Actually, it's more complicated. Asbestos is not a mineral as such. It's a
particular form ("habit" in mineralogist's lingo) that certain minerals can
take (i.e., elongated to the point that it becomes a fiber). Strictly, it's
"asbestiform minerals". The different forms of asbestos have varying
chemistry and crystal structure. The most common are chrysotile (a sheet
silicate of the serpentine family), and tremolite and crocidolite (both have
the amphibole crystal structure, but quite different chemistry). Chrysotile
is the most common but, as I understand it, it's crocidolite that's the most
likely to cause mesothelioma.
Yeah, I've had a complicated career. I'm not only a physicist, but I also
used to teach petrology. The PhD is actually in Geophysics and I did much of
my research work in what is basically mineralogy (Fe-Ti oxides)...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Murphy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Herbert Ward" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2004 9:28 PM
Subject: Re: Do pegs get smooth and begin slipping?
> Well said Herbert,
>
> > The lungs have tiny fingers called "cilia" which effectively sweep out
> > debris. A snippet of frog's throat will climb up a glass jar (or so
> > I've
> > heard). Without these little sweepers, one's lungs would become as
> > dusty
> > as the floor under a refrigerator or a table top in the attic.
>
> Yup, you got it (and I know you are a physicist, like my late father).
> One's
> lungs do sweep the garbage out, I feel it every morning as the smoking
> residue comes up.
> >
> > Asbestos dust is special in that it embeds itself into tissue (by being
> > sharp and barbed) and lasts forever, sometimes causing cancer for
> > unknown
> > reasons.
>
> Correct again, except that most asbestos isn't sharp and barbed. There are
> two forms (call them isotopes in your milieu, although they are molecular
> rather than elemental). The sharp molecules are relatively rare in the
> general population, but their depradations on the lungs are now called on
> all asbestos. Bad science can be quite expensive to the general
> population.
>
> Best, Jon
>
>
>
>
