earth science

Olympic Australis

Olympic Australis is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Olympic Australis rather than just read about it. In short: The Olympic Australis opal is the largest and most valuable opal yet found (as of 1961) and was valued at A$2,500,000 in 1997. It was found in 1956 at the 'Eight Mile' opal field near the town of Coober Pedy in South Australia.

Key takeaways

Olympic Australis belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Olympic Australis to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Olympic Australis from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Olympic Australis opal is the largest and most valuable opal yet found (as of 1961) and was valued at A$2,500,000 in 1997. It was found in 1956 at the 'Eight Mile' opal field near the town of Coober Pedy in South Australia. The opal was found at a depth of 9.1 metres (30 ft). The Olympic Australis opal was named in honor of the Olympic Games, which were being held in Melbourne in the year of the opal's discovery. It consists of 99% gem opal with an even colour throughout the stone, and has been left in a natural state, unpolished and uncut with blemishes. Olympic Australis is 280 mm long, 120 mm thick, and 115 mm wide (11 in long, 4.75 in thick, and 4.5 in wide). It weighs 17,000 carats (3450 g/121.7 oz/7.6 lbs). As of 1997, the opal is kept in Sydney, at the offices of Altmann & Cherny Ltd.

See also List of individual gemstones Other notable individual opals:

Andamooka Opal Galaxy Opal Flame Queen Opal Halley's Comet Opal

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Olympic Australis

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Olympic Australis claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Olympic Australis before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Olympic Australis ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Olympic Australis

In research: Olympic Australis appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Olympic Australis in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Olympic Australis is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1956 in Australia, Individual opals, Mineral stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Olympic Australis outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Olympic Australis in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Olympic Australis means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Olympic Australis out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Olympic Australis in simple terms?

Why does Olympic Australis matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Olympic Australis?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Olympic Australis.