Diatomaceous Earth Under A Microscope

[ShadyStump]

Just stumbled upon this one, and thought maybe someone would find it interesting.

No depth to it at all, but it's fun seeing something we often take for granted up close.

 

[milehigh_7]

Love me some DE!!!

 

[Paradox]

Yea it's the shells of diatoms.
Hence "diatomaceous earth"

 

[michaelj]

My local farm supply told me the other day (when I was buying my pumice, and asking about DE), that although the terms can and often are used interchangeably, a lot of folks in his industry use the term "diatomaceous earth" to describe the powder form, and "diatomite" to describe the larger particles we use as a soil medium. I've heard both terms, but always use DE, since that's what EP Minerals calls the 25 lb. bags of medium-coarse stuff that I buy from O'Reilly Auto Parts.
My teacher used to always call it Axis, because that was a brand name he bought.
I'm not a pedant, so I wouldn't get hung up on the wording, but it did occur to me that searching for diatomite might produce some other sources that folks would otherwise not find when looking for agricultural diatomaceous earth, so I thought I'd share that.

 

[milehigh_7]

My local farm supply told me the other day (when I was buying my pumice, and asking about DE), that although the terms can and often are used interchangeably, a lot of folks in his industry use the term "diatomaceous earth" to describe the powder form, and "diatomite" to describe the larger particles we use as a soil medium. I've heard both terms, but always use DE, since that's what EP Minerals calls the 25 lb. bags of medium-coarse stuff that I buy from O'Reilly Auto Parts.
My teacher used to always call it Axis, because that was a brand name he bought.
I'm not a pedant, so I wouldn't get hung up on the wording, but it did occur to me that searching for diatomite might produce some other sources that folks would otherwise not find when looking for agricultural diatomaceous earth, so I thought I'd share that.

I believe the stuff at O'Reilly is non-calcined... if so it's not ideal. Does your stuff break down year to year?

 

[michaelj]

I believe the stuff at O'Reilly is non-calcined... if so it's not ideal. Does your stuff break down year to year?

It breaks down, but it takes much more than a year. More like after about 3 years, often longer, quite a bit like akadama does. I've never heard about this, though. How different is calcined DE, and how can I tell the difference when buying it?

 

[Mikecheck123]

Now I wanna see a microscope shot of my lungs after inhaling deeply.

 

[Wulfskaar]

One of my favorite things to do when I was in college studying geology was to look at sand from various locations under the microscope. Depending on the sand, you'll see all kinds of cool things.

 

[milehigh_7]

It breaks down, but it takes much more than a year. More like after about 3 years, often longer, quite a bit like akadama does. I've never heard about this, though. How different is calcined DE, and how can I tell the difference when buying it?

Okay so calcined is fired in a rotary kiln and it expands making it 1) more porous, 2) harder and more durable. You really won't know unless you read the spec sheet. You can download them from EP's website. The bag might say as well. Calcined does not break down. I believe NAPA 8822 is calcined however it's really small.