Ask Science
Ask a science question, get a science answer.
Community Rules
Rule 1: Be respectful and inclusive.
Treat others with respect, and maintain a positive atmosphere.
Rule 2: No harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or trolling.
Avoid any form of harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or offensive behavior.
Rule 3: Engage in constructive discussions.
Contribute to meaningful and constructive discussions that enhance scientific understanding.
Rule 4: No AI-generated answers.
Strictly prohibit the use of AI-generated answers. Providing answers generated by AI systems is not allowed and may result in a ban.
Rule 5: Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
Adhere to community guidelines and comply with instructions given by moderators.
Rule 6: Use appropriate language and tone.
Communicate using suitable language and maintain a professional and respectful tone.
Rule 7: Report violations.
Report any violations of the community rules to the moderators for appropriate action.
Rule 8: Foster a continuous learning environment.
Encourage a continuous learning environment where members can share knowledge and engage in scientific discussions.
Rule 9: Source required for answers.
Provide credible sources for answers. Failure to include a source may result in the removal of the answer to ensure information reliability.
By adhering to these rules, we create a welcoming and informative environment where science-related questions receive accurate and credible answers. Thank you for your cooperation in making the Ask Science community a valuable resource for scientific knowledge.
We retain the discretion to modify the rules as we deem necessary.
view the rest of the comments
Sort of. I work closely with geophysics in the rock mechanics world. I don't personally know if any machines that create folds at large scale due to the heat and pressure required but rock deformation is a big thing they do. I've built a few machines that do this.
Small scale experiments at the temperatures and pressures required are done using diamond anvils at extreme pressure and sometimes with laser heating.
Larger scale is done with giant hydraulic presses called triaxes that use confining pressures up to the Gigapascal level.
Oh, rock on! (Lulz, I made a pun by mistake.)
Yeah, I never thought we could do it at a super large scale since the forces required are too massive. However, I find it funny that we actually do bend rocks, for whatever reason.
The elephant in the room is why? Based on what you described, it seems like a very specific problem that is expensive to solve and happens to be dynamic enough to merit repeated testing.
I am gonna make a wild guess for fun though....
I am guessing the reason it's done has something to do with mining and trying to solve material density problems. If I needed to drill through a few layers of rock and I knew the material types, sticking samples of those materials in a press that simulates tectonic activity would give me a good idea what I was dealing with. That data seems like it would be key in setting feeds and speeds for expensive drills...
This is definitely part of it. Oil companies have labs that run samples all day every day to study the density and porosity of rocks to see how much oil or gas they could hold when they're trying to find new areas to drill.
Most of what I'm familiar with is research labs at universities where they are studying it to simulate tiny earthquakes. It's just pure research to learn more about how the earth functions as a system. All rocks are different and all situations are different so the more data you collect the more you can understand exactly what happened during an earthquake and why. Maybe it can lead to better earthquake prediction or it can let us use those earthquakes to know more about the structure of the earth.
What a kick-ass resume bullet:
Sr. Rock Bender (Nov 2019 - Current)