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Question:

why does my rose quartz sweat?

I bought a beautiful rose quartz. It is on a wooden attached stand. When I went to move it..liquid came down..poured off of it. I have tried drying it in a slow oven..used a hair dryer...but it still sweats. There is a place in the bottom to attach a light bulb. I would be afraid of the wires getting of liquid into the light. Why is it happening and is there anything I can do?

Answer:

Are you sure its Quartz? It may be calcite or marble with a sugary texture. That would explain the sparkling effect you describe. Quartz is shinny but not what would be described as Sparkling. Is it very hard? If it is, then its is quartz but if its not then it will be calcite. Also drop a bit of acid on it, if it fizzes then it is calcite,otherwise its quartz. The whiteness in quarts comes from water (H2O) trapped within the crystal lattice.
which makes it more sparkly. Glass , which isamorphous quartz with no molecualr crystal structure, can fracture conchoidally as well, like obsidian does. Calcite and aragonite do not fracture conchoidally.
Its not quartz, its marble - to check take a nail and see if the nail scratches the rock....if it does its marble, if not, the rock is probably quartz

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