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Quartz | ||
 | Mineral name: | Quartz |
| Formula: | SiO2 | |
| Category: | Silicate | |
| Name Origin: | From the German quarz, meaning "rock crystal" | |
| Uses: | A well known gemstone and ornamental material, quartz has also many uses in scientific equipment and is a source of silica. | |
| Diagnostic features: | Quartz-rich sand is used in mortar and concrete. It is also an abrasive and is used in the fabrication of glass. Powdered quartz is used in porcelain and paint. | |
| Interesting facts: | Its shape, hardness and conchoidal fracture | |
| PROPERTIES | ||
| Colour: | Colourless or white but many other colours | |
| Streak: | White | |
| Luster: | Glassy | |
| Hardness: | 7 | |
| Density: | 2.65 | |
| Form: | Trigonal/hexagonal | |
| For more info on this mineral: | http://webmineral.com/data/Quartz.shtml http://www.mindat.org/min-3337.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartz | |
| THIS SAMPLE: | ||
| Name: | Quartz | |
| Size: | ||
| Came from: | Bluebell mine | |
| Province: | British Columbia | |
| Collection of: | Royal Ontario Museum | |
| Photography by: | Calvin Nicholls | |
