The types of minerals in nature are very rich, and there are many similar types of minerals. How to distinguish them? Today, calcite and crystal are two confusing minerals. Here will simply sort out the way to distinguish them.
1. What Is Crystal And Calcite
What is a crystal? Crystal is a kind of quartz, the main component is silicon dioxide, when the crystal is complete, it is crystal, and when the crystal is incomplete, it is quartz. The crystal of crystal stone is colorless and transparent, and the crystal is usually columnar, the main single shape is hexagonal column, rhombohedron, and has a shell-shaped fracture. There are often abundant inclusions in columnar crystals.
What is Calcite? Calcite is a widely distributed calcium carbonate mineral with various crystal shapes. Knocking calcite can get a lot of square fragments, hence the name calcite.
2. How To Distinguish Between Crystal And Calcite
Shape Appearance
The crystal shape of calcite is various, which can be granular, massive, fibrous, stalactite, earthy and so on. Calcite has vitreous luster, transparent to translucent, usually white or colorless, and contains many other colors, such as light yellow, light red, brown-black, etc. when it contains iron and manganese.
Crystals are bulk or granular aggregates. Generally colorless, gray, milky white, purple, red, smoke (tea), yellow, green and so on when it contains other mineral elements.
Physical Methods
Reflectivity: The reflectivity of crystal is brighter than that of calcite
Hardness: The hardness of the two is also different. The hardness of crystal is 7 to reach the lowest hardness of gemstone, and the hardness of calcite is 3. The easiest way to identify is to take a knife and scrape it. The calcite is the moving one, and the crystal is the immovable one.
Chemical Methods
The main component of crystal is SiO2, the main component of calcite is CaCO3, and the calcite is bubbling after adding dilute hydrochloric acid dropwise.
3. The Use Of Crystal And Calcite
Crystals are divided into piezoelectric crystals, optical crystals, craft crystals and smelting crystals according to their characteristics and uses. Optical crystals are used for all kinds of high-precision instruments and spectacle lenses, and craft crystals are used for exquisite and translucent handicrafts.
Calcite, as a resource with a wide range of uses, is an important raw material for many industries and enterprises. It is generally used as building materials. Many fields, such as artificial stone, artificial floor tiles, natural rubber, synthetic rubber, coatings, plastics, composite new calcium plastics, cables, paper, toothpaste, cosmetics, glass, medicine, paint, ink, cables, electrical insulation, It is used as filler in food, textile, feed, adhesive, sealant, asphalt, building materials, linoleum building supplies, fireproof ceiling and daily chemical products. It can directly reduce the product cost of the industry, and can also improve the function and performance of the product.
