Fluorite

Object/Artifact

-

Crater Rock Museum

Name/Title

Fluorite

Entry/Object ID

2009.62.194

Description

Description: Chemistry: CaF2 Class: Halides PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: Color is extremely variable and many times can be an intense purple, blue, green or yellow; also colorless, reddish orange, pink, white and brown. A single crystal can be multi-colored. Luster is vitreous. Transparency: Crystals are transparent to translucent. Crystal System: Isometric; 4/m bar 3 2/m Crystal Habits include the typical cube and to a lesser extent, the octahedron as well as combinations of these two and other rarer isometric habits. Always with equant crystals; less common are crusts and botryoidal forms. Twinning also produces penetration twins that look like two cubes grown together. Cleavage is perfect in 4 directions forming octahedrons. Fracture is irregular and brittle. Hardness is 4 Specific Gravity is 3.1+ (average) Streak is white. Best Field Indicators are crystal habit, color zoning, hardness (harder than calcite, but softer than quartz or apatite), fluorescence and especially the octahedral cleavage. Occurrence: Cumberland, England; Spain; China; Brazil; Morocco; Bancroft, Ontario, Canada; Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico; Germany; Elmwood, Tennessee; Rosiclare, Illinois; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Pugh Quarry and Wood County, Ohio; Nancy Hanks Mine, Colorado and many other USA localities as well as many other localities from around the world. Variety: Blue, green and yellow varieties of fluorite are also deeply colored, popular and attractive. The colorless variety is not as well received as the colored varieties, but their rarity still makes them sought after by collectors.

Collection

RAGM Mineral Collection

Acquisition

Accession

2009.62

Source or Donor

Museum Collection of Minerals

Acquisition Method

Donation

Location

Location

Display Case

DS-8

Room

Delmar Smith Hall

Building

Crater Rock Museum

Category

Permanent

Moved By

Curtis Gardner

Date

May 24, 2023

Notes

Added current location