The use of obsidian in technology and medicine

Since volcanoes are on everyone’s lips due to the current situation in La Palma, many articles are read about obsidian, a type of igneous rock, made of volcanic stone with a lot of silicon content, which is formed by cooling. Fast lava, like every player Minecraft knows.

It is not a metal, it no longer has a well-defined chemical structure, it is even sometimes called a metal. It’s dark, and it’s been used for many things throughout history, including in the world of technology.

Currently we can find it in Some surgery rooms, since many surgeons use obsidian blades to have an edge five times thinner than a steel scalpel. This means that they do less damage to organic tissues, and wounds heal faster. However, in the United States it is not approved for its surgical use in humans, it requires further studies in this regard.

In this video you can see how it is found in volcanic areas:

Tweet embed

# Oh, Lord #Lava

^ Indiana Jones – Peter Seymour

But in addition to being a blade and for decorative purposes, it was used in the 1970s to create a base for some record players.

This is the situation SH-10B3 D-TechnicsBlack, gray in color, as can be seen in vinylengine.com. It was a huge block of shining pond stone, set on a rubber- and rosewood-coated base. Helps reduce shock absorption against external vibrations.

Far from using supports in some tools to reduce vibrations, or to provide properties when cutting, it has gone no further because of its limited conductive properties.