Christmas Cave (Ogof Nadolig)

[Les Williams]

[quote="Ian" post=10817]Thanks Dave  
...when it interferes with calcite.[/quote]

Jimmysavillite...?

how old is the calcite that is being interfeared with?

[Ian A]

[quote="LesW" post=10823][quote="Ian" post=10817]Thanks Dave  
...when it interferes with calcite.[/quote]

Jimmysavillite...?

how old is the calcite that is being interfeared with?[/quote]

Perhaps we should ask a geologist ?      

[Les Williams]

Calcium Nitrate is Saltpetre (one form of it anyway). It was worked from the cave earth in the American mid-west and deep south to make gunpowder. It only occurs in totally dry cave and will disolve immediately in any water...
There is unlikely to be any Calcium Nitrate deposited in any UK caves...

"A Geologist says..."  :whistle:

[Ian A]

I thought saltpetre was "Potassium Nitrate" ?

... so says a total "n00b"  :huh:

[Ali Wiseman]

Calcium Nitrate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_nitrate

Potassium Nitrate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_nitrate

A number of compounds are referred to as saltpetre. I ran into it a few years ago. As usual, it's Wikipedia, so it's not guaranteed accurate, but it ties with what I remember, though that in itself is reason to check some better sources.

[Doug Thompson]

The saltpetre I know is potassium nitrate and is used in the bacon curing process as well as an ingrediant of gunpowder, it is very hygroscopic and would be in solution in a wet cave, for what it is worth, I think the substance in Ians video is Gypsum, or calcium sulphate which is common in caves, and forms when sulphuric acid reacts with calcium.
 :silly:

[Tim Watts]

....and bearing in mind Doug has a) Definitely cured his own bacon, and b) more than likely made his own gun power. The Wobbly Helmet award for all time knowledgeable boffin goes to non other than our very own Doug "Goon-Suit" Thompson! ;-)

[Doug Thompson]

Honoured i'm sure. :dry:

[Les Williams]

Saltpetre is indeed a generic name for various nitrate salts.
The constituent of gunpowder is Potassium Nitrate and the calcium nitrate extracted from cave earth in the US was processed into Potassium Nitrate by reacting it with potash from wood ash. The process was very complex and used the waste products from the evaporating fires to react the calcium out at a later stage. Very efficient, and normally carried out by backwoods men to supplement their meagre living.

There are several good books about it and if you are going to the US any time, particullarly to Tennessee or Kentucky there are several caves (including Mammoth) where the extracting aparatus is still in place.

Calcium Sulphate (Gypsum) is quite likely in limestone caves, particullarly when it is associated with mineralisation (lots of ores are sulphides).  B)

[mike leahy]

[quote="timwatts" post=10835]very own Doug "Goon-Suit" Thompson! ;-)[/quote]
he is know to most of us as doug "the mad scientist" thompson.
i remember haveing a conversation with his a few years ago about running a car on hydrogen gas, and his reply was" oh! yes i was experimenting with that back in the 70s
i almost blew the bloody house up. i was talking about a car he was trying to run his bloody house off it.
 like i said MAD SCIENTIST  :woohoo:  :woohoo:  :woohoo: