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Information about Zinc Blende

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Sphalerite sample
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Another sphalerite sample
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The unit cell of sphalerite


Sphalerite (ZnS) is a mineral that is the chief ore of zinc. It consists largely of zinc sulfide in crystalline form but almost always contains variable iron. When iron content is high it is an opaque black variety, marmatite ((Zn,Fe)S). It is usually found in association with galena, pyrite, and other sulfides along with calcite, dolomite, and fluorite. Miners have also been known to refer to sphalerite as zinc blende, mock lead, false galena and black-jack.

The mineral crystallizes in the cubic crystal system. In the crystal structure, zinc and sulfur atoms are tetrahedrally coordinated. The structure is closely related to the structure of diamond. The hexagonal analog is known as the wurtzite structure. The lattice constant for zinc sulfide in the zincblende crystal structure is 0.596 nm, calculated from geometry and ionic radii of 0.074 nm (zinc) and 0.184 nm (sulphide). It forms ABCABC layers.

Its color is usually yellow, brown, or gray to gray-black, and it may be shiny or dull. Its luster is resinous. It has a yellow or light brown streak, a hardness of 3.5 - 4, and a specific gravity of 3.9-4.1. Some specimens have a red iridescence within the gray-black crystals; these are called "ruby sphalerite." The pale yellow and red varieties have very little iron and are translucent. The darker more opaque varieties contain more iron. Some specimens are also fluorescent in ultraviolet light. The refractive index of sphalerite (as measured via sodium light, 589.3 nm) is 2.37. Sphalerite crystallizes in the isometric crystal system and possesses perfect dodecahedral cleavage. Gemmy, pale specimens from Franklin, New Jersey (see Franklin Furnace) are highly fluorescent orange and/or blue under longwave ultraviolet light and are known as cleiophane, an almost pure ZnS variety.

Crystals of suitable size and transparency have been fashioned into gemstones, usually featuring the brilliant cut to best display sphalerite's high dispersion of 0.156 (B-G interval)—over three times that of diamond. Freshly cut gems are lively with an adamantine luster and could conceivably be mistaken for a fancy-colored diamond in passing, but due to sphalerite's softness and fragility the gems are best left unset as collector's or museum pieces (although some have been set into pendants). Collectors may pay a premium for stones over one carat (200 mg), as clean crystals are usually quite small. Gem-quality material is usually a yellowish to honey brown, red to orange, or green; the two most important sources are the Chivera mine, Cananea, Sonora, Mexico; and the Picos de Europa, Cordillera Cantabrica, near Santander on Spain's northern coast.

See also

External links

References

  • Dana's Manual of Mineralogy ISBN 0-471-03288-3
  • Webster, R., Read, P. G. (Ed.) (2000). Gems: Their sources, descriptions and identification (5th ed.), p. 386. Butterworth-Heinemann, Great Britain. ISBN 0-7506-1674-1
  • mindat.org
  • Minerals.net
  • Minerals of Franklin, NJ
Zinc sulfide (or zinc sulphide) is a chemical compound with the formula ZnS. Zinc sulfide is a white to yellow colored powder or crystal. It is typically encountered in the more stable cubic form, known also as the mineral sphalerite.
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A mineral is a naturally occurring substance formed through geological processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure and specific physical properties.
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ore is a volume of rock containing components or minerals in a mode of occurrence that renders it valuable for mining. An ore must contain materials that are
  • valuable
  • in concentrations that can be profitably mined, transported, milled, and processed.

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Zinc (IPA: /ˈzɪŋk/, from German: Zink) is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30.
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Zinc sulfide (or zinc sulphide) is a chemical compound with the formula ZnS. Zinc sulfide is a white to yellow colored powder or crystal. It is typically encountered in the more stable cubic form, known also as the mineral sphalerite.
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CRYSTAL is a quantum chemistry ab initio program, designed primarily for calculations on crystals (3 dimensions), slabs (2 dimensions) and polymers (1 dimension) using translational symmetry, but it can be used for single molecules.[1] It is written by V.R. Saunders, R.
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3, 4, 6
(amphoteric oxide)
Electronegativity 1.83 (Pauling scale)
Ionization energies
(more) 1st: 762.5 kJmol−1
2nd: 1561.9 kJmol−1
3rd: 2957 kJmol−1

Atomic radius 140 pm
Atomic radius (calc.
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Galena is the natural mineral form of lead sulfide. It is the most important lead ore mineral.

Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It crystallizes in the cubic crystal system often showing octahedral forms.
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pyrite, or iron pyrite, is iron sulfide, FeS2. It has isometric crystals that usually appear as cubes. The cube faces may be striated (parallel lines on crystal surface or cleavage face) as a result of alternation of the cube and pyritohedron faces.
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The term sulfide (also spelled sulphide, see spelling) refers to several types of chemical compounds containing sulfur in its lowest oxidation number of −2.

Formally, "sulfide" is the dianion, S2−
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calcite]] The carbonate mineral, calcite, is a chemical or biochemical calcium carbonate corresponding to the formula CaCO3 and is one of the most widely distributed minerals on the Earth's surface.
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Dolomite (IPA: /ˈdɒləmʌɪt/) is the name of a sedimentary carbonate rock and a mineral, both composed of calcium magnesium carbonate CaMg(CO3)2 found in crystals.
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Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is a mineral composed of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It is an isometric mineral with a cubic habit, though octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon.
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The cubic crystal system (or isometric) is a crystal system where the unit cell is in the shape of a cube. This is one of the most common and simplest shapes found in metallic crystals.
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A crystal system is a category of space groups, which characterize symmetry of structures in three dimensions with translational symmetry in three directions, having a discrete class of point groups.
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Diamond is an allotrope of carbon. It is the hardest known natural material and the third-hardest known material after aggregated diamond nanorods and ultrahard fullerite. Its hardness and high dispersion of light make it useful for industrial applications and jewelry.
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hexagonal crystal system is one of the 7 lattice point groups (see Hexagonal_lattice). It has the same symmetry as a right prism with a hexagonal base. There is only one hexagonal Bravais lattice, which has six atoms per unit cell.
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Wurtzite is a less frequently encountered mineral form of zinc sulfide, named after French chemist Charles-Adolphe Wurtz.

The crystal structure is a member of the hexagonal crystal system and consists of tetrahedrally coordinated zinc and sulfur atoms that are
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1 nanometre =
SI units
010−9 m 010−3 μm
US customary / Imperial units
010−9 ft 010−9 in
A nanometre (American spelling: nanometer, symbol nm
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Lustre or Luster may refer to:
  • Luster, Norway, a municipality in Norway
  • Lustre (mineralogy), a description of the way light interacts with the surface of a crystal, rock, or mineral

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The Mohs scale of mineral hardness characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer material. It was created in 1812 by the German mineralogist Friedrich Mohs and is one of several definitions of hardness in
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This article requires authentication or verification by an expert.
Please assist in recruiting an expert or [ improve this article] yourself. See the talk page for details. This article has been tagged since November 2006.
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Iridescence is an optical phenomenon characterized as the property of surfaces in which hue changes according to the angle from which the surface is viewed (as may be seen of soap bubbles and butterfly wings).
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Fluorescence is a luminescence that is mostly found as an optical phenomenon in cold bodies, in which the molecular absorption of a photon triggers the emission of another photon with a longer wavelength.
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Ultraviolet (UV) light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than soft X-rays. It is so named because the spectrum starts with wavelengths slightly shorter than the wavelengths humans identify as the color violet
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The refractive index (or index of refraction) of a medium is a measure for how much the speed of light (or other waves such as sound waves) is reduced inside the medium. For example, typical glass has a refractive index of 1.
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sodium vapor lamp is a gas discharge lamp which uses sodium in an excited state to produce light. There are two varieties of such lamps: low pressure and high pressure.
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The cubic crystal system (or isometric) is a crystal system where the unit cell is in the shape of a cube. This is one of the most common and simplest shapes found in metallic crystals.
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Cleavage, in mineralogy, is the tendency of crystalline materials to split along definite planes, creating smooth surfaces, of which there are several named types:
  • Basal cleavage: cleavage parallel to the base of a crystal, or to the plane of the lateral axes.

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Franklin, New Jersey

Seal
Motto:
Map of Franklin in Sussex County
Coordinates:
Country United States
State New Jersey
County Sussex
Area
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