Quartz is a mineral made of silicon dioxide that is very common on Earth's surface. It has a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale and comes in many varieties and colors. Some key properties are its hardness, conchoidal fracturing, and vitreous luster. Quartz has many important uses including in glassmaking, as an abrasive, in the petroleum industry to prop open fractures, and as a popular gemstone.
Quartz is a mineral made of silicon dioxide that is very common on Earth's surface. It has a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale and comes in many varieties and colors. Some key properties are its hardness, conchoidal fracturing, and vitreous luster. Quartz has many important uses including in glassmaking, as an abrasive, in the petroleum industry to prop open fractures, and as a popular gemstone.
Quartz is a mineral made of silicon dioxide that is very common on Earth's surface. It has a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale and comes in many varieties and colors. Some key properties are its hardness, conchoidal fracturing, and vitreous luster. Quartz has many important uses including in glassmaking, as an abrasive, in the petroleum industry to prop open fractures, and as a popular gemstone.
Quartz is a mineral made of silicon dioxide that is very common on Earth's surface. It has a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale and comes in many varieties and colors. Some key properties are its hardness, conchoidal fracturing, and vitreous luster. Quartz has many important uses including in glassmaking, as an abrasive, in the petroleum industry to prop open fractures, and as a popular gemstone.
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Quartz
Group What is Quartz?
Quartz is a chemical compound consisting of one part silicon and two parts oxygen. It is silicon dioxide (SiO2). It is the most abundant mineral found at Earth's surface, and its unique properties make it one of the most useful natural substances.
Rock crystal quartz: Transparent "rock crystal" quartz. This Amethyst quartz: Purple crystalline quartz is known as Quartz crystals: Herkimer "Diamond" specimen shows the conchoidal fracture (fracture that "amethyst." When transparent and of high quality, it is quartz crystals. A clear, "rock crystal" produces curved surfaces) that is characteristic of the often cut as a gemstone. This specimen is about four mineral. Specimen is about four inches (ten centimeters) inches (ten centimeters) across and is from Guanajuato, variety of quartz. across and is from Minas Gerais, Brazil. Mexico. Physical Properties of Quartz
P Chemical Classification Silicate
Quartz occurs in virtually every color.
Common colors are clear, white, gray, Color purple, yellow, brown, black, pink, green, red.
Streak Colorless (harder than the streak plate)
Luster Vitreous
Diaphaneity Transparent to translucent
None - typically breaks with a conchoidal
Cleavage fracture
Mohs Hardness 7 Specific Gravity 2.6 to 2.7
Conchoidal fracture, glassy luster,
Diagnostic Properties hardness
Chemical Composition SiO2
Crystal System Hexagonal
Bowen's reaction series is a means of ranking common igneous silicate minerals by the temperature at which they crystallize. Minerals at the top have a relatively high crystallization temperature, which means that they will be the first minerals to crystallize from a magma that is cooling. IF they are chemically compatible with the magma as it continues to cool, they will grow larger by addition of external layers of additional material. [They then may become the phenocrysts in a porphyritic igneous texture.] If they are chemically incompatible, they will react with the melt. What ultimately determines this chemical compatibility is in large part the total silica content of the melt. Varieties of Quartz
Quartz group of mineral are divided into two varieties:
1. Crystalline Varieties
amethyst Milky quartz rose quartz Rock crystal Aventurine
quartz
citrine Smokey quartz
Blue quartz 2. Crypto crystalline varieties
agate Chalcedony carnelian jasper onyx
Tiger’s eye Rutilated quartz
Uses of Quartz Quartz in Glass Making Quartz as an abrasive
Pictured here is a specimen of the
Oriskany Sandstone from Hancock, The high hardness of quartz, seven on the Mohs Scale, makes it West Virginia. In a few locations, the Oriskany is over 99% pure quartz. Much harder than most other natural substances. As such it is an of it has been used for container glass, excellent abrasive material. Quartz sands and finely ground silica but some of it has been selected for use sand are used for sand blasting, scouring cleansers, grinding in making lenses for the largest telescopes media, and grit for sanding and sawing. Quartz in jewelry
Quartz makes an excellent gemstone. It is hard, durable,
and usually accepts a brilliant polish. Popular varieties of quartz that are widely used as gems include: amethyst, citrine, rose quartz, smoky quartz, and aventurine. Agate and jasper are also varieties of quartz with a microcrystalline structure. Uses in the Petroleum Industry Quartz as a foundry sand Quartz is very resistant to both chemicals and heat. It is therefore often used as a foundry sand. With a melting temperature higher than most metals, it can be used for the molds and cores of common foundry work. Refractory bricks are often made of quartz sand because of its high heat resistance. Quartz sand is also used as a flux in the smelting of metals.
Quartz sand has a high resistance to being crushed. In the petroleum industry, sand slurries are forced down oil and gas wells under very high pressures in a process known as hydraulic fracturing. This high pressure fractures the reservoir rocks, and the sandy slurry injects into the fractures. The durable sand grains hold the fractures open after the pressure is released. These open fractures facilitate the flow of natural gas into the well bore.
