Coordinates | 34°03′″N118°15′″N |
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name | Quartz |
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category | Silicate mineral |
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boxwidth | 24 |
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formula | Silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2) |
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strunz | 04.DA.05 |
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dana | 75.01.03.01 |
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symmetry | Trigonal H–M Symbol 32 |
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unit cell | a 4.9133 Å, c 5.4053 Å; Z 3 |
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color | From colorless to black, through various colors |
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habit | 6-sided prism ending in 6-sided pyramid (typical), drusy, fine-grained to microcrystalline, massive |
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system | α-quartz: trigonal trapezohedral class 3 2; β-quartz: hexagonal 622 |
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lattice | hexagonal |
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twinning | Common Dauphine law, Brazil law and Japan law |
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cleavage | {0110} Indistinct |
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fracture | Conchoidal |
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tenacity | Brittle |
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mohs | 7 – lower in impure varieties (defining mineral) |
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luster | Vitreous – waxy to dull when massive |
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refractive | nω 1.543–1.545 nε 1.552–1.554 |
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opticalprop | Uniaxial (+) |
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birefringence | +0.009 (B-G interval) |
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pleochroism | None |
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streak | White |
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gravity | 2.65; variable 2.59–2.63 in impure varieties |
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melt | 1670 °C (β tridymite) 1713 °C (β cristobalite) |
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solubility | Insoluble at STP; 1 ppmmass at 400 °C and 34 bar to 2600 ppmmass at 500 °C and 103 bar |
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diaphaneity | Transparent to nearly opaque |
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other | Piezoelectric, may be triboluminescent, chiral (hence optically active if not racemic) |
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references |
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Quartz is the second most abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz, several of which are semi-precious gemstones. Especially in Europe and the Middle East, varieties of quartz have been since antiquity the most commonly used minerals in the making of jewelry and hardstone carvings.
Crystal habit and structure
Quartz belongs to the
trigonal crystal system. The
ideal crystal shape is a six-sided
prism terminating with six-sided
pyramids at each end. In nature quartz crystals are often
twinned, distorted, or so intergrown with adjacent crystals of quartz or other minerals as to only show part of this shape, or to lack obvious crystal faces altogether and appear massive. Well-formed crystals typically form in a 'bed' that has unconstrained growth into a void, but because the crystals must be attached at the other end to a matrix, only one termination pyramid is present. A quartz
geode is such a situation where the void is approximately spherical in shape, lined with a bed of crystals pointing inward.
α-quartz and β-quartz
α-quartz crystallizes in the trigonal crystal system, space group ''P''3121 or ''P''3221. β-quartz belongs to the hexagonal system, space group ''P''6221 or ''P''6421. These space groups are truly chiral (they each belong to the 11 enantiomorphous pairs). Both α-quartz and β-quartz are examples of chiral crystal structures composed of achiral building blocks (SiO4 tetrahedra in the present case). The transformation between α- and β-quartz only involves a comparatively minor rotation of the tetrahedra with respect to one another, without change in the way they are linked.
Occurrence
Quartz is an essential constituent of
granite and other
felsic igneous rocks. It is very common in
sedimentary rocks such as
sandstone and
shale and is also present in variable amounts as an accessory mineral in most
carbonate rocks. It is also a common constituent of
schist,
gneiss,
quartzite and other
metamorphic rocks. Because of its resistance to
weathering it is very common in stream sediments and in residual
soils. Quartz, therefore, occupies the lowest potential to weather in the
Goldich dissolution series.
Quartz occurs in hydrothermal veins as gangue along with ore minerals. Large crystals of quartz are found in pegmatites. Well-formed crystals may reach several meters in length and weigh as much as .
Naturally occurring quartz crystals of extremely high purity, necessary for the crucibles and other equipment used for growing silicon wafers in the semiconductor industry, are expensive and rare. A major mining location for high purity quartz is the Spruce Pine Gem Mine in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, United States.
Related silica minerals
Tridymite and
cristobalite are high-temperature
polymorphs of SiO
2 that occur in high-silica
volcanic rocks.
Coesite is a denser polymorph of quartz found in some meteorite impact sites and in metamorphic rocks formed at pressures greater than those typical of the Earth's crust.
Stishovite and
Seifertite are yet denser and higher-pressure polymorphs of quartz found in some meteorite impact sites.
Lechatelierite is an
amorphous silica
glass SiO
2 which is formed by
lightning strikes in quartz
sand.
Synthetic quartz
Most quartz used in microelectronics is produced synthetically. Large, flawless and untwinned crystals are produced in an
autoclave via the
hydrothermal process. The process involves treating crushed natural quartz with hot aqueous solution of a base such as
sodium hydroxide. The hydroxide serves as a "mineralizer", i.e. it helps dissolve the "nutrient" quartz. High temperatures are required, often around 675 °C. The dissolved quartz then recrystallizes at a
seed crystal at slightly lower temperatures. Approximately 200 tons of quartz were produced in the US in 2005; large synthesis facilities exist throughout the world. Synthetic quartz is often evaluated on the basis of its
Q factor, a measure of its piezoelectric response and an indicator of the purity of the crystal.
Uses
Quartz is the source of many silicon compounds such as silicones (e.g. high performance
polymers), silicon (e.g.
microelectronics), and many other compounds of commercial importance. Quartz in the form of sand is reduced by
carbothermic reaction as a first step in these energy-intensive processes.
Owing to its high thermal and chemical stability and abundance, quartz is widely used many large-scale applications related to abrasives, foundry materials, ceramics, and cements.
Piezoelectricity
Quartz crystals have
piezoelectric properties: they develop an electric potential upon the application of
mechanical stress. An early use of this property of quartz crystals was in
phonograph pickups. A common piezoelectric uses of quartz today is as a
crystal oscillator. The
quartz clock is a familiar device using the mineral. The resonant frequency of a quartz crystal oscillator is changed by mechanically loading it, and this principle is used for very accurate measurements of very small mass changes in the
quartz crystal microbalance and in
thin-film thickness monitors.Quartz's
piezoelectric properties were discovered by
Jacques and
Pierre Curie in 1880. The
quartz oscillator or resonator was first developed by
Walter Guyton Cady in 1921. George Washington Pierce designed and patented quartz crystal oscillators in 1923. Warren Marrison created the first quartz oscillator clock based on the work of Cady and Pierce in 1927.
Gemstone and lapidary varieties
The most important distinction between types of quartz is that of ''macrocrystalline'' (individual crystals visible to the unaided eye) and the
microcrystalline or
cryptocrystalline varieties (aggregates of crystals visible only under high magnification).
Coarsely crystalline varieties
Pure quartz, traditionally called ''rock crystal'' (sometimes called ''clear quartz''), is colorless and
transparent or
translucent. Common colored varieties include citrine, rose quartz,
amethyst, smoky quartz and milky quartz.
Citrine
''Citrine'' is a variety of quartz whose color ranges from a pale yellow to brown. Natural citrines are rare; most commercial citrines are heat-treated
amethyst. Citrine contains traces of Fe
3+ and is rarely found naturally. The name is derived from
Latin citrina which means "yellow".
Rose quartz
''Rose quartz'' is a type of quartz which exhibits a pale pink to rose red hue. The color is usually considered as due to trace amounts of
titanium,
iron, or
manganese, in the massive material. Some rose quartz contains microscopic
rutile needles which produces an
asterism in transmitted light. Recent
X-ray diffraction studies suggest that the color is due to thin microscopic fibers of possibly
dumortierite within the massive quartz.
In crystal form (rarely found) it is called ''pink quartz'' and its color is thought to be caused by trace amounts of phosphate or aluminium. The color in crystals is apparently photosensitive and subject to fading. The first crystals were found in a pegmatite found near Rumford, Maine, USA, but most crystals on the market come from Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Amethyst
Amethyst is a form of quartz that ranges from a bright to dark or dull purple color.
Smoky quartz
Smoky quartz is a gray, translucent version of quartz. It ranges in clarity from almost complete transparency to a brownish-gray crystal that is almost opaque.
Milky quartz
''Milky quartz'' may be the most common variety of crystalline quartz and can be found almost anywhere. The white color may be caused by minute
fluid inclusions of gas, liquid, or both, trapped during the crystal formation. The cloudiness caused by the inclusions effectively bars its use in most optical and quality gemstone applications.
Microcrystalline varieties
The cryptocrystalline varieties are either translucent or mostly opaque, while the transparent varieties tend to be macrocrystalline.
Chalcedony is a cryptocrystalline form of silica consisting of fine intergrowths of both quartz, and its
monoclinic polymorph
moganite. Other opaque gemstone varieties of quartz, or mixed rocks including quartz, often including contrasting bands or patterns of color, are
agate,
onyx,
carnelian, and
jasper.
Varieties (according to microstructure)
Although many of the varietal names historically arose from the color of the mineral, current scientific naming schemes refer primarily to the microstructure of the mineral. Color is a secondary identifier for the cryptocrystalline minerals, although it is a primary identifier for the macrocrystalline varieties. This does not always hold true.
+ Macrocrystalline varieties
| Rock crystal |
Clear, colorless
|
Amethyst |
Purple, transparent
|
Citrine |
Yellow to reddish orange to brown, greenish yellow
|
Prasiolite |
Mint green, transparent
|
Rose quartz |
Pink, translucent
|
Rutilated quartz |
Contains Acicular (crystal habit) |
Milk quartz |
White, translucent to opaque
|
[[Smoky quartz |
Brown to gray, opaque
|
+ Microcrystalline varieties
| Chalcedony |
Cryptocrystalline quartz and moganite mixture. The term is generally only used for white or lightly colored material. Otherwise more specific names are used.
|
Agate |
Multi-colored, banded chalcedony, semi-translucent to translucent
|
Onyx |
Agate where the bands are straight, parallel and consistent in size.
|
Jasper |
Opaque cryptocrystalline quartz, typically red to brown
|
Aventurine |
Translucent chalcedony with small inclusions (usually mica) that shimmer.
|
Tiger's Eye |
Fibrous gold to red-brown colored quartz, exhibiting chatoyancy.
|
Carnelian |
Reddish orange chalcedony, translucent
|
Synthetic and artificial treatments
Not all varieties of quartz are naturally occurring. Prasiolite, an olive colored material, is produced by heat treatment; natural prasiolite has also been observed in Lower Silesia in Poland. Although citrine occurs naturally, the majority is the result of heat-treated amethyst.
Carnelian is widely heat-treated to deepen its color.
History
The word "quartz" is derived from the
German word "quarz" and its
Middle High German ancestor "twarc", which probably originated in
Slavic (cf. Czech tvrdý ("hard"), Polish twardy ("hard"))., which is of Slavic origin (Czech miners called it ''křemen''). Other sources attribute the word's origin to the
Saxon word ''Querkluftertz'', meaning ''cross-vein ore''.
Quartz is the most common material identified as the mystical substance maban in Australian Aboriginal mythology. It is found regularly in passage tomb cemeteries in Europe in a burial context, such as Newgrange or Carrowmore in the Republic of Ireland. The Irish word for quartz is ''grian cloch'', which means 'stone of the sun'. Quartz was also used in Prehistoric Ireland, as well as many other countries, for stone tools; both vein quartz and rock crystal were knapped as part of the lithic technology of the prehistoric peoples.
Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder believed quartz to be water ice, permanently frozen after great lengths of time. (The word "crystal" comes from the Greek word ''κρύσταλλος'', "ice".) He supported this idea by saying that quartz is found near glaciers in the Alps, but not on volcanic mountains, and that large quartz crystals were fashioned into spheres to cool the hands. He also knew of the ability of quartz to split light into a spectrum. This idea persisted until at least the 17th century.
In the 17th century, Nicolas Steno's study of quartz paved the way for modern crystallography. He discovered that no matter how distorted a quartz crystal, the long prism faces always made a perfect 60° angle.
Charles B. Sawyer invented the commercial quartz crystal manufacturing process in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. This initiated the transition from mined and cut quartz for electrical appliances to manufactured quartz.
See also
Fused quartz
List of minerals
Shocked quartz
Quartz reef mining
Notes
External links
Quartz varieties, properties, crystal morphology. Photos and illustrations
''Arkansas quartz'', Rockhounding Arkansas
Gilbert Hart ''Nomenclature of Silica'', American Mineralogist, Volume 12, pages 383–395, 1927
Queensland University of Technology Origin of the word quartz.
PDF of Charles Sawyer's cultured quartz process description
Terminology used to describe the characteristics of Quartz Crystals when used as oscillators
Category:Quartz varieties
Category:Piezoelectric materials
Category:Dielectrics
Category:German loanwords
Category:Symbols of Georgia (U.S. state)
Category:Trigonal minerals
ar:مرو (معدن)
ast:Cuarzu
bs:Kvarc
bg:Кварц
ca:Quars
cs:Křemen
da:Kvarts
de:Quarz
et:Kvarts
el:Χαλαζίας
es:Cuarzo
eo:Kvarco
fa:کوارتز
fr:Quartz (minéral)
ga:Grianchloch
gl:Cuarzo
ko:석영
hi:क्वार्ट्ज
hr:Kvarc
io:Quarco
id:Kuarsa
is:Kvars
it:Quarzo
he:קוורץ
kn:ಸ್ಫಟಿಕ ಶಿಲೆ
ka:კვარცი
kk:Кварц
lv:Kvarcs
lb:Quarz
lt:Kvarcas
hu:Kvarc
mk:Кварц
ms:Kuarza
mwl:Quartzo
nl:Kwarts
ja:石英
no:Kvarts
nn:Kvarts
pl:Kwarc
pt:Quartzo
ro:Cuarț
ru:Кварц
sah:Кварц
scn:Quarzu
simple:Quartz
sk:Kremeň
sl:Kamena strela
sr:Кварц
sh:Kvarc
fi:Kvartsi
sv:Kvarts
ta:குவார்ட்சு
te:స్పటికం
th:ควอตซ์
tr:Kuvars
uk:Кварц
vi:Thạch anh
fiu-vro:Kvarts
yo:Quartz
zh-yue:石英
zh:石英