IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v389y1997i6654d10.1038_40010.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A pavement of pearl

Author

Listed:
  • L. Addadi

    (The Weizmann Institute of Science)

  • S. Weiner

    (The Weizmann Institute of Science)

Abstract

How do pearls grow? Both pearls and mother of pearl are made of nacre, one of several substances that molluscs build their shells from. It consists of layers of aragonite crystal, sandwiched between fibrous organic layers that provide it with elasticity. But the whole organic matrix is constructed first, so why doesn't it get in the way of crystal growth? The answer is simple -- a scattering of small pores, which both allow material to be supplied for crystal growth and help align the crystals.

Suggested Citation

  • L. Addadi & S. Weiner, 1997. "A pavement of pearl," Nature, Nature, vol. 389(6654), pages 912-913, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:389:y:1997:i:6654:d:10.1038_40010
    DOI: 10.1038/40010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/40010
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/40010?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:389:y:1997:i:6654:d:10.1038_40010. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.