Halite
Halite is the mineral a lot of people call "rock salt". It is a different form of sodium chloride (NaCl). It looks like it is made out of cubes.
| Halite | |
|---|---|
![]() Halite from the Wieliczka salt mine, Małopolskie, Poland (size: 16x15x13cm)  | |
| General | |
| Category | Halide mineral | 
| Formula  (repeating unit)  | NaCl | 
| Strunz classification | 03.AA.20 | 
| Crystal symmetry | Isometric hexoctahedral 4/m 3 2/m | 
| Unit cell | a = 5.6404(1) Å; Z = 4 | 
| Identification | |
| Molecular mass | 58.433 g/mol | 
| Color | Colorless or white; also blue, purple, red, pink, yellow, orange, or gray | 
| Crystal habit | Predominantly cubes and in massive sedimentary beds, but also granular, fibrous and compact | 
| Crystal system | Cubic | 
| Cleavage | Perfect {001}, three directions cubic | 
| Fracture | Conchoidal | 
| Tenacity | Brittle | 
| Mohs scale hardness | 2 - 2.5 | 
| Luster | Vitreous | 
| Streak | White | 
| Diaphaneity | Transparent | 
| Specific gravity | 2.17 | 
| Optical properties | Isotropic | 
| Refractive index | n = 1.544 | 
| Solubility | Water soluble | 
| Other characteristics | Salty flavor, Fluorescent | 
| References | [1][2][3] | 
References
    
- http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/doclib/hom/halite.pdf Handbook of Mineralogy
 - Mindat.org
 - Webmineral data
 
    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.
