science21

__Opals__ media type="file" key="21.wav" width="300" height="50" I chose opal because it is my birthstone and I wanted to know where to find them. Opals are found in Australia, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Turkey. The structure of opals is amorphous and can form at low temperatures from silica rich water, especially around hot springs and in many geological locations.If you put an opal up to the light, it will shimmer because it is made of balls of silica and it has water inside. This is why they are so unusual. Opals are a semi precious gem and are the birthstone for the month of October. You can see that opals can be found in a variety of places.

__Comments from Teachers during the research process:__ Note from Mr. VanOrden: I think you'll find opal a very interesting topic. I found some interesting information about opals on this site: http://minerals.er.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/gemstones/sp14-95/opal.html

Note from Mrs. Smith: Wow! You have some very long, scientific words in your research writing! Nice job of reading them aloud for publishing on our wiki. I'm glad to know where I can find an opal if I need one.