Why are there only 9 types of spheres?

[FiveLate]

During my most recent reread I noticed this.

Spoiler

To get enough light, she was forced to use spheres of all nine colors and all three sizes, so the illumination was patchy and varied.

Why are there only 9 types of spheres vs. 10?  Which gem is missing? Thoughts?

I have noted diamond, emerald, amethyst, and garnet so far.

@Duncan noted zirconium and ruby.

Coppermind says it is heliodor or smokestone missing....anyone doing rereads please watch for those with me.

Edited August 31, 2017 by FiveLate
Continuation.

[Oversleep]

18 minutes ago, FiveLate said:

Lol I have been...umm put in an uncomfortable position by Coppermind so many times I do not accept it as a source any more.   Mostly bc the citations often only reflect back to the summaries which do not even mention anything in the citation.  I will only consider it 2 if it actually showed the other 8.

You realize that those citations mean specific chapter and the link to the summary of that chapter is only for sake of convenience?

Edited August 31, 2017 by Oversleep

[Calderis he/him]

Is smokestone used? The black gem may be a poorer light source and so not used for spheres? 

[Dunkum he/him]

Zircon and Ruby are both also used.  it could be that ruby and garnet are close enough in color to be counted as the same, and zircon, based on a quick wiki search, varies a bit, but seems like i tends towards reddish (unless Brandon was thinking of Zirconium, which of course tends toward clear, and is used as a diamond substitute)  so it could be something along those lines too.

[Rebecca she/her]

There actually are 10 types of spheres, not 9. They can all be found in the ARS Arcanum in the back of the Stormlight books. As to why it only mentions 9 colors,  I have no idea.

[FiveLate]

@Calderis that was my assumption as well...just looking for confirmation.

@Rebecca the Ars Arcanum shows...

THE TEN ESSENCES AND THEIR HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS ,

Then gems are listed, but not those in spheres.

[Oversleep]

Coppermind strikes again!

Quote

Only nine of the ten Polestones are used in the spheres (source WoK ch8), but it is as of yet unknown whether smokestones or heliodor are the gem not used, or the reason for the tenth gem's absence.

it seems we have it down to only two candidates.

[FiveLate]

11 minutes ago, Oversleep said:

Coppermind strikes again!

it seems we have it down to only two candidates.

Lol I have been...umm put in an uncomfortable position by Coppermind so many times I do not accept it as a source any more.   Mostly bc the citations often only reflect back to the summaries which do not even mention anything in the citation.  I will only consider it 2 if it actually showed the other 8.

[AbsentKeeper he/him]

10 minutes ago, Oversleep said:

You realize that those citations mean specific chapter and the link to the summary of that chapter is only for sake of convenience?

Those specific ones are chapter citations, and thus they are fine. You do have to double check stuff from the coppermind sometimes, as it tends to have stuff from the MAG, WoBs quoted that aren't very definitive, and other questionable claims at times.

The coppermind is wonderful, it does have it's issues though. It was the source of my brass-duralumin mixup not too long ago in the GenCon thread, because they have the table listed with the metals as they appear in the MAG, for example. 

@FiveLate I wouldn't stop using it as a source, but I would suggest checking the refrences. Most of the info there is good though.

Edited August 31, 2017 by Cowmanthethird

[FiveLate]

@Cowmanthethird oh I still use it...I just don't trust it.

Too many times I can't find what is cited,and several times when I did it was the wrong book...I am just very Leary of the citations.  If you are coming to cite something it should link to the word for word imo....but I am an anal retentive, source obsessed, ex submariner nuke...which pretty much makes everything before submariner superfluous.

Edited August 31, 2017 by FiveLate
Clarification

[+Extesian he/him]

Coppermind is like wikipedia. Very useful for finding summaries and some references (especially textual references) but it shouldn't be used as a primary source, quoting the coppermind isn't really legitimate. But as a secondary source to find primary sources it's good, and it's brilliant for book references which are much harder to search for than WoBs.

I love the coppermind but it shouldn't be a primary source 

And welcome back @FiveLate! Good to see you again bro

[Ecthelion III he/him]

Why are there only 9 pancakes?

[FiveLate]

.

9 hours ago, Ecthelion III said:

Why are there only 9 pancakes?

Another deep question.

Edited August 31, 2017 by FiveLate

[Weltall]

7 hours ago, Ecthelion III said:

Why are there only 9 pancakes?

These two questions may be related. And the two 'missing' polestones are the ones associated with Nale and Ishi. Hmmm... we should ask Her Pancakefulness to investigate this further.

[Yata he/him]

I think the "missing currency" is simply for a pratical reason. You could not use two "coin" with are too hard to compare.

Probably the missing polestone in the currency system is too similar to another and instead of having a value issues they will use only the lesser valuable as currency.