Some discrepancies are probably attributable to Steve's lack of knowledge. There's no reason to think that Steve has the same base of knowledge that we do, in fact there's evidence to the contrary: Steve's ability to construct a Wither suggests he knows more about its history and in-universe lore than we do, because he could only know of its existence and formula by knowing that kind of stuff. So Steve might not know much geology. If he sees any gray rock he doesn't recognize, he just calls it "stone." Maybe he's under the erroneous belief that the sedimentary rocks he sees in mesas were once clay, baked by the sun in an effect similar to how he or villagers make terracotta; this is impossible, but Steve might know very little geology. Maybe he has the terms "bedrock" and basement rock confused. Prismarine is one of the coolest fictional minerals because it's clearly artificial, and Mojang never told us how it's made. Creating artificial stone-like materials is pretty high tech. In real life, it always used either the sintering of clay particles into a ceramic, or the use of chemical reactions such as the lime cycle or the pozzolanic reaction. My hot take is that the various forms of prismarine are all pearls or concrete (of a Roman-like style that can withstand saltwater) and that ancient builders engineered Guardians (or some other living, maybe even quasi-living thing) to produce it. Calcium carbonate and silica were gathered from coccolithophores and diatoms filtered out of seawater, and then aggregated in a pearl-like calcareous body held together with the same proteins marine organisms use in nacre. My reason for thinking this: the raw materials can be gathered right there, and the product would be both green (due to both of these marine organisms containing chlorophyll) and pearlescent (due to its assembly in a pearl-like object), exactly like it is in-game (ordinary prismarine's texture changes color). Prismarine bricks and dark prismarine are concrete masonry made using prismarine as both the aggregate and the base ingredient for its cement, whereas ordinary prismarine is a collection of giant, misshapen pearls bound together with a mortar made from the same kind of cement. This also explains why it's never found far from water: it was made because the builders wanted to create building materials at the construction site, so transporting it elsewhere would defeat the purpose of making it.
I'd like to hear more theories like this on some of the other odd objects of minecraft. Guessing a similar thing is with soul sand & soul soil (I guess both are likely a kinda soil but Steve thinks they are different due to the look but the only real difference is the grain sizes). We also can see this with Nether quartz which is likely another kinda mineral but maybe the ancient builders called it nether quartz as its common name due to the crystals it forms as looking similar to quartz but its really a kinda marble that just forms in this way due to some nether physics. Also Netherwrack is likely a kinda soil that contains some clay structures thats just able to hold together pretty well in the place. We know its a soil since the new biomes with the mushrooms & the old mushroom generation implies this has some level of humus (organic material) in it allowing for life to exist on it. Glowstone is likely some kinda ionic salt due to it breaking down into a dust that dissolves in water (via potion brewing processes). Redstone is also likely some form of semi-conductive crystal that under the right conditions produces its own light (in ores), isn't a very good conductor & thus the light it makes when the dust is powered is caused by resistance causing the wire to over heat creating some light. we also have a few other non-existant things like ancient debree which somebody implied was maybe a form of platinum or some other rare earth metal that with gold creates a super alloy (its magnetism effects imply it has some iron in it). We also have the whole end stone & such but I hope we get videos by someone trying to give ideas of what these actually are.
@@yoavboaz1078 Steve can make paintings that literally teach the player to build one; he can also carve a Wither into red sandstone even if the player doesn't know about the Wither.
@@yoavboaz1078 You do get the hint from the painting though. But if we assume that the player's knowledge is from past experiences it kinda means the same for Steve.
I noticed that to block off the liquids from flowing you used pane glass. If you do /give @s barrier it should give you a block that looks like a red circle with a line through it which turns invisible when you take the block out of your main hand. Love the series so far!
I was watching all of your geology of minecraft videos thinking you were a huge channel that I somehow missed, but looking through your channel to get more videos that I haven't seen i was shocked at the view counts! I seriously hope you continue to make minecraft videos, i've loved every single one and you've got me interested in geology! It's really cool to watch you explain and present stuff so well. I also hope more people see these! You're incredible
@@gneissname hope you didn't interpret my comment as undermining your success, although I do think I could've worded it differently. Comparing numbers between channels is a tricky thing and "huge channel" can mean a lot of different things. What I really meant to say is that I believe your videos are incredible in both the quality and the value of education-entertainment you're providing, on par with the channels that get the most views on this platform. To say you deserve all the attention and succes coming your way, and much much more. All the best
Since ice is a rock and snow is a mineral, does that make water (at least when it occurs as glacier melt) a type of lava, and are you (a creature made of mostly liquid ice) a lava monster?
No because water isn't a crystalline structure. I am not a geologist so I can't say this with much certainty but my chemistry knowledge explains the whole ice being a rock thing. Ice is made up of many polar water molecules joined via hydrogen bonding which creates a very hard crystalline structure which is pretty hard. I am guessing lava is the term for only liquid silicon dioxide & not any old molten rock. But then again not a geologist. I think also since lava still has minerals in it that are crystals that it is different. Technically according to the search I did igneous rocks are lava just cooled down lava & then we also have volcanic glass but I am not certain whether to trust the silly AI thingy after it said those other errors about rocks like we should eat them.
I don't know how long you've been playing Minecraft, but before 1.12, terracotta was called hardened clay. Its name was changed to be more consistent with its glazed form, which is something I still haven't quite come to terms with.
You mentioned that salt is one of the few minerals we can eat out of the ground. Alongside water and salt, are there any other non-biological things humans eat? There are plenty of chemicals used for flavors and preservatives and the like, but they're usually only trace. Are there any other notable ones that you're aware of as a biologist?
Historically there are some examples of people using minerals or rocks for treating ailments, like chalk or limestone to treat stomach issues. Lots more examples of medicines that have some science behind it and a lot more that have no science. Modern humans probably eat more since we use mineral and rocks as anti caking agents, emulsifiers,or things like adding fluorite to our water. The list is quite extensive really.
Yeah, you can call it that. Snow is an oddball, you can use sedimentary terms to talk about it, it easily compresses into ice, it can flow as in a glacier. I plan to do a whole episode on it.
@@gneissname I'm not a geologist(I'm a naval architect) but I'm guessing that's a simmilar problem to the word stone. Like the word snow is applied to water crystals falling to the ground, on the ground both loose and very compacted(basicaly ice) if its had a thaw-freeze cycle.
Yeah, many terms that we use that are from common language can have the popular meaning and then the scientific definition which adds confusion when talking about them.
I even heard just the other day that in the field of exogeology (so geology of other planets) ice is absolutely considered a rock because once you get to the colder planets and moons you might even have ice planets with water-volcanoes on 'em
@@_marshP I'm no geologist, let alone an exogeologist, but as I understand it they're different things because they deal with different phases of matter. On some other planets and moons you might find places where geological activity turns the otherwise solid ice into its liquid form and spews it out, so closer to rocks turning into lava than water turning into steam But again don't quote me on it, that's just what I've heard and what made sense to me
Forgot to add that, its made up, probably not based on anything real other than cheese... The color would be closest to a irl limestone or sandstone though.
Mojang took the texture for cobblestone and inverted the colors to get endstone. It looks kinda moon-ish I guess, which is where a lot of the end's aesthetic comes from
Very good comment. A snowflake is a crystal which is “the external expression of the mineral's internal atomic structure” on the atomic scale, all snow has the same repeating pattern.
I'd say that, if we're analysing minecraft from a scientific pov, soul sand/soil doesn't actually have anything to do with souls other than in superstition. It's more likely a combination of the netherrack soil, a bacterial/fungal mat in the soil decomposing dead matter on it, and traces of some chemicals produced by the decomposition reaction of the microbial mat. In this case, the answer would probably be mostly biology, although it would have effects on the local geology as well... How does that sound as an explanation?
hi, i know this is a pretty old video so i understand if you don't reply to this :P but i was curious about obsidian not being categorised as made of minerals - my assumption would have been that since it's formed from lava/magma cooling that it would be chemically the same as an igneous rock. is it something to do with the different structure or some other factor that's different? love the videos btw!
Thanks, yes chemically it’s the same but if the lava/magma cools down faster than the molecules can form up into minerals, it becomes volcanic glass. Basically just a bunch of atoms stuck together without any order.
