Mystery Object

The mystery object is a Fulgurite.

When lightening strikes sand, it melts the silica (quartz) and fuses the grains together. This takes only one second and produces a thin tube of glass!

Human-made glass starts with sand and then other ingredients are added. Fulgurites also start with sand, but do not have the transparency of human-made glass. One popular Hollywood movie claimed that fulgurites look like this picture. Is that true?

The color of the fulgurite is determined by the composition of the sand it formed in. It can be orange, tan, black, green, or white.

Our specimen formed in southern Morroco. Wind shifted the desert sand dunes, revealing the fulgurites beneath. Collectors sifted the fulgurites from the sand using screens. Fulgurites can also be found at beaches, or anywhere there is clean, dry sand.

Fulgurites form when lightening temperatures reach at least 3,270 degrees Fahrenheit. When the lightening moves through the sand, a fulgurite is created in whatever path the lightening takes. That is why fulgurites are sometimes called petrified or fossilized lightening.

Lightening can travel through the sand to a depth of about 50 feet. Most fulgurite specimens are very small because they break easily. In 1996, a world record fulgurite was excavated in Florida and removed for museum display. It was 17 feet long!