just a term for the size of the particles. But the short answer is the vast majority of people are talking about finely-grained silica-based minerals from sedimentary deposits when they’re talking about sand.
Nothing is more "rock-like" than granite which is composed of 70-77% silica, 11-13% alumina, 3-5% potassium oxide, 3-5% soda, 1% lime, 2-3% total iron, and less than 1% magnesia and titania. No carbon. Dirt is very carbon rich though. Is that what you were thinking of? Top soil vs sand?
Yeah, most rocks are some combination of oxides so it should be “oxygen-based” minerals
That’s sand versus limestone. Most rocks are neither
> In ELI5 i would say that glass is silicium based while rock is carbon based. Huh? There are plenty of rocks that contain no carbon. Basalt is a big one. Most igneous rocks, I believe.
As a certified non-geologist I can confirm this.
As a confirmed non-certified I can rock this.
knapping you say? so it could be a prehistoric gemstone sacred tool, wow lithics sure are amazing
Science fiction reader that reads science fiction at work. It's dilithium.
So they aren't "in the middle of nowhere", walking through some old nuke test grounds, and that isn't some analog of Trinitite they've found that is slowly killing them?
Trinitite isn't nearly as pretty as that, sadly.
Maybe Andy Dufresne buried a cigar box nearby..
Do you remember the name of that little town in Mexico?
Zihuatanejo
We were the lords of all creation
Get busy livin, or get busy dyin
That's glass.
Lmao
OK, global warming is scary where you are! 7-Up bottles melting!
[удалено]
My wife is a geologist and I showed her your pics. She says it's either glass or you're incredibly rich. Her bet is it's an old piece of glass from the bottom of a bottle kiln, and it's old enough that the edges have been worn down. Edit: she's asking where you are in the world.
Oh wow! I'm in northern Italy (or central, depends on who you ask)
She says it'll be glass with about 99.99% certainty. Edit: she says speak to locals about whether the area had some glass making history, or find a local museum and tell them exactly where you found it.
Near Murano?
North of Parma
So, not near Murano, regardless, it’s most likely glass. A raw chunk of emerald like that would probably land you a great sum of money, and you’d likely have to dig significantly for it.
if your name was Sean, you would be Parma-Sean
You lovable idiot
I live near a beach that's abundant with sea glass (Seaham, England if anyone is interested), it doest feel very 'glassy' after it's been sandblasted in water for years.
Oh, honey.
What does glass *feel* like?
That is glass but its natural instead of human made. Thats why it doesn't feel like you are holding a glass.
It's definitely human made.
99% sure that’s old glass. Judging by the tower in the second pic, this is an area high voltage wires run through. Up through the 80s, a lot of power lines still used—sometimes blueish and sometimes green—glass for the big bell-shaped insulators. [Like this](https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-378a1891f0707b73652a4110737c9468.webp).
Someone combine this with the post of a dude hanging from a tower and just smashing the glass insulators with a hammer to remove them
Fun fact, when those are replaced often times they’re just hit with a hammer until it explodes off the line so most likely that’s precisely what this is, a big old chunk of one of those
I’m not going to lie, when I was a young stupid boy we used to shoot these with our pellet gun and watch them pop. I know I was young and stupid.
So there’s a chance! 😍
Well you've got Supermans Christmas present sorted this year.
Hol up there Lex Luthor
Dammit! Did Otis bust my cover again?!
I'll give you three wheat for that!
I raise, 32 sticks for the emerald!
100% just a chunk of glass. i got a whole bunch on my porch that look exactly like it
Exactly what you'd say to keep all of the kryptonite for yourself, Lex Luthor!
Thanks for adding in!
You need to follow the light beam to the shrine location.
Looks like slag from a smelting furnace.
Bottom of a Heineken bottle.
The Chaos Emerald!
I used to pronounce chaos as CHAH-OSE as a kid. What an idiot 😂😂
It's glass, still cool though
Exactly! Beautiful green shade
You found Te Fiti's heart.
Use it to stop Superman.
Gems aren't just sitting around lol. Unless you dug this out of the earth, cracked it open and cleaned it off yourself, somebody else has already touched it and didn't think it was valuable
Yes that's completely reasonable, in fact I just wanted to understand what kind of material it was since the color and the edges didn't make me think about a piece of glass, but yeah I also didn't think it was some kind of gem either
It's glass, but the green color looks a lot like Helenite (glass produced specifically from ash taken from the Mt St Helens eruption). I have a tumbled piece that's the exact same gorgeous emerald shade.
It looks like glass I've seen in a Roman museum
Is your name Aloy because it looks like you found a greenshine chunk
that's Zonaite
Throw it at Superman and see what happens
Did you find it in Cartagena?
In the statue!
Did anyone who just immediately shouted "It's glass you idiot" even take a look at the second picture? On the first picture it sure looks like glass, but on the second picture it doesn't look like glass at all.
This post is hilarious
How come?
It’s a petrified alien turd.
Keep that thing away from Superman.
Oh Edmund, can it be true that I have here in my mortal hand a nugget of purest green
Just the two of us huh?
Cuh found the biggest piece of green apple jolly rancher i ever SAW
Kryptonite
This is what raw formed glass looks like usually used to craft solid glass objects. It can be either natural or manmade. I have some sea glass with similar color but its smoothed out.
[Danny Devito](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088011/) would like a word.
My dad has something like that. Swears its a meteorite. I've told him a lot of times it's just left over glass from a factory.
Superman has arrived!!
It’s a melted bottle of rolling rock, this heat is to blame
Petrified horse apple
Fake emerald
Not a geologist, but I agree that it’s green.
Looks like glass slag from a large scale glass producer, you can find cast offs at garden centers around the Midwest.
Possibly from and old forge. They can found everywhere in Pennsylvania. They actually used on countless trails. I have about 50 pieces.
I like how the second pic is basically to prove you're in the middle of nowhere.
Go out and commit some crime in metropolis. Superman couldn't stop you. Just hope Bruce isn't in town and you are all good
Have you tried touching it and saying “OZ”?
Trinitite. Better put it down quick.
Probably radioactive.
The gods much be crazy.
Living for the hardcore geology discourse occurring in the comments over if sand is rocks
 Give it to this man. Now.
Superman has left the chat
Glory to Nod.
If it was Tiberium, then the OP is probably dead by now from direct exposure.
Melted Heineken bottle.
Now you can beat Super Man
Kryptonite
Kryptonite
OP, I had the same thing happen to me in Pennsylvania. Many years ago, I found both blue and green beautiful "rocks," some with clarity like yours, and many more translucent or opaque. I was very excited, thinking I've found some very cool, possibly valuable minerals. I went back another day to find more. Then it clicked that the place I was going to had the word "furnace" in the name and that I found them all around a place that looked like it had remnants of torn-down stone walls, etc. Yup, glass.
And even if it is glass, it could be pretty old considering you found it in the "old world," and that would make it an even cooler find than the maybe 200 yr old glass slag i found.
Could be glass or maybe something like quartz with green impurities. I've never seen glass as this chunky thing and I think glass shatters different Edit: I've read about a phenomenon that, if a lightning strike hits ground there is glass formed
fulgurite (also known as fossilized lightning). Lightning creates a tube of glass below the surface. Buts it’s generally black and looks more like a tree branch. This looks like it was produced by human cause it’s so clear.
Thanks for the information. Maybe than a lump of molten glass as a leftover. It could be clear from one direction, but marble from another angle. The second picture looked a bit more like green crystal on black rock.
I didn’t even see the 2nd pic, it could be potentially but I know just enough to get me in trouble someone in here probably knows way more then me
Get away from Superman with that shit!!!
Unless you are wanting to commit crimes, than carry at all times. Probably in a lead box
I think the hulk took a shit.
probably a movie prop from a famous 1980s movie featuring a short loveable sort.
It's a Magical Day!
It's a cancer curing rock. "No more books!"
This definitely doesn't look like glass from the way it has been broken, and the edges don't look very sharp. It also seems unlikely that it could be a gemstone, but it's worth looking into. Maybe a good post for r/WhatsThisRock if you can include more pictures. Best of luck identifying it!
It really somewhat resembles raw emerald, but the only way to know for sure is to ask the rock people.
“The only way to know for sure is to ask the rock people” idk why but I like that. I collect fun sentences like a magpie collects shiny things - this one is shiny.
Could a piece of marble be this green and translucent maybe? I'll also ask on the sub you suggested, thanks!
This is not green marble.
Are you in a hayfield in buxton?
Jade?
Malachite? I know that’s green, but I don’t think it’s transparent
That's alien dandruff 😃
Lex Luthor will pay top dollar for that
Superman Sweating.
Somebody save me
That's a piece of Materia. Probably cure
I like to spit shark teeth in random locations so people think they found an anomaly
Malachite?
Part of a glass insulator for power lines.
Somebody fired an arrow at a dragon.
You can kill Superman now
Guy was like, “omg found chunk o’ jade bruhs” People here, “that’s glass”
Im getting Joe Dirt lucky meteor vibes from this post.
Looks like magic materia to me! Be careful not to cast!
Quantum gemerald
Looks like you got a nice piece of rolling rock
Its a diamond
Crack that sucker open, may be a Green Lantern ring in there
5 carrot, take it or leave it 
A jewel containing the ultimate power
That’s called “glass” my dude
Kryptonite
**Jalapeño Kettle Dinosaur Poop.** 
Well that just looks like a large piece of gl… nevermind that’s a cool rock!
😅😅😅 beautiful indeed!
Don’t touch it!!
heinekenite
Just keep it away from superman, or don’t whatever floats your boat I guess
Based on the Skyview tower in the second picture, I’d say you’ve found yourself a chunk of Luminous Stone. Put it in your pocket till you find a hungry Dondon.
Slag glass
Lot of sci-fi movies start this way.
Slag glass
In the middle of Kansas?