Download - QUARTZ Charlotte Ling 11B. W h a t ’ s t h e C h e m i c a l f o r m u l a o f Q U A R T Z ? ?
•Quartz is the second most abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar.
• It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 , silicon tetra oxide, a silicon–oxygen tetrahedron, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedron, giving an overall formula SiO2.
Hardness: 7
Luster: Vitreous
Color: Colorless
Streak: White
Magnetism: Very little, almost none
Effervescence: NO
Cleavage:
Mineral properties:
Doesn’t exhibit cleavage.
• Quartz crystals have piezoelectric properties; they develop an electric potential upon the application of mechanical stress. An early use of this property of quartz crystals was in phonograph pickups.
• One of the most common piezoelectric uses of quartz today is as a crystal oscillator.
COMMON USE OF QUARTZ:
A product we all use (probably not~) that contains quartz:
•The quartz clock is a familiar device using quartz.
•The resonant frequency of a quartz crystal oscillator is changed by mechanically loading it, and this principle is used for very accurate measurements of very small mass changes in the quartz crystal microbalance and in thin-film thickness monitors.
•There are many different varieties of quartz, several of which are semi-precious gemstones. Especially in Europe and the Middle East, varieties of quartz have been since antiquity the most commonly used minerals in the making of jewelry.