Jadeite
Jadeite is a known member of this Pyroxene number of minerals that includes Aegirine, Diopside, Hedenbergite, Hypersthene, Jadeite, Petedunnite and Spodumene. Jadeite consists of an aggregate of interlocking crystals, which unlike Nephrite, are far more granular than fibrous. Jadeite is present in a range that is wide of from pure white to pure black including pinks, red, orange, yellow, brown, mauve, violet, blue and several shades of green or mottled green and white. Probably the most highly prized color is just an emerald-green that is rich a higher degree of translucency and is referred to as Imperial Jade. This type is Jadeite gets its rich color that is green chromium. The Jadeite that is mauve is by the presence of manganese and the dull greens are colored by iron.
The name Jade relates to either of two species which are mineral Jadeite and Nephrite. Those two minerals do not have connection one to the other except for look. Jadeite, which can be usually confusingly referred to as “Chinese Jade”, had been found in Burma (Myanmar) in 1863. Nephrite has been utilized by the Chinese for tools, beads and carving of decorative and things that are useful over 7000 years. The Chinese call their Nephrite “Jade” you and so Jadeite wasn’t the Chen you, or true Jade. Nephrite from China is often referred to as “Yunan Jade” from the source in the Yunan Province, China.
The name Jade is from the phrase that is Spanish de ijada meaning stone of the side (or perhaps stone for the loins) because it is expected to cure renal afflictions if used to the edges of the body. This myth may have come from the shapes associated with river worn, tumbled Jadeite pebbles shapes that are having to kidneys. Whenever the phrase that is Spanish de ijada was translated into French it was Pierre de l’éjade. A publishing error if the true name first appeared in French made it Pierre de le jade, which was just abbreviated to Jade by the English.
Jadeite is available in small amounts at many localities. Some well-known localities are: around Tawmaw, Myitkyina-Mogaung district, Kachin State, northern Myanmar (Burma); in the Ohmi area, across the Hashidate and Kotake streams, Niigata Prefecture, and at Shibukawa, Gumma Prefecture, Japan; around Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia. Into the USA in California, as crystals in boulders along the Russian River near Cloverdale; at a few places in Mendocino County; at Clear Creek, near brand new Idria, San Benito County.
| Category: | Pyroxene group |
| Chemical Formula: | NaAlSi2O6 |
| Sodium aluminum silicate | |
| Crystallography: | Monoclinic – Prismatic |
| Crystal Habit: | Crystals rare, prismatic, showing cleavage faces to 1 cm. Commonly massive, or fibrous, granular, compact. |
| Twinning: | Single and lamellar twinning on [100] and [001]. |
| Cleavage: | [110] Distinct/Good |
| Fracture: | Splintery, Fibrous |
| Tenacity: | Tough, difficult to break appart |
| Hardness (Mohs): | 6.5 – 7.0 |
| Density: | 3.24 – 3.43 (g/cm3) |
| Luminescence: | None |
| Radioactivity: | Not Radioactive |
| Color: | Apple-Green, Emerald-Green, Bluish Green, Leek-Green, Greenish White, White, rarely Blue or Violet |
| Transparency: | Translucent to Sub-Translucent |
| Luster: | Sub-Vitreous; maybe Pearly on cleavages |
| Refractive Index: | 1.654 – 1.693 Biaxial ( + ) |
| Birefringence: | 0.0130 – 0.0200 |
| Dispersion: | Moderate to Strong; r > v |
| Pleochroism: | Weak; X = colorless or green, Y = colorless or yellowish green, Z = colorless or yellow |
