This week in Bio Inorganic, we were assigned to find a bio mineral that contained a metal other than Fe, Ca, of Si, and inform our classmates on the mineral. I chose to report on Celestite (Strontium Sulfate). Celestium is believed to have metaphysical properties such as clarity of mind, clear communication skills, balancing energies, and calming capabilities. This mineral is also thought to be excellent for use in dream recall and astral travel. That was the extent that I looked into those uses on account of they seemed a bit coo coo to me. Not so much the energy part, but the astral travel. Anyway, back on topic. Because Celestitie is made of strontium sulfate, it can be used as an ore/source of strontium. Only trace amount of strontium are found in the human body, but recent studies have shown that strontium is similar to calcium in that they absorb into human bone in a similar manner. This discovery has lead to the making of strontium supplements, and these supplements have significantly increased bone mineral density. Strontium, however, has a benefit that calcium does not. While both calcium and strontium inhibit bone resorption, strontium simultaneously stimulates bone growth. No other natural substance or drug is known to provide this dual effect. There is still research going on for strontium because not all of the biological harms and benefits are known about this element. Dr. Mullins found some cool pictures of this crystal for me, and if you would like to see them, just follow the first link below.
-The High School Chemist
I did look at the pictures and the crystals are so pretty. I found the part about celestite's metaphysical properties to be very interesting. Do people ingest it as a supplement to gain these effects? I always thought Calcium enhanced bone growth as it is the major component of bone but I guess it doesn't actually induce the process like strontium. I never really knew strontium was involved in bone formation so our post was quite informative :)
ReplyDeletesorry typo: "your post was quite informative not our post"
ReplyDeleteI found your blog to be informative on strontium. The pictures of the crystal were very pretty. I knew that calcium did help in enhancing bone growth and thought as well it was the major component for bones; however, after reading it seems that strontium offers more of a major role. I found it interesting that strontium can stimulate bone growth; however, as bilen said do they ingest the supplement or how does that work?
ReplyDeleteSo...I did find a use for celestite as a biomineral, apparently some radiolarian protozoa (swarmers?) use it as the primary source of their skeleton. See this link for the paper:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jstor.org/pss/76898