Hemimorphite

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Hemimorphite

Hemimorphite, is a sorosilicate

Silicate minerals

The silicate minerals make up the largest and most important class of rock-forming minerals, comprising approximately 90 percent of the crust of the Earth....
mineral

Mineral

A mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through Geology processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties....
which has been mined from days of old from the upper parts of zinc

Zinc

Zinc is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a first-row transition metal of the group 12 element of the periodic table....
and lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group Chemical element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metal ....
ore

Ore

An ore is a type of Rock that contains minerals such as gemstones and metals that can be extracted through mining and refined for use. Samples of ore in the form of exceptionally beautiful crystals, exotic layering visible when sectioned or polished or metallic presentations such as large nuggets or crystalline formations of metals suc...
s, chiefly associated with smithsonite

Smithsonite

Smithsonite, or zinc spar, is zinc carbonate zinccarbonoxygen3, a mineral ore of zinc. Historically, smithsonite was identified with hemimorphite before it was realised that they were two distinct minerals....
. It was often assumed to be the same mineral and both were classed under the same name of calamine

Calamine (mineral)

Calamine is a historic name for an ore of zinc. The name calamine was derived from the Belgium town of Kelmis, whose French language name is "La Calamine", which is home to a zinc mine....
. In the second half of the 18th century it was discovered that there were two different minerals under the heading of calamine - a zinc carbonate

Carbonate

In chemistry, a carbonate is a salt or ester of carbonic acid....
and a zinc silicate, which often closely resembled each other.

The silicate was the more rare of the two, and was named hemimorphite because of the hemimorph development of its crystal

Crystal

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions....
s.

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Encyclopedia

Hemimorphite, is a sorosilicate

Silicate minerals

The silicate minerals make up the largest and most important class of rock-forming minerals, comprising approximately 90 percent of the crust of the Earth....
mineral

Mineral

Zinc

Zinc is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a first-row transition metal of the group 12 element of the periodic table....
and lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group Chemical element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metal ....
ore

Ore

Smithsonite

Calamine (mineral)

Carbonate

Crystal

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions....
s. This unusual form, which is typical of only a few minerals, means that the crystals are terminated by dissimilar faces. Hemimorphite most commonly forms crystalline crusts and layers, also massive, granular, rounded and reniform aggregates, concentrically striated, or finely needle-shaped, fibrous or stalactitic, and rarely fan-shaped clusters of crystals.

Some specimens show strong green fluorescence

Fluorescence

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 a photon with a longer wavelength....
in shortwave ultraviolet

Ultraviolet

Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than x-rays, in the range 400 nanometer to 10 nm, and energies from 3 Electron volt to 124 eV....
light (253.7 nm) and weak light pink fluorescence in longwave UV.

Occurrence

Hemimorphite most frequently occurs as the product of the oxidation of the upper parts of sphalerite

Sphalerite

Sphalerite 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....
bearing ore bodies, accompanied by other secondary minerals which form the so-called iron cap or gossan
Gossan

Gossan is intensely oxidized, weathering or decomposed rock, usually the upper and exposed part of an ore deposit or mineral vein. In the classic gossan or iron cap all that remains is iron oxides and quartz often in the form of boxworks, quartz lined cavities retaining the shape of the dissolved ore minerals....
. Hemimorphite is an important ore

Ore

Belgium

* A small German-speaking Community of Belgium exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political and cultural conflicts are reflected in the history of Belgium and a complex Communities and regions of Belgium....
-German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
border are well known for their deposits of hemimorphite of metasomatic origin, especially Vieille Montagne

Vieille Montagne

Vieille Montagne is the name of a former zinc mining in Kelmis , a town in Belgium between Liege and Aachen. The mine's name is French for "the old mountain", and this is also reflected in its German name, Altenberg ....
in Belgium

Belgium

Aachen

is a historic spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the westernmost city of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, 65 km west of Cologne....
in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
. Other deposits are near Tarnovice in upper Silesia

Silesia

Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in present-day Poland, with parts in the Czech Republic and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas....
, Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
; near Phoenixville

Phoenixville, Pennsylvania

Phoenixville is a Borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, United States, 28 miles northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the junction of French Creek with the Schuylkill River....
, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a U.S. state located in the Northeastern United States and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States....
; the Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska....
lead-zinc district; Elkhorn

Elkhorn, Montana

Elkhorn is a small ghost town in Jefferson County, Montana, Montana, United States, in the Elkhorn Mountains of the southwestern part of the state....
, Montana

Montana

Montana is a U.S. state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains....
; Leadville, Colorado

Colorado

The State of Colorado is a U.S. state located in the Mountain States of the United States of America. Colorado may also be considered to be a part of the Western United States and Southwestern United States regions of the United States....
; and Organ Mountains

Organ Mountains

The Organ Mountains are a rugged mountain range in southern New Mexico in the southwestern United States. They lie east of the city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, in Do?a Ana County, New Mexico....
, New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a U. S. State located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. Inhabited by Native Americans in the United States populations for many centuries, it has also has been part of the Spanish Empire viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S....
in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
; and in several localities in North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the United Nations subregion of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories:...
. Further hemimorphite occurrences are the Padaeng deposit near Mae Sod in western Thailand

Thailand

The Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Laos and Myanmar, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and Myanmar....
; Sardinia

Sardinia

Sardinia is the Mediterranean islands#By area island in the Mediterranean Sea . The area of Sardinia is . The island is surrounded by the France island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Tunisia and the Balearic Islands....
; Nerchinsk

Nerchinsk

Nerchinsk is a types of inhabited localities in Russia in Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia, situated east of Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai and east of Lake Baikal....
, Siberia

Siberia

Siberia , is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of North Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the Soviet Union from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the 16th century....
; Rabelj, Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in southern Central Europe bordering Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north....
; Bleiberg, Carinthia

Carinthia (state)

Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian States of Austria or Land. Situated within the Eastern alps it is chiefly noted for its mountains and lakes....
, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
; Matlock, Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains....
, England

England

Use

Zinc silicate (Zn₂SiO₄, CAS number [68611-47-2], EINECS number 271-896-0), whether prepared from hemimorphite or from quartz and zinc oxide, can be used as a food additive

Food additive

Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavour or improve its taste and appearance.Some additives have been used for centuries; for example, preserving food by pickling , edible salting, as with bacon, preserving sweets or using sulfur dioxide as in some wines....
, as an anti-caking agent for dry foods. As such, its E number

E number

E numbers are number codes for food additives and are usually found on food labels throughout the European Union. The numbering scheme follows that of the International Numbering System as determined by the Codex Alimentarius committee....
is E557. However its use is rare and its status is now unpermitted.

Zinc silicate, doped with manganese

Manganese

Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a Oxidation state in nature , and in many minerals....
, sometimes with addition of arsenic

Arsenic

Arsenic is a well-known chemical element that has the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250....
or antimony

Antimony

Antimony is a chemical element with the symbol Sb and atomic number 51. A metalloid, antimony has four allotropy forms. The stable form of antimony is a blue-white metalloid....
, is often used as a green phosphor

Phosphor

A phosphor is a substance that exhibits the optical phenomenon of phosphorescence .Phosphors are transition metal compounds or rare earth element compounds of various types....
for display tubes, plasma displays, and fluorescent lamp

Fluorescent lamp

A fluorescent lamp or fluorescent tube is a gas-discharge lamp that uses electricity to Excited state mercury vapor. The excited mercury atoms produce short-wave ultraviolet light that then causes a phosphor to fluorescence, producing Light....
s.

Zinc silicate can be also used as a corrosion inhibitor

Corrosion inhibitor

A corrosion inhibitor is a chemical compound that, when added to a fluid or gas, decreases the corrosion rate of a metal or an alloy.The effectiveness, or corrosion inhibition efficiency, of a corrosion inhibitor is a function of many factors like: fluid composition, quantity of water, flow regime.......
pigment

Pigment

A pigment is a material that changes the color of light it Reflection as the result of selective color absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which the material itself emits light....
for some primers

Primer (paint)

A primer is a preparatory coating put on materials before painting. Priming ensures better adhesion of paint to the surface, increases paint durability, and provides additional protection for the material being painted....
. In such application it may be called Inorganic Zinc Silicate (IZS). The paint is composed of ethyl silicate and zinc powder.

Zinc silicate can be also a component of some glass ionomer

Glass ionomer cement

A Glass Ionomer Cement is a dental restorative material used in dentistry for dental filling teeth and luting agent dental cement. These materials are based on the reaction of silicate glass Powder and polyalkenoic acid....
dental cement

Dental cement

Dental cements are hard, brittle materials formed by mixing powder and liquid together. Dental cements are used for a variety of dental and orthodontic applications, including use as luting agents, pulp -protecting agents or dental caries-lining material....
s.