Does Selenite Dissolve in Water? My Experiment: 1 Hour/Day/Week

Witchy Wisdom
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I’ve read several times that Selenite is a very soft stone and it will dissolve in water. Some of the suggestions I’ve seen is not to leave it outside in case it rains, not submerge it under water, and to never soak it because it will completely dissolve.

I am really curious about how much truth there is in that, and the only way to found out is by putting some selenite underwater! :gem: :droplet:

Selenite in Water: Will it Dissolve?

Watch the video here

For this experiment, I weighed three pieces of selenite and then left piece 1 in water for one hour, piece 2 for 24 hours (one day) and piece 3 for seven days.

  • Piece 1 was 52 g.
  • Piece 2 was 54 g.
  • Piece 2 was 54 g.

Once they were dry, I weighed them again to see if they lost any weight.

The Results

After the experiment, this is what happened with the selenite pieces:

  • Piece 1 was the same weight, but it did suffer some superficial damage.
  • Piece 2 was about 2 grams lighter after one day under water.
  • Piece 3 was about 2 grams lighter after one week under water.

I didn’t notice any visible changes in the surface, texture or color of the crystals.

Conclusions

Selenite-Dissolves-in-Water
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My conclusion is that selenite won’t dissolve from just touching the water or even from being submerged for one hour. If you rub it in the water it will start to come off in flakes, and if you leave it for an extended period of time it will lose some weight but it’s a slow process.

Cleaning them with a wet cloth is probably fine as long as you don’t scrub!

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Ah this is awesome! Thats really interesting to know/see. I haven’t seen anyone really do this before to test the theory of it.

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Real good move on this experiment @Francisco always wondered how fast Selenite really dissolve in water!! Really appreciate you sharing this.

Thank you :blush:

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I read the same thing about black tourmaline. I wonder if the same thing would happen? Great experiment. I love it!!!

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A very neat experiment- you are a hero for putting your Selenite on the line in order to unveil the truth, Francisco! :raised_hands::grin: Thanks for sharing your discovery- it is fun to see the results :+1:

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I commented on the video about the flakes, they’re hazardous in larger amounts. Wear a mask and try not to breathe them in bc it could definitely give you breathing problems.

But I agree with @Missa I’ve never seen anyone actually test it. I love that you try and get to the science behind it!!!I

Once in a while I’ll switch up my methods of cleansing my crystals and will use water for the selenite and over a long period of time I may see a difference but it’s fine thank you so much for doing this experiment for us!!!

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This was an awesome experiment! I had off & on wo Derek the same thing. I also wonder about fluorite because before I knew it was water soluble I had gone swimming with it still on. (I normally take my jewelry off, but it was a fun impromptu trip with my daughter)

I have a lot of selenite & if it was raining in or snowing during the full moon I wouldn’t put them outside. I actually didn’t put any out for a couple of months, so they all are really due for some charging.

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Thank you for the video and for sacrificing your selenite for science. :slight_smile: I wonder what would happen with rain since that would be different than sitting in water. Gets me thinking of a round two of experimenting. Maybe a shower to simulate? :thinking: Not asking you to sacrifice more. LOL

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@praecog I’m going to buy a few small pieces of fluorite for the same reason. I wanted to do what @Francisco did with the selenite but I also wanted to simulate rain because if it starts raining when they are out in the full moon, what will happen? :thinking:

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That’s a great question! I like the idea of repeating the experiment with a shower, I can imagine it eroding much faster that way!

Thanks for all your encouraging comments! @christina4 That’s good advice! I ended up with a few flakes of selenite laying around so I’ll make sure to clean up well

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Maybe I will do that this weekend with a small piece of selenite. I need to get some fluorite from the stone store by my house & try it too! I can see where it may erode faster because the constant pelting from the water kind washing it away.

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Tourmaline would be fine.

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Mines accidentally fell inside my moon water which is a huge glass bottle so it’s still in there and it’s been a few weeks lol

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Satin Spar vs Selenite: Differences and Properties | Pagans & Witches Amino I thought you might be interested in this… ?

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Yes, thanks for bringing that up, Mardi!

We actually had a discussion in the coven, here: Is Selenite really Selenite?. My conclusions were that satin spar and selenite are both types of gypsum, and for most practical matters they are considered the same, both selenite.

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Was the water tap water (from faucet) or bottled water? Reason i ask is because I can’t drink faucet water here due to too much salt in the water from making it where people can drink it. Which I’m sure the salt would erode most anything given time.

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The only difference is that selenite has a waxy luster. And is translucent. Satin spar are rods. And have a fibrous cleavage. Meaning the only difference is physical. They both can charge other crystals an have all the gypsum properties.

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I wonder also if the tumbled selenite would be slower to erode or break down.

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@Jypsy Yes, it was water from the tap. Some people love to put their crystals on salt water, especially with sea salt. I wouldn’t try that with Selenite though…!

@christina4 That’s a great question for an experiment! My hypothesis would be that the tumbled one is stronger because of its arched shape like an egg :egg:

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I found this interesting. Another fact, the orange selenite is found on the Salt Plains of northwest Oklahoma

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