Introduction
I assume we’ve all seen dolomite in the game by now. It’s a small grayish rock, which is naturally found floating on the surface of the sea after an undersea volcano eruption, and is used in making orbshots.
There’s one slight issue.
THIS ISN’T REALISTIC AT ALL!!!
In real life, dolomite is a sedimentary rock. This means it’s formed via various different particles settling underground in layers, with dolomite itself consisting in great part out of fossilized shells of ancient sea creatures. This creates a small problem.
You are never going to find dolomite near any kind of volcano.
See, volcanos, wildly enough, create volcanic, or magmatic rocks, such as basalt and obsidian. These rocks were formed out of cooling magma and lava, not out of layers of various particles. This makes it extremely unrealistic that you’d find dolomite near an eruption site.
Second, bigger issue: DOLOMITE DOESN’T FLOAT ON WATER.
At a density of 2.84g/cm^3, dolomite is nearly three times more dense than water, which means it sinks in it like, shockingly, a rock. Thus, even if an event did happen that’d shoot out hundreds of small dolomite fragments, if you search the surface of the sea to find them, you will be looking for a very long time.
If only there were a rock that was both formed in and near volcanos, that could also float on water…
Introducing: pumice
Pumice is a type of rock that, in short, forms after pressurized magma is ejected out of a volcano. The rapid depressurization causes bubbles of trapped gasses to expand, while the cooling hardens the lava, traping the gasses inside. The result is a highly porous rock.
Pumice is a rock tightly bound to volcanic activity, and obviously forms as a result of eruptions, unlike the sedimentary dolomite. However, its high porosity bears another characteristic:
Pumice is one of the few rocks that can float on water.
This makes pumice the ideal solution to our issue. It only forms in large quantities as a result of an eruption, and also floats on water. Thus, if you went looking for dolomite on the surface of the sea above undersea volcanos, you’d be looking for a while, but if you went looking for pumice, you’re far more likely to walk away with full hands.
This change is very simple, would take just some slight renaming, yet would solve several terrible issues:
- It stops spreading misinformation that dolomite, a sedimentary rock, is commonly found near volcanos, and can float on the water
- It makes Arcane Odyssey more educational by teaching kids how pumice is made and what special properties it has
- It gives Vetex a scholarly reputation
- And most important of all, it’s far more realistic
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