this post was submitted on 17 May 2026
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[–] RickyRigatoni@piefed.zip 56 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

These are the cubes you murdered just to make a cube.

[–] clif@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Time for me to add my tiny bit of semi related, but useless, knowledge : Galena can also form in cube shapes.

The only reason I know this is because we were crawling around in some old mines in the Ozarks and back in a little offshoot I found a few small, dark cubes in the dirt so I asked some of the geologists with us. Turns out the small mines were there specifically to pull out galena.

From wikipedia :

Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver.

Also, don't go crawling around in mines from the 1800s, it's likely a bad idea.

[–] ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com 46 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Wonder what the largest naturally-occurring pyrite cube is, hypothetically speaking. Like is there an upper limit on size or are borg cubes grown and then hollowed out?

[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 24 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Given ridiculously perfect conditions, I don't think there's any (reasonable) upper limit on how big a pyrite cube could grow.

There are certainly limits on how big one could grow in real life conditions, but those are always fluctuating, and who knows when conditions might randomly become just right for an even bigger cube...

At any rate, you'd eventually be limited by your supply of iron and sulfur, I suppose, if nothing else.

[–] kayzeekayzee@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 2 days ago

There's probably an upper bound imposed by self gravity at some point, but I don't feel like doing math today

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Call me a fool, but I like this more than gold.

[–] 0ops@piefed.zip 27 points 2 days ago

Freaky that those are natural

[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 21 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I swear nature is just fucking with us when it comes to pyrite

[–] Zahille7@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] n3m37h@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 days ago

Resistance is futile

[–] yermaw@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 days ago

This is a Doctor Who plot before the reveal.

[–] Mpeach45@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago

And the old saying is “there are no straight lines in nature.”

[–] 200ok@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago
[–] wabafee@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Any reason why they form this way?

[–] Zacryon@feddit.org 7 points 2 days ago

Someone built a portal in the Minecraft dimension to throw a few over to us. /j

I think that's because they are square at the molecular level, they grow in the same shape

[–] SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world 6 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It’s amazing that they’re all exactly the same size.

[–] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Are we look at the same picture?

[–] SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

It’s a matter of perspective.

[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 10 points 2 days ago

They're selected for this because they're all near-perfect cubes.

There's a bag of 'uglies' under the table that look more like the one on the right embedded in the quartz(?).

Still amazing though.

[–] Zorque@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Someone tossed a pyrite house from monopoly in there as a goof.

[–] n3m37h@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago

Resistance is futile