I was recently at the museum of Melbourne and came across a cabinet of mineral crystals.
This is a picture i took of bedrock with cubes of gold coloured pyrite.
The structures intrigued me as it seemed bizarre how a crystal could form such a perfectly shaped structure.
Pyrite is a compound of sulfur and iron, FeS2.
Because we have looked at the degredation of iron to rust (reacting with oxygen to form and iron oxide) its interesting to take that compound and find a potential of supporting life within its degredation. A chemical reaction could be made between rust and sulfur releasing oxygen. We could harness this oxygen and also leave a deposit of the pyrite which would indicate a place to inhabit.
Fe2O3 + S = FeS2 + O2
The industrial revolution has relied on iron for construction so the trace of buildings as they degrade leave potential to be re-used. The hard work of mining has been done through the 20th century. The residue has left potential on the crust of the earth to be recycled and evolved into new form.
-Will
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