Meerschaum is often referred to as White Gold, White Goddess, or even Venus of the Sea. Meerschaum is a German word and actually means sea foam. It is a hydrous magnesium silicate, made of millions of tiny fossils of the sea. The best meerschaum comes from Turkey and Africa, where it is mined. The mining process is very delicate and time consuming. Up to 80% of the meerschaum is discarded at this stage. Only a small fraction of the meerschaum is pure enough to be carved into Turkish meerschaum pipes.
Meerschaum pipes have been used since the early 1700s. Turkey is the only country that produces meerschaum pipes. The most common color is a creamy white, but the color can even be an opaque white grey. The pieces that arrive from the mine have to be soaked for 15-30 minutes before they can be carved. Soaking the meerschaum in water softens it, and prevents it from cracking during the carving process. It also allows a more intricate design for the pipe head.
The material is hand-carved into either a standard pipe, or a true piece of art. Even the mouth piece is hand-fitted to the pipe head. The last stage in the production of a Turkish meerschaum pipe is the waxing and polishing of the pipes. The waxing of the pipe is done to ensure that the pipe will color evenly when it is used.
The art of meerschaum carving is admired by pipe smokers all over the world. The popular designs have not changed much over the years. Captains, sultans, and pirates are the traditional designs, but designs that are more modern have been included today. Carvers even take custom orders from Turkish meerschaum pipe enthusiasts.
Pipe stores around the country usually have at least a small assortment of pipes available for collectors and pipe smokers alike. A reputable pipe storeowner will educate customers on how to care for a meerschaum pipe, as it requires a different kind of care than the briar pipe. The “cake†which is desired in briar pipes is undesirable for the meerschaum pipe. Cleaners and sweeteners have to be used with caution because they can cause irreversible damage.
The color of Turkish meerschaum pipes develops over time. It is caused by the natural oil all tobaccos contain. The oilier the tobacco, the darker the color of the meerschaum turns. The pipes carved out of the White Gold from Turkey are cured by smoking a couple of loads of tobacco. A meerschaum pipe most certainly makes a great addition to every pipe collection. Even though they require a little extra attention and special care, pipe smokers around the world appreciate this kind of pipe as a piece of art.
Magnets rare earth can be divided into two. Rare earth refers to the family of lanthanides, which in physics has a specific meaning, namely it refers to the elements with atomic numbers from 57 to 71. This group is known as f-block and has individually incomplete filling. They are unstable in their solid state, as each has seven unpaired electrons. When spinning, this creates magnetism even greater than the one by ferrites, which previously was thought of as greatest of magnetism. The shift happened in the 1980s, no longer were ferrites on the top, as the rare earth variety gained momentum and eventually overtook them.
Ferrites are part iron oxide, part ceramic compounds. The earthy cousins are superior because, first, they are, as mentioned, more magnetic. Secondly, they are less susceptible to demagnetization. The coercivity, which notes the resistance of magnets to demagnetization, of ferrites is around 150, while it is between 600 and 2000 for rare earth varieties. Thus, when you need the material most magnetic and least prone to losing the magnetism, using rare earth is the best.
Mass transit systems, such as bullet trains, high-rise elevators, roller coasters, and so on, all use rare earth magnets. However, within rare earth magnets, the two main types has differing characteristics making them suitable for different purposes.
The neodymium type can be found in more places and is the magnet used in big business since it is the most powerful magnet on earth. However, neodymium is more in danger of rusting than the rare samarium-cobalt variety. To compensate for this weakness, surface coating is applied in order to guard against corrosion.
The samarium-cobalt magnet is not without weaknesses. It can become brittle, therefore manufacturers tend to enclose it in some form of protection, such as glass. It is also a more expensive material, this applies whether we are talking over the counter or in the production stage. It has not been able to catch up to the popularity of its neodymium brother, mainly because of this fact. Some industries, however, still prefer using samarium-cobalt modules, as these perform better at extremely high temperatures, while the other works better at cool temperatures. Spinning a hard drives then, you could theoretically use neodymium, but samarium-cobalt would actually perform much better.
Magnets rare earth is a prime example of using physics to create superior products for mankind. The famous physicist Albert Einstein might not, however, have been entirely pleased, as he was an well-known pacifist, that his popular formula was utilized to build the atomic bomb. This doesn't change the fact though, that if he were here today, he would be ecstatic to experience the laws of magnetism being controlled and used to prevent fatal accidents on crowded city streets.
