owsome • So the other day, I was talking to a scientist...

So the other day, I was talking to a scientist here at the lab about how electrons move through graphene (a wonder material you should really go read about if you haven’t heard of it). We got onto the topic of how elements bond by sharing electrons and he asked if I could picture the Periodic Table in my head. I didn’t have to imagine it because I pulled out the rolled up Periodic Table from my awesome pen (it actually came in handy!) and he started talking to me about about salt. Sodium (Na) has an extra electron it’s not using and Chlorine (Cl) has space for one, so they click together and become salt! Well, I’m sure they don’t actually “click” but that’s what it sounds like in my head. Chemistry is more fun with sound effects.

Anyway, after this little tangent, we got back to our actual conversation, but I couldn’t stop thinking about salt. I looked it up on Wikipedia, which showed me a cool picture of copper sulfate, a bright blue salt, and then I decided to go looking for pictures of other colored salts, and I stumbled upon the set of photos above.

These are from photographer Fabian Oefner, who put colored salt crystals on a speaker, attached a microphone to a flash trigger, and got these incredibly gorgeous shots as a result. I would love to have these printed on huge canvases to hang in my home.

(PS: When people ask me what I do without a TV, I never know what to say, but THIS IS WHAT I DO. I spend my evenings Googling salt and really absolutely enjoying it.)