What does Iceland spar symbolize?
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Associations to the word “spar”
Synonyms for the phrase “Iceland spar”
Sentences containing the phrase “Iceland spar”
- Also along the bottom of the box were minerals rolled in transparent cases: a ball of selenite – a miniature of the moon; cube Iceland spar, through which you look at an object, and it looks double; a crystal of pure rock crystal, like spring water; grains of scarlet, like blood, eudialyte and many others of all colors, shades, and shapes.
Quotes from Russian classics with the phrase “Iceland spar”
- At about 12 noon we were near the large rock Mafa, which means “bear” in Udege. Indeed, in its shape it is very reminiscent of it and consists of dense sandstone with layers of quartz and calcareous spar. At its foot there was a freshly trodden path; she crossed the Coolumbe River and headed north. Dersu found a bivouac behind a rock. From the traces left on it, he learned that Merzlyakov and his team spent the night here when they walked from Takema to Amaga.
Rhyming Words for “Icelandic”
- Icelandic sagas
Icelandic
Icelandic moss - (full compatibility table)
Rhyming Words for “spar”
- feldspar
Iceland spar - (full compatibility table)
Concepts with the phrase “Iceland spar”
Iceland spar (English iceland spar, Spanish silfurberg) is a transparent, coarse-crystalline variety of calcite (calcium carbonate – CaCO3). It received its name from the location where the first large deposit, Eskifjörður, was discovered near the town of Helgastadir in Iceland.
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Additionally
- How to spell “Icelandic” correctly
- How to spell the word “spar” correctly
- Analysis of the composition of the word “Icelandic” (morphemic analysis)
- Analysis of the composition of the word “spar” (morphemic analysis)
Sentences containing the phrase “Iceland spar”
- Also along the bottom of the box were minerals rolled in transparent cases: a ball of selenite – a miniature of the moon; cube Iceland spar, through which you look at an object, and it looks double; a crystal of pure rock crystal, like spring water; grains of scarlet, like blood, eudialyte and many others of all colors, shades, and shapes.
- Birefringence in crystals Iceland spar has been and is being used in practice, for example, for rangefinders in bomb sights, but it is natural that the use of calcium carbonate by mankind began a very long time ago.
- Previously, not far from the village, the Khrustalny mine operated, where they mined Iceland spar.
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Synonyms for the phrase “Iceland spar”
- feldspar
- fluorspar
- lime spar
- optical properties
- birefringence
- (more synonyms.)
Associations to the word “spar”
Rhyming Words for “Icelandic”
- Icelandic sagas
- Icelandic
- Icelandic moss
- (full compatibility table.)
Rhyming Words for “spar”
- feldspar
- Iceland spar
- (full compatibility table.)
Morphology
- Analysis of the composition of the word “Icelandic”
- Analysis of the composition of the word “spar”
Spelling
- How to spell “Icelandic” correctly
- How to spell the word “spar” correctly
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Calcite or Icelandic spar
The Vikings explored a large number of territories far beyond Scandinavia. In the 10th-16th centuries they traveled from Ireland to Rus’, and possibly much further. In the XNUMXth century they also discovered Greenland. But how did they navigate the vast expanse of water without any serious navigation tools? After all, they certainly didn’t have a compass; this technology reached Europe by the end of the XNUMXth century.
The Viking sagas and some other documents say that they plowed the seas and oceans with the help of certain “sun stones”, which helped them determine the position of the Sun in the sky even when the sky was completely covered with clouds. The fog was also not an obstacle for the “sun stones”; they “saw” the Sun perfectly. For a long time it was believed that all this was just a legend, but now some historians claim that “sun stones” could well have existed.
One of the first mentions of mysterious stones refers to the biography of King Olaf, who ruled Norway in the late 900s and early 1000s (with an almost record length of reign for that time). So, in one of the sagas, which told how the Vikings settled Greenland, certain stones were mentioned that gave the king the opportunity to see the position of the Sun in the cloud-covered sky.
All this may resemble some kind of witchcraft, but these stones are mentioned as implements in some temples from Iceland. An archaeologist named Torvild Ramsku suggested that these stones were actually used as navigational tools. Archaeologists and historians believe that it was ordinary calcite, whose crystals are capable of polarizing light.
Wikipedia explains the stone navigation method as follows: “By observing cloudy areas of the sky and rotating the crystal, it is possible to detect areas in the sky from which fully polarized light is emanating as a result of Rayleigh scattering. Perpendiculars to the line connecting such areas indicate the position of the Sun hidden by clouds.” A series of experiments in 2011 showed that calcite can indeed indicate the direction where the Sun is located, with an error of just a few degrees, even at dusk. New research shows that the Vikings sailed from Norway to Greenland using just such a stone.
The journey is not short, the distance is about 2000 km, in those conditions it was about three weeks. Using a computer program, the researchers created a model of the Viking journeys, adding about 1000 “voyages” from Bergen to a settlement on the southern coast of Greenland. The model showed that the stone could well indicate the location of the Sun in the sky and help the Vikings get to the most distant points of their travels.
The scientists added calcite rocks to the model as navigational tools, specifying the exact margin of error for each one. As it turned out, the probability of reaching the desired point using this type of navigation method is quite high – 92%. This figure is probably much higher than that of other seafaring peoples of that time. True, to achieve such accuracy, the one who plotted the course had to check the stone every three hours. If the period increased, and they looked at the sky through the stone every four hours, then the probability of successfully completing the journey decreased to 32-58%. Well, if you look at the sky every six hours, then you could sail away to God knows where – the probability of reaching the desired point was reduced to 10%.
If the Vikings had rarely looked at the sky through the sunstone while sailing to Greenland, they could have sailed into the Atlantic Ocean or reached North America. Perhaps such a mistake helped them get to the shores of Newfoundland in the year 1000.
Of course, all this is just a model of a real trip. In addition to navigation, the Vikings needed to be able to cope with storms, currents, and winds. But, as far as one can judge, they were quite capable of this, which is why they swam so far, getting to where they needed to go.
Unfortunately, for now archaeologists can only assume that calcite or a mineral with similar properties was used by the Vikings. There is no real evidence of this – calcite was not found in the graves of the Vikings or in the places of their settlements. True, a piece of calcite was found in a British shipwreck that sank in 1592. And this calcite was in the vicinity of navigational instruments, so it is quite possible that it was also used as a tool.
The most interesting thing is that the idea of using polarizing stones is not new at all. Pieces of plastic with appropriate properties have been used by Scandinavian Airlines pilots in some cases. And this is not fiction at all, but a real story. The pilots navigated where the compass did not work very well. So 20th century pilots may well have used the same method of navigation as the Vikings.
