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Brucite

Brucite
Category	Mineral
Chemical formula	Mg(OH)₂
Identification
Color	white, pale green, blue, gray; honey-yellow to brownish red
Crystal habit	platy or foliated masses and rosettes - fibrous to massive
Crystal system	Trigonal (Hexagonal Scalenohedral)
Cleavage	perfect 0001
Fracture	irregular
Tenacity	sectile
Mohs Scale hardness	2.5 to 3
Luster	vitreous to pearly
Refractive index	nω = 1.560 nε = 1.580
Optical Properties	Uniaxial (+)
Birefringence	0.020 max.
Streak	white
Specific gravity	2.39 to 2.40
Diaphaneity	transparent
Other Characteristics	Pyroelectric

Brucite is the mineral form of magnesium hydroxide, with the chemical formula Mg(OH)₂. It is pearly white or pale green in colour, translucent, with perfect cleavage, and tabular crystals or massive. It has a hardness of 2.5.

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Brucite is a common alteration product of periclase in marble; a low-temperature hydrothermal vein mineral in metamorphosed limestones and chlorite schists; and formed during serpentinization of dunites. Brucite is often found in association with serpentine, calcite, aragonite, dolomite, magnesite, hydromagnesite, artinite, talc, and chrysotile. Notable locations include Wood's Chrome Mine, Cedar Hill Quarry, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Brucite was first described in 1824 and named for the discoverer, American mineralogist, Archibald Bruce (1777-1818).

References

Mindat
Webmineral data
Mineral Data Publishing

Categories: Magnesium minerals | Hydroxide minerals

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Brucite". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.