Organic quartz as armor?

[Edankyn]

So I've done some research on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, and I have an idea where one of my species consumes minerals to make an armor like skin. Quartz is fairly high on the Mohs scale and is the second most abundant mineral in the earth's continental crust, so it would be readily available for this sort of use. But I'm wondering if I'm missing something. Anyone with a better grasp on armor, minerals or both care to weigh in and share your insight?

 

[Penpilot]

I'm no expert, but a quick google search supports my suspicion, that although quartz is hard it is also brittle. It's mentioned in this wiki article Bonding in solids - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

One of the things I think makes metal good for armor is that it warps instead of shatters when struck. It'd be pretty bad if armor shatters like glass when struck by a mace or something.

Now this isn't to say that your species can't have quartz armor, but I would take into consideration the brittle nature of quartz. Maybe the quartz is always in a state of constantly flaking off but is also constantly growing like fingernails. Maybe because the quartz is constantly growing, your species has to sand away at the old surface quartz so it doesn't join together become one big mass preventing them from moving.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Brittle and heavy.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Ankari]

So I've done some research on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, and I have an idea where one of my species consumes minerals to make an armor like skin. Quartz is fairly high on the Mohs scale and is the second most abundant mineral in the earth's continental crust, so it would be readily available for this sort of use. But I'm wondering if I'm missing something. Anyone with a better grasp on armor, minerals or both care to weigh in and share your insight?

Heh, I have the same concept for one of my races. Here is an example

I know crystals are brittle, and use this as a balance to the special ability. It can block a few blows, but sooner or later, you'll need to think about using a shield.

This race has a skeleton reinforced by the same minerals. Also, they can't grow a full set of armor unless they don't want to move. After all, crystals are heavy, and prevents joint movement.

 

[Devor]

As others have said, heavy and brittle. But it's also inflexible. When you hit a steel breastplate with a battleaxe, the armor doesn't simply break. First it bends, and that bending diffuses some of the force of the blow throughout the plate. That diffusion is the strongest protective property that you're looking for in armor. In fact, there were breastplates which used this property to create a wedge on the torso that could take a bullet from early guns. Even the modern car is built to diffuse the force of a crash throughout the car's frame, to keep you alive in an accident.

Heavy, hard, brittle and inflexible are properties that come as a package, so it's going to be tough finding a desirable alternative to steel without looking at complicated alloys or modern plastics.

 

[wordwalker]

On the other end of the "Sci-fi scale of hardness", there's the manga and anime Broken Blade, a world where magic consists of one gift: being able to reshape prepared quartz. Which pretty much means, all their mecha are built with quartz muscles, so the mech's physical strength is tied to the strength of your will. Not used as its armor, though.

As armor... I could see quartz being a plentiful source of an extra layer for something like a shield, breastplate, or helmet. If you had a way to fuse quartz onto the armor (and still manage its weight!) it might give good protection against a blow or two. In a creature, I guess I could see certain body parts being armored over, but it's easier to say "armor up the chest" than think of how they'd actually move with their chest stiffened up (and weighted) that way, let alone if their skin overall started to crystalize.

It's an interesting idea, and one that plenty of artists and writers have used. But making it work seems to involve a lot more magic than Mohrs study.

 

[Edankyn]

Thanks for your responses everyone, I really appreciate it. Ankari that is fantastic artwork that really captures what I was thinking. The idea is too set for me to change it up much now, but at least I have better information so I don't try and present some sort of faux science explanation that is completely off base. I'll toy around with the idea of having it flake off rapidly and need to be in a constant state of regrowth. Thanks again guys; you're all fantastic support!

 

[Bruce McKnight]

Sounds like you need some magic quartz!