Fluorite
Fluorite is recognized as the “most colorful mineral in the planet.” The many common examples of Fluorite are the banded, multi-color gems with different shades of yellows, greens, blues, purples and browns. Fluorite is additionally available in fine, gem quality colors which can be solid. The absolute most popular of these is purple that is deep can rival the most effective Amethyst colors. Other colors consist of bright, neon green, blue and a beautiful and extremely rare gem that is near-colorless. Color change Fluorite is also for sale in gems that change from blue to purple-pink or from shades of green to red. Fluorite is too brittle to put on in jewelry due to the easy, perfect octohedral cleavage in four directions. You can find many sources of Fluorite crystals in america and worldwide.
| Category: | Halide mineral |
| Formula: | CaF2 |
| Calcium Fluoride | |
| Crystallography: | Isometric – Hexoctahedral |
| Crystal Habit: | Cubes, octahedra, rarely dodecahedra, or combinations, with many other forms; rounded or stepped, to 2 m; nodular, botryoidal, rarely columnar or fibrous; granular, massive. |
| Twinning: | Common on [111], interpenetrant, flattened, also as contact twins. |
| Cleavage: | [111] Perfect, [111] Perfect, [111] Perfect |
| Fracture: | Sub-Conchoidal to Uneven |
| Tenacity: | Brittle |
| Moh’s Hardness: | 4.0 |
| Hardness (Vickers): | VHN100=174 – 181 kg/mm2 |
| Density: | 3.175 – 3.184 (g/cm3) (3.56 if high in rare-earth elements) |
| Luminescence: | Fluoresces blue, violet, green, yellow, red under UV; may also be phosphorescent. May be thermoluminescent, or Triboluminescent. |
| Radioactivity: | Not Radioactive |
| Other: | Slightly soluble in water (0.016 grams per liter at 18°) |
| Color: | Colorless, White, Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, Pink, Brown, Bluish Black; commonly zoned |
| Transparency: | Transparent to Translucent |
| Luster: | Vitreous, Dull |
| Refractive Index: | 1.432 – 1.448 Isotropic |
| Birefringence: | 0.000 (Isotropic) (Frequently exhibits very weak anomalous birefringence, especially in cleaved, cut or pressed crystals) |
| Dispersion: | 0.007 (very, very low) |
| Pleochroism: | None |
