this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2024
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Wait, I'm confused. Glass is a blob that is slowly cooled, same with obsidian. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass#Microscopic_structure
opal is what happens when spheres of particular size pack in grain structures of particular size.
you get like interference making diffraction patterns, but not monochrome because pseudo (meta?) crytals of balls modify the ball modes. you can make opal from latex balls, it's just not hard or as pretty. .
Basically opal is just the earth playing with its balls.