Rhodonite

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Rhodonite

Rhodonite is a 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....
inosilicate

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....
, (Mn,Fe,Mg,Ca)SiO₃ and member of the pyroxene

Pyroxene

The pyroxenes are a group of important rock-forming silicate minerals found in many igneous and metamorphic rock rock . They share a common structure comprised of single chains of silica tetrahedra and they crystallize in the monoclinic and orthorhombic systems....
group of mineral

Mineral

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Rhodonite'

Start a new discussion about 'Rhodonite'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Rhodonite is a 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....
inosilicate

Silicate minerals

Pyroxene

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....
s, crystallizing in the triclinic system. It commonly occurs as cleavable to compact masses with a rose-red color, often tending to brown because of surface oxidation

Redox

Redox describes all chemical reactions in which atoms have their oxidation number changed.This can be either a simple redox process such as the oxidation of carbon to yield carbon dioxide or the reduction of carbon by hydrogen to yield methane , or it can be a complex process such as the oxidation of sugar in the human body through a ser...
.

Rhodonite 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 often have a thick tabular habit

Crystal habit

In mineralogy, shape and size give rise to descriptive terms applied to the typical appearance, or habit of crystals.The many terms used by mineralogists to describe crystal habits are useful in communicating what specimens of a particular mineral often look like....
, but are rare. It has a perfect, prismatic cleavage

Cleavage (crystal)

Cleavage, in mineralogy, is the tendency of crystalline materials to split along definite Crystallography structural planes. These planes of relative weakness are a result of the regular locations of atoms and ions in the crystal, which create smooth repeating surfaces that are visible both in the microscope and to the naked eye....
, almost at right angles. The hardness is 5.5–6.5, and the specific gravity

Specific gravity

Specific gravity is defined as the ratio of the density of a given solid or liquid substance to the density of water at a specific temperature and pressure, typically at 4?C and , making it a dimensionless quantity ....
3.4–3.7; luster

Lustre (mineralogy)

Lustre is a description of the way light interacts with the surface of a crystal, rock , or mineral. For example, a diamond is said to have an adamantine lustre and pyrite is said to have a metallic lustre....
is vitreous, being less frequently pearly on cleavage surfaces. The 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....
is often partly replaced by iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a Group 8 element and period 4 element. Iron is lustrous and silvery in color....
, magnesium

Magnesium

Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg, atomic number 12, atomic weight 24.3050 and common oxidation number +2.Magnesium, an alkaline earth metal, is the ninth most abundance of the chemical elements in the universe by mass....
, calcium

Calcium

Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft grey alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth most abundant element by mass in the earth's Crust ....
, and sometimes 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....
which may sometimes be present in considerable amounts; a greyish-brown variety containing as much as 20% of calcium oxide is called bustamite; fowlerite is a zinciferous variety containing 7% of zinc oxide.

Rhodonite has also been worked as an ornamental stone. In the iron and manganese mines at Pajsberg near Filipstadt and Långban in Värmland, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
, small brilliant and translucent crystals (pajsbergite) and cleavage masses occur. Fowlerite occurs as large, rough crystals, somewhat resembling pink feldspar

Feldspar

Feldspars are a group of rock-forming tectosilicate minerals which make up as much as 60% of the Earth's Crust .Feldspars crystallize from magma in both intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks, as veins, and are also present in many types of metamorphic rock....
, with franklinite and zinc ores in granular limestone

Limestone

File:Limestone Formation In Waitomo.jpgLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite . The deposition of limestone strata is often a by-product and indicator of biological activity in the geology record....
at Franklin Furnace

Franklin Furnace

Franklin Furnace is a famous mineral location for rare zinc, iron, manganese minerals in old mines in Franklin, New Jersey, USA. This locale produced more species of minerals and more different fluorescent minerals than any other location....
in New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, on the east by the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean, on the southwest by Delaware, and on the west by Pennsylvania....
.

The inosilicate

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....
(chain silicate) structure of rhodonite has a repeat unit of five silica tetrahedra. The rare polymorph pyroxmangite, formed at different conditions of pressure and temperature, has the same chemical composition but a repeat unit of seven tetrahedra.

Rhodonite is the official gem of Commonwealth of Massachusetts .