Seashells and lobster claws are hard to break, but chalk is soft enough to draw on sidewalks.

Though all three are made of calcium carbonate crystals, the hard materials include clumps of soft
biological matter that make them much stronger. A new study reveals how soft clumps get into
crystals and endow them with remarkable strength.

Seashells and lobster claws are hard to break, but chalk is soft enough to
draw on sidewalks. Though all three are made of calcium carbonate crystals,
the hard materials include clumps of soft biological matter that make them
much stronger. A study today in Nature Communications reveals how soft
clumps get into crystals and endow them with remarkable strength.

The results show that such clumps become incorporated via chemical interactions with atoms in the
crystals, an unexpected mechanism based on previous understanding. By providing insight into the
formation of natural minerals that are a composite of both soft and hard components, the work will
help scientists develop new materials for a sustainable energy future, based on this principle.
"This work helps us to sort out how rather weak crystals can form composite materials with
remarkable mechanical properties," said materials scientist Jim De Yoreo of the Department of
Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. "It also provides us with ideas for trapping carbon
dioxide in useful materials to deal with the excess greenhouse gases we're putting in the
atmosphere, or for incorporating light-responsive nanoparticles into highly ordered crystalline
matrices for solar energy applications."
Beautiful and functional
Calcium carbonate is one of the most important materials on earth, crystallizing into chalk, shells,
and rocks. Animals from mollusks to people use calcium carbonate to make biominerals such as
pearls, seashells, exoskeletons, or the tiny organs in ears that maintain balance. These biominerals
include proteins or other organic matter in the crystalline matrix to convert the weak calcium
carbonate to hard, durable materials.
Scientists have been exploring how organisms produce these biominerals in the hopes of
determining the basic geochemical principles of how they form, and also how to build synthetic
materials with unique properties in any desired shape or size.
The strength of a material depends on how easy it is to disrupt its underlying crystal matrix. If a
material is compressed, then it becomes harder to break the matrix apart. Proteins trapped in
calcium carbonate crystals create a compressive force -- or strain -- within the crystal structure.
Unlike the strain that makes muscles sore, this compressive strain is helpful in materials, because it
makes it harder to disrupt the underlying crystal structure, thereby adding strength. Scientists
understand how forces, stress and strain combine to make strong materials, but they understand
less about how to create the materials in the first place.
Pearls of wisdom
The leading explanation for how growing crystals incorporate proteins and other particles is by
simple mechanics. Particles land on the flat surface of calcium carbonate as it is crystallizing, and
units of calcium carbonate attach over and around the particles, trapping them.
"The standard view is that the crystal front moves too fast for the inclusions to move out of the way,
like a wave washing over a rock," said De Yoreo.
That idea's drawback is that it lacks the details needed to explain where the strain within the material
comes from. The new results from De Yoreo and colleagues do, however.
"We've found a completely different mechanism," he said.
To find out how calcium carbonate incorporates proteins or other strength-building components, the
team turned to atomic force microscopy, also known as AFM, at the Molecular Foundry, a DOE
Office of Science User Facility at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In AFM, the microscope
tip delicately runs over the surface of a sample like a needle running over the grooves in a vinyl
record. This creates a three-dimensional image of a specimen under the scope.
The team used a high concentration of calcium carbonate that naturally forms a crystalline mineral
known as calcite. The calcite builds up in layers, creating uneven surfaces during growth, like steps
and terraces on a mountainside. Or, imagine a staircase. A terrace is the flat landing at the bottom;
the stair steps have vertical edges from which calcite grows out, eventually turning into terraces too.
For their inclusions, the team created spheres out of organic molecules and added them to the mix.
These spheres called micelles are molecules that roll up like roly-poly bugs based on the chemistry
along their bodies -- pointing outwards are the parts of their molecules that play well chemically with
both the surrounding water and the calcite, while tucked inside are the parts that don't get along with
the watery environment.
Better composites through chemistry
The first thing the team noticed under the microscope is that the micelles do not randomly land on
the flat terraces. Instead they only stick to the edges of the steps.
"The step edge has chemistry that the terrace doesn't," said De Yoreo. "There are these extra
dangling bonds that the micelles can interact with."
The edges hold onto the micelles as the calcium carbonate steps close around them, one after
another. The team watched as the growing steps squeezed the micelles. As the step closed around
the top of the micelle, first a cavity formed and then it disappeared altogether under the surface of
the growing crystal.
To verify that the micelles were in fact buried within the crystals, the team dissolved the crystal and
looked again. Like running a movie backwards, the team saw micelles appear as the layers of crystal
disappeared.
Finally, the team recreated the process in a mathematical simulation. This showed them that the
micelles -- or any spherical inclusions -- are compressed like springs as the steps close around
them. These compressed springs then create strain in the crystal lattice between the micelles,
leading to enhanced mechanical strength. This strain likely accounts for the added strength seen in
seashells, pearls and similar biominerals.
"The steps capture the micelles for a chemical reason, not a mechanical one, and the resulting
compression of the micelles by the steps then leads to forces that explain where the strength comes
from," said De Yoreo.
This work was supported by the Department of Energy Office of Science, National Institutes of
Health.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160108200944.htm

What is the effect of blackboard chalk dust on a

person's health if there's exposure of the dust
regularly to a human through their eyes, nose,
mouth and skin?
Chalk dust remain suspended in air for some time before settling on the floor and body
parts of the teachers and pupils.The report explains that in schools or colleges still use chalk
piece, teachers have the greatest direct risk "During teaching, entry of chalk dust in the
respiratory system through nasopharyngeal region and mouth could be extensive in
teachers due to their proximity to the board and frequent opening of mouth during lectures
and occasional gasping and heavier breathing due to exhaustion

Chalk piece (calcium carbonate) is generally considered to be non-toxic, but it may result in
the following problems: *abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhoea. The
chalk from the dust may cause eye irritation, and isn't good for your lungs*

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-effect-of-blackboard-chalk-dust-on-a-persons-health-
if-theres-exposure-of-the-dust-regularly-to-a-human-through-their-eyes-nose-mouth-and-
skin

Chalk: is it harmful to health?

At long last, after millions of students in thousands of classrooms have freely and
incautiously breathed trillions of breaths, there's a report about the question:
How much chalk dust enters the air when a teacher uses a blackboard?

The team weighed each piece of chalk before and after using it. They collected
chalk dust from the air, and also the dust that fell on to a long sheet of paper laid
over the base of the blackboard.

Their experiment featured three kinds of chalk, one blackboard, an eraser, an

aerosol spectrometer (to measure and record the amount of dust floating in the
air), and a Cilas model 1180 particle-size analyser.

The researchers tried to ensure maximally pure conditions for the measurements.
"All the windows and the only door were closed airtight", the "fans present in the
classroom were not operated", and "personal movement in the classroom was
completely restricted during the experiment to minimise resuspension of dust
from floor".

The report explains that in schools that still use chalk, teachers brave the greatest
direct risk: "During teaching, entry of chalk dust in the respiratory system
through nasopharyngeal region and mouth could be extensive in teachers due to
their proximity to the board and frequent opening of mouth during lectures and
occasional gasping and heavier breathing due to exhaustion. As per current state
of knowledge on particulate matter vis-a-vis chalk dust, it "may remain
suspended in air for some time before settling on the floor and body parts of the
teachers and pupils".

The scientists acknowledge that chalk and chalkboards these days are being
supplanted, in many schools, by whiteboards and other more modern, less
intrinsically dusty technology. But chalk still enjoys wide usage in many
countries.

The study, published in the journal Indoor and Built Environment, ruefully
concludes: "Though real-time airborne chalk dust generation was found to be low
in this study … and did not contain toxic materials, chalk dust could be harmful
to allergic persons and may cause lacrimation and breathing troubles in the long
run and certainly is a constant nuisance in classrooms as it may soil clothes, body
parts, audiovisual aids and study materials."

• Marc Abrahams is editor of the bimonthly Annals of Improbable Researchand

organiser of the Ig Nobel prize

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/nov/28/chalk-dust-health-
research