1.
Hexagonal crystal family
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In crystallography, the hexagonal crystal family is one of the 6 crystal families. In the hexagonal family, the crystal is described by a right rhombic prism unit cell with two equal axes, an included angle of 120° and a height perpendicular to the two base axes. There are 52 space groups associated with it, which are exactly those whose Bravais lattice is either hexagonal or rhombohedral, the hexagonal crystal family consists of two lattice systems, hexagonal and rhombohedral. Each lattice system consists of one Bravais lattice, hence, there are 3 lattice points per unit cell in total and the lattice is non-primitive. The Bravais lattices in the hexagonal crystal family can also be described by rhombohedral axes, the unit cell is a rhombohedron. This is a cell with parameters a = b = c, α = β = γ ≠ 90°. In practice, the description is more commonly used because it is easier to deal with a coordinate system with two 90° angles. However, the axes are often shown in textbooks because this cell reveals 3m symmetry of crystal lattice. However, such a description is rarely used, the hexagonal crystal family consists of two crystal systems, trigonal and hexagonal. A crystal system is a set of point groups in which the point groups themselves, the trigonal crystal system consists of the 5 point groups that have a single three-fold rotation axis. The crystal structures of alpha-quartz in the example are described by two of those 18 space groups associated with the hexagonal lattice system. The hexagonal crystal system consists of the seven point groups such that all their groups have the hexagonal lattice as underlying lattice. Graphite is an example of a crystal that crystallizes in the crystal system. Note that the atom in the center of the HCP unit cell in the hexagonal lattice system does not appear in the unit cell of the hexagonal lattice. It is part of the two atom motif associated with each point in the underlying lattice. The trigonal crystal system is the crystal system whose point groups have more than one lattice system associated with their space groups. The 5 point groups in this system are listed below, with their international number and notation, their space groups in name. The point groups in this system are listed below, followed by their representations in Hermann–Mauguin or international notation and Schoenflies notation
2.
Fracture (mineralogy)
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In the field of mineralogy, fracture is the texture and shape of a rocks surface formed when a mineral is fractured. Minerals often have a highly distinctive fracture, making it a feature used in their identification. Fracture differs from cleavage in that the latter involves clean splitting along the planes of the minerals crystal structure. All minerals exhibit fracture, but when very strong cleavage is present, conchoidal fracture breakage that resembles the concentric ripples of a mussel shell. It often occurs in amorphous or fine-grained minerals such as flint, opal or obsidian, subconchoidal fracture is similar to conchoidal fracture, but with less significant curvature. Earthy fracture is reminiscent of freshly broken soil and it is frequently seen in relatively soft, loosely bound minerals, such as limonite, kaolinite and aluminite. Hackly fracture is jagged, sharp and not even and it occurs when metals are torn, and so is often encountered in native metals such as copper and silver. Splintery fracture comprises sharp elongated points and it is particularly seen in fibrous minerals such as chrysotile, but may also occur in non-fibrous minerals such as kyanite. Uneven fracture is a surface or one with random irregularities. It occurs in a range of minerals including arsenopyrite, pyrite and magnetite. Rudolf Duda and Lubos Rejl, Minerals of the World http, //www. galleries. com/minerals/property/fracture. htm
3.
Mohs scale of mineral hardness
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The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is a qualitative ordinal scale characterizing scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of harder material to scratch softer material. Created in 1812 by German geologist and mineralogist Friedrich Mohs, it is one of several definitions of hardness in materials science, while greatly facilitating the identification of minerals in the field, the Mohs scale does not show how well hard materials perform in an industrial setting. Despite its lack of precision, the Mohs scale is highly relevant for field geologists, the Mohs scale hardness of minerals can be commonly found in reference sheets. Reference materials may be expected to have a uniform Mohs hardness, the Mohs scale of mineral hardness is based on the ability of one natural sample of mineral to scratch another mineral visibly. The samples of matter used by Mohs are all different minerals, Minerals are pure substances found in nature. Rocks are made up of one or more minerals, as the hardest known naturally occurring substance when the scale was designed, diamonds are at the top of the scale. The hardness of a material is measured against the scale by finding the hardest material that the material can scratch. For example, if material is scratched by apatite but not by fluorite. Scratching a material for the purposes of the Mohs scale means creating non-elastic dislocations visible to the naked eye, frequently, materials that are lower on the Mohs scale can create microscopic, non-elastic dislocations on materials that have a higher Mohs number. The Mohs scale is an ordinal scale. For example, corundum is twice as hard as topaz, the table below shows the comparison with the absolute hardness measured by a sclerometer, with pictorial examples. On the Mohs scale, a streak plate has a hardness of 7.0, using these ordinary materials of known hardness can be a simple way to approximate the position of a mineral on the scale. The table below incorporates additional substances that may fall between levels, Comparison between Hardness and Hardness, Mohs hardness of elements is taken from G. V, samsonov in Handbook of the physicochemical properties of the elements, IFI-Plenum, New York, USA,1968. The Hardness of Minerals and Rocks
4.
Lustre (mineralogy)
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Lustre or luster is the way light interacts with the surface of a crystal, rock, or mineral. The word traces its origins back to the latin lux, meaning light, a range of terms are used to describe lustre, such as earthy, metallic, greasy, and silky. Similarly, the term refers to a glassy lustre. A list of terms is given below. Lustre varies over a continuum, and so there are no rigid boundaries between the different types of lustre. The terms are frequently combined to describe types of lustre. Some minerals exhibit unusual optical phenomena, such as asterism or chatoyancy, a list of such phenomena is given below. Adamantine minerals possess a superlative lustre, which is most notably seen in diamond, such minerals are transparent or translucent, and have a high refractive index. Minerals with an adamantine lustre are uncommon, with examples being cerussite. Minerals with a degree of lustre are referred to as subadamantine, with some examples being garnet. Dull minerals exhibit little to no lustre, due to coarse granulations which scatter light in all directions, a distinction is sometimes drawn between dull minerals and earthy minerals, with the latter being coarser, and having even less lustre. Greasy minerals resemble fat or grease, a greasy lustre often occurs in minerals containing a great abundance of microscopic inclusions, with examples including opal and cordierite. Many minerals with a greasy lustre also feel greasy to the touch, metallic minerals have the lustre of polished metal, and with ideal surfaces will work as a reflective surface. Examples include galena, pyrite and magnetite, pearly minerals consist of thin transparent co-planar sheets. Light reflecting from these layers give them a lustre reminiscent of pearls, such minerals possess perfect cleavage, with examples including muscovite and stilbite. Resinous minerals have the appearance of resin, chewing gum or plastic, a principal example is amber, which is a form of fossilized resin. Silky minerals have an arrangement of extremely fine fibres, giving them a lustre reminiscent of silk. Examples include asbestos, ulexite and the satin spar variety of gypsum, a fibrous lustre is similar, but has a coarser texture
5.
Transparency and translucency
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In the field of optics, transparency is the physical property of allowing light to pass through the material without being scattered. On a macroscopic scale, the photons can be said to follow Snells Law, in other words, a translucent medium allows the transport of light while a transparent medium not only allows the transport of light but allows for image formation. The opposite property of translucency is opacity, transparent materials appear clear, with the overall appearance of one color, or any combination leading up to a brilliant spectrum of every color. When light encounters a material, it can interact with it in different ways. These interactions depend on the wavelength of the light and the nature of the material, photons interact with an object by some combination of reflection, absorption and transmission. Some materials, such as glass and clean water, transmit much of the light that falls on them and reflect little of it. Many liquids and aqueous solutions are highly transparent, absence of structural defects and molecular structure of most liquids are mostly responsible for excellent optical transmission. Materials which do not transmit light are called opaque, many such substances have a chemical composition which includes what are referred to as absorption centers. Many substances are selective in their absorption of light frequencies. They absorb certain portions of the spectrum while reflecting others. The frequencies of the spectrum which are not absorbed are either reflected or transmitted for our physical observation and this is what gives rise to color. The attenuation of light of all frequencies and wavelengths is due to the mechanisms of absorption. Transparency can provide almost perfect camouflage for animals able to achieve it and this is easier in dimly-lit or turbid seawater than in good illumination. Many marine animals such as jellyfish are highly transparent, at the atomic or molecular level, physical absorption in the infrared portion of the spectrum depends on the frequencies of atomic or molecular vibrations or chemical bonds, and on selection rules. Nitrogen and oxygen are not greenhouse gases because there is no absorption because there is no molecular dipole moment. With regard to the scattering of light, the most critical factor is the scale of any or all of these structural features relative to the wavelength of the light being scattered. Primary material considerations include, Crystalline structure, whether or not the atoms or molecules exhibit the long-range order evidenced in crystalline solids, glassy structure, scattering centers include fluctuations in density or composition. Microstructure, scattering centers include internal surfaces such as boundaries, crystallographic defects
6.
Silicate minerals
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Silicate minerals are rock-forming minerals made up of silicate groups. They are the largest and most important class of rock-forming minerals and they are classified based on the structure of their silicate groups, which contain different ratios of silicon and oxygen. Nesosilicates, or orthosilicates, have the orthosilicate ion, which constitute isolated 4− tetrahedra that are connected only by interstitial cations and these exist as 3-member 6− and 6-member 12− rings, where T stands for a tetrahedrally coordinated cation. Inosilicates, or chain silicates, have interlocking chains of silicate tetrahedra with either SiO3,1,3 ratio, for single chains or Si4O11,4,11 ratio, for double chains. Nickel–Strunz classification,09. D Pyroxene group Enstatite – orthoferrosilite series Enstatite – MgSiO3 Ferrosilite – FeSiO3 Pigeonite – Ca0.251, all phyllosilicate minerals are hydrated, with either water or hydroxyl groups attached. Serpentine subgroup Antigorite – Mg3Si2O54 Chrysotile – Mg3Si2O54 Lizardite – Mg3Si2O54 Clay minerals group Halloysite – Al2Si2O54 Kaolinite – Al2Si2O54 Illite – 24O10 Montmorillonite –0 and this group comprises nearly 75% of the crust of the Earth. Tectosilicates, with the exception of the group, are aluminosilicates. Nickel–Strunz classification,09. F and 09. G,04. A, an introduction to the rock-forming minerals. Wise, W. S. Zussman, J. Rock-forming minerals, P.982 pp. Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Danas Manual of Mineralogy. Mindat. org, Dana classification Webmineral, Danas New Silicate Classification Media related to Silicates at Wikimedia Commons
7.
Chalcedony
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Chalcedony is a cryptocrystalline form of silica, composed of very fine intergrowths of quartz and moganite. These are both silica minerals, but they differ in that quartz has a crystal structure, while moganite is monoclinic. Chalcedonys standard chemical structure is SiO2, Chalcedony has a waxy luster, and may be semitransparent or translucent. It can assume a range of colors, but those most commonly seen are white to gray. The color of chalcedony sold commercially is often enhanced by dyeing or heating, the name chalcedony comes from the Latin chalcedonius. The name appears in Pliny the Elders Naturalis Historia as a term for a kind of Jaspis. The name is derived from the town Chalcedon in Asia Minor. The Greek word khalkedon also appears in the Book of Revelation and it is a hapax legomenon so it is hard to tell whether the precious gem mentioned in the Bible is the same mineral known by this name today. Chalcedony occurs in a range of varieties. Many semi-precious gemstones are in forms of chalcedony. The more notable varieties of chalcedony are as follows, Agate is a variety of chalcedony characterized by either transparency or color patterns, opaque varieties are sometimes referred to as jasper. Fire agate shows iridescent phenomena on a background, iris agate shows exceptional iridescence when light is shone through the stone. Landscape agate is chalcedony with a number of different mineral impurities making the stone resemble landscapes, aventurine is a form of quartz, characterised by its translucency and the presence of platy mineral inclusions that give a shimmering or glistening effect termed aventurescence. Chrome-bearing fuchsite is the inclusion, and gives a silvery green or blue sheen. Oranges and browns are attributed to hematite or goethite, carnelian is a clear-to-translucent reddish-brown variety of chalcedony. Its hue may vary from an orange, to an intense almost-black coloration. Similar to carnelian is sard, which is rather than red. Chrysoprase is a variety of chalcedony, which has been colored by nickel oxide
8.
Agate
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Agate /ˈæɡət/ is a cryptocrystalline variety of silica, chiefly chalcedony, characterised by its fineness of grain and brightness of color. Although agates may be found in various kinds of rock, they are associated with volcanic rocks. Colorful agates and other chalcedonies were obtained over 3,000 years ago from the Achates River, Agate has also been known to fill veins or cracks in volcanic or altered rock underlain by granitic intrusive masses. Such agates, when cut transversely, exhibit a succession of lines, often of extreme tenuity. Such stones are known as banded agate, riband agate and striped agate, perhaps the most comprehensive review of agate chemistry is a recent text by Moxon cited below. This green silicate may give rise by alteration to a iron oxide. The outer surface of an agate, freed from its matrix, is pitted and rough. The first layer spread over the wall of the cavity has been called the priming, when the matrix in which the agates are embedded disintegrates, they are set free. The agates are extremely resistant to weathering and remain as nodules in the soil, or are deposited as gravel in streams, a Mexican agate, showing only a single eye, has received the name of cyclops agate. Dendritic agates have fern like patterns in them formed due to the presence of manganese, other types of included matter deposited during agate-building include sagenitic growths and chunks of entrapped detritus. Occasionally agate fills a void left by decomposed vegetative material such as a limb or root and is called limb cast agate due to its appearance. Enhydro agate contains tiny inclusions of water, sometimes with air bubbles, turritella agate is formed from silicified fossil Elimia tenera shells. E. tenera are spiral freshwater gastropods having elongated, spiral shells composed of many whorls, similarly, coral, petrified wood and other organic remains or porous rocks can also become agatized. Agatized coral is often referred to as Petoskey stone or agate, greek agate is a name given to pale white to tan colored agate found in Sicily back to 400 BC. The Greeks used it for making jewelry and beads, brazilian agate is found as sizable geodes of layered nodules. These occur in brownish tones interlayered with white and gray, quartz forms within these nodules, creating a striking specimen when cut opposite the layered growth axis. It is often dyed in various colors for ornamental purposes, certain stones, when examined in thin sections by transmitted light, show a diffraction spectrum due to the extreme delicacy of the successive bands, whence they are termed rainbow agates. Often agate coexists with layers or masses of opal, jasper or crystalline quartz due to ambient variations during the formation process, lace agate is a variety that exhibits a lace-like pattern with forms such as eyes, swirls, bands or zigzags
9.
Carnelian
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Carnelian is a brownish-red mineral commonly used as a semi-precious gemstone. Similar to carnelian is sard, which is harder and darker. Both carnelian and sard are varieties of the mineral chalcedony colored by impurities of iron oxide. The color can vary greatly, ranging from orange to an intense almost-black coloration. It is most common in Brazil, India, Siberia and Germany, the bow drill was used to drill holes into carnelian in Mehrgarh between 4th-5th millennium BC. Carnelian was recovered from Bronze Age Minoan layers at Knossos on Crete in a form that demonstrated its use in decorative arts, carnelian was used widely during Roman times to make engraved gems for signet or seal rings for imprinting a seal with wax on correspondence or other important documents. Hot wax does not stick to carnelian, sard was used for Assyrian cylinder seals, Egyptian and Phoenician scarabs, and early Greek and Etruscan gems. The Hebrew odem, the first stone in the High Priests breastplate, was a red stone, probably sard, although now the more common term, carnelian is a 16th-century corruption of the 14th-century word cornelian. The Oxford English Dictionary calls carnelian a perversion of cornelian, by subsequent analogy with the Latin word caro, carnis, flesh. According to Pliny the Elder, sard derives its name from the city of Sardis in Lydia, the names carnelian and sard are often used interchangeably, but they can also be used to describe distinct subvarieties. The general differences are as follows, All of these properties vary across a continuum, carnelian List of minerals Sardonyx Mindat article on carnelian Mindat article on sard
10.
Calcite
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Calcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate. The Mohs scale of hardness, based on scratch hardness comparison. Other polymorphs of calcium carbonate are the minerals aragonite and vaterite, aragonite will change to calcite at 380–470 °C, and vaterite is even less stable. Calcite is derived from the German Calcit, a term coined in the 19th century from the Latin word for lime and it is thus etymologically related to chalk. Calcite crystals are trigonal-rhombohedral, though actual calcite rhombohedra are rare as natural crystals, however, they show a remarkable variety of habits including acute to obtuse rhombohedra, tabular forms, prisms, or various scalenohedra. Calcite exhibits several twinning types adding to the variety of observed forms and it may occur as fibrous, granular, lamellar, or compact. Cleavage is usually in three directions parallel to the rhombohedron form and its fracture is conchoidal, but difficult to obtain. It has a defining Mohs hardness of 3, a gravity of 2.71. Color is white or none, though shades of gray, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, brown, calcite is transparent to opaque and may occasionally show phosphorescence or fluorescence. A transparent variety called Iceland spar is used for optical purposes, acute scalenohedral crystals are sometimes referred to as dogtooth spar while the rhombohedral form is sometimes referred to as nailhead spar. Single calcite crystals display an optical property called birefringence and this strong birefringence causes objects viewed through a clear piece of calcite to appear doubled. The birefringent effect was first described by the Danish scientist Rasmus Bartholin in 1669, at a wavelength of ~590 nm calcite has ordinary and extraordinary refractive indices of 1.658 and 1.486, respectively. Between 190 and 1700 nm, the refractive index varies roughly between 1.9 and 1.5, while the extraordinary refractive index varies between 1.6 and 1.4. Calcite, like most carbonates, will dissolve with most forms of acid, calcite can be either dissolved by groundwater or precipitated by groundwater, depending on several factors including the water temperature, pH, and dissolved ion concentrations. Although calcite is fairly insoluble in water, acidity can cause dissolution of calcite. Ambient carbon dioxide, due to its acidity, has a slight solubilizing effect on calcite, calcite exhibits an unusual characteristic called retrograde solubility in which it becomes less soluble in water as the temperature increases. When conditions are right for precipitation, calcite forms mineral coatings that cement the existing rock grains together or it can fill fractures. On a landscape scale, continued dissolution of calcium carbonate-rich rocks can lead to the expansion and eventual collapse of cave systems, high-grade optical calcite was used in World War II for gun sights, specifically in bomb sights and anti-aircraft weaponry
11.
Mexico
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Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a federal republic in the southern half of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States, to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean, to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea, and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometers, Mexico is the sixth largest country in the Americas by total area, Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and a federal district that is also its capital and most populous city. Other metropolises include Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Toluca, Tijuana, pre-Columbian Mexico was home to many advanced Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya and Aztec before first contact with Europeans. In 1521, the Spanish Empire conquered and colonized the territory from its base in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Three centuries later, this territory became Mexico following recognition in 1821 after the colonys Mexican War of Independence. The tumultuous post-independence period was characterized by instability and many political changes. The Mexican–American War led to the cession of the extensive northern borderlands, one-third of its territory. The Pastry War, the Franco-Mexican War, a civil war, the dictatorship was overthrown in the Mexican Revolution of 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the countrys current political system. Mexico has the fifteenth largest nominal GDP and the eleventh largest by purchasing power parity, the Mexican economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement partners, especially the United States. Mexico was the first Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and it is classified as an upper-middle income country by the World Bank and a newly industrialized country by several analysts. By 2050, Mexico could become the fifth or seventh largest economy. The country is considered both a power and middle power, and is often identified as an emerging global power. Due to its culture and history, Mexico ranks first in the Americas. Mexico is a country, ranking fourth in the world by biodiversity. In 2015 it was the 9th most visited country in the world, Mexico is a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G8+5, the G20, the Uniting for Consensus and the Pacific Alliance. Mēxihco is the Nahuatl term for the heartland of the Aztec Empire, namely, the Valley of Mexico, and its people, the Mexica and this became the future State of Mexico as a division of New Spain prior to independence. It is generally considered to be a toponym for the valley became the primary ethnonym for the Aztec Triple Alliance as a result. After New Spain won independence from Spain, representatives decided to name the new country after its capital and this was founded in 1524 on top of the ancient Mexica capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlan
12.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
The dictionary definition of onyx at Wiktionary
Rudler, Frederick William (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. 20 (11th ed.). p. 118.
Rudler, Frederick William (1911).