Amber Alert (The Fossil)

30 million years ago, an ant was walking up a form of a cycad, a kind of plant.  As it scaled the plant, it realized that that it had stepped in something rather sticky.  It looks down and realizes that it stepped in tree resin.  It thinks to itself, "Oh God, I'm going to be stuck here forever".  The resin continues to ooze over the ant.  Overtime the resin, along with the encased insect, are buried and are exposed to great amount of pressure and heat.  The resin begins to fossilize, resulting in amber.

Although this is not a true account of how an ant got stuck in resin, amber is actually formed in this manner.  The resin has to withstand the elements and degradation, the process of degrading or decomposing.  Then, it must be buried in the right conditions for fossilization to occur; it must be quickly covered with sediment or dirt.  Lastly, the resin must go through a process of oxidation, which is the process of the removal of oxygen.  The final product takes millions of years to form. 


Amber is usually a yellowish brown color, but it comes in a variety of colors.  It can also come in pale yellow, brown, and black.  Some of the most uncommon colors are green and red, also known as cherry.  The rarest color is blue, which is only found off of the coast of the Dominican Republic.  It is so rare that only 100 kilograms of it are found each year. 


In addition to being decorative, amber has other uses.  It helps paleontologists study specimens that would otherwise decompose.  Specimens such as insects, as well as bacteria, amoebae and frogs have be studied in amber.  The amber also helps to date when these specimens were alive.  amber is also used in perfume as a fragrance, and as flavoring in some liquor.

As you can see, something as beautiful as amber can have use and can give us an insight of life before us.  It gives us an example of the beauty in the world.  If only the rest of the world was the same

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber#Formation
http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/amber/whatis.htm#top
http://www.articlesbase.com/jewelry-articles/what-is-an-natural-amber-stone-603360.html