My watch list
my.chemeurope.com  
Login  

Hectorite



Hectorite

Hectorite from California
General
CategoryMineral
Chemical formulaNa0.4Mg2.7Li0.3Si4O10(OH)2
Identification
ColorWhite
Crystal habitThin laths and aggregates
Crystal systemMonoclinic
Cleavage[001] Perfect
FractureUneven
Mohs Scale hardness1 - 2
LusterEarthy (dull)
Refractive indexnα = 1.490 nβ = 1.500 nγ = 1.520
Optical PropertiesBiaxial - 2V small
Birefringenceδ = 0.030 max.
PleochroismColorless
StreakWhite
Specific gravity2-3 (Avg 2.5)
DiaphaneityTranslucent to Opaque
References[1][2][3]

Hectorite is a soft, greasy clay mineral that forms near Hector, California (in San Bernardino County). The mineral is rare in that it is found primarily in one mine. The chemical composition of hectorite includes: sodium, lithium, magnesium, silicon, hydrogen and oxygen. Hectorite is mostly used in the manufacturing of cosmetics, but has uses in chemical and other industrial applications.

Hectorite occurs with bentonite as an alteration product of clinoptilolite from volcanic ash and tuff with a high glass content.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/hom/hectorite.pdf Handbook of Mineralogy
  2. ^ "Hectorite Mineral Data" Mineralology Database.
  3. ^ Ralph, Jololyn and Ida (2007): "Hectorite" Mineral information and data. Mineralology Database. http://www.mindat.org/min-1841.html
 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Hectorite". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
Your browser is not current. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 does not support some functions on Chemie.DE