Halite

Halite
Halite from the Wieliczka salt mine, Małopolskie, Poland (size: 16x15x13cm)
General
CategoryHalide mineral
Formula
(repeating unit)		NaCl
Strunz classification03.AA.20
Crystal symmetryIsometric hexoctahedral 4/m 3 2/m
Unit cella = 5.6404(1) Å; Z = 4
Identification
Molecular mass58.433 g/mol
ColorColorless or white; also blue, purple, red, pink, yellow, orange, or gray
Crystal habitPredominantly cubes and in massive sedimentary beds, but also granular, fibrous and compact
Crystal systemCubic
CleavagePerfect {001}, three directions cubic
FractureConchoidal
TenacityBrittle
Mohs scale hardness2 - 2.5
LusterVitreous
StreakWhite
DiaphaneityTransparent
Specific gravity2.17
Optical propertiesIsotropic
Refractive indexn = 1.544
SolubilityWater soluble
Other characteristicsSalty flavor, Fluorescent
References[1][2][3]

Halite is the mineral a lot of people call "rock salt". It is a different form of sodium chloride (NaCl). It looks like it is made out of cubes.

References

  1. ↑ http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/hom/halite.pdf Handbook of Mineralogy
  2. ↑ Mindat.org
  3. ↑ Webmineral data
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.