ANSWERS: 1
  • Apache Tears are nodular obsidian. You can find it where there has been volcanic activity. Source: http://www.cst.cmich.edu/users/dietr1rv/obsidian.htm Obsidian is natural glass formed by quenching (i.e., rapidly cooling) magma of granitic/rhyolitic or similar composition. The designation Apache tears is apparently based on American Indian lore: These masses were said to have formed when Apache warriors leaped from a cliff to their death rather than being captured by an enemy. Frederick Pough (ms) notes that "In Superior, Arizona, a cut along a cliff reveals thousands of staring black 'eyes' [the Apache tears], peeping out from gray flaky lids .... [And, he also notes that being] full of water, [these] marble-size nodules swell to baseball dimensions on being heated with this behavior giving expanded perlite,[which has] a role in building insulation." -- i.e., perlite is used as a light weight aggregate in such things as sound-absorbing tiles.

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