The formation of sand from quartz | Britannica

Well, much of the world's sand is made out of the same stuff, tiny crystals of the mineral quartz, which is made out of silica and oxygen, the two most common elements in Earth's crust. And as you'll know if you've ever been through the crust of a sandwich that had sand in it, quartz grains are small and really tough. Here's why.

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Quartz Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary

Britannica Dictionary definition of QUARTZ [ noncount ] : a mineral that is often found in the form of a hard crystal and that is used especially to make clocks and watches

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quartz

quartz. The two most common chemical elements in the Earth's crust, oxygen and silicon, combine to form the mineral quartz, the second most abundant mineral after feldspar. Quartz has the chemical formula SiO …

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mineral

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ... One of the most common minerals, quartz occurs in many areas in a variety of forms. Semiprecious gem stones of quartz include amethyst, tigereye, agate, and onyx. Siliceous …

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Rocks, Minerals, and More Quiz | Britannica

Answer: Diamond, a mineral composed of pure carbon, is the hardest naturally occurring substance. Question: What abundant mineral has many useful properties, including the piezoelectric effect? Answer: Quartz is a widely distributed mineral of many varieties that consists primarily of silica, or silicon dioxide. Quartz is piezoelectric: a ...

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Mineral

Mineral - Chemical Bonding, Structure, Properties: Electrical forces are responsible for the chemical bonding of atoms, ions, and ionic groups that constitute crystalline solids. The physical and chemical properties of minerals are attributable for the most part to the types and strengths of these binding forces; hardness, cleavage, …

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Obsidian | Rock, Color, Composition, & Uses | Britannica

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. ... Microlites (tiny polarizing crystals) of feldspar and phenocrysts (large, well-formed crystals) of quartz may also be present. …

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Quartzite | Parent Rock & Characteristics | Britannica

The term quartzite implies not only a high degree of hardening (induration), or "welding," but also a high content of quartz; similar rocks that contain appreciable quantities of other minerals and rock particles are impure quartzites, more appropriately called graywacke, lithic arenite, sandstone, or the like.Most quartzites contain 90 percent or more quartz, …

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mineral

Minerals are inorganic substances, meaning that they do not come from an animal or a plant. Mineralogy is the science of minerals. Mineralogists, or people who study minerals, have identified hundreds of minerals. …

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mineral

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ... One of the most common minerals, quartz occurs in many areas in a variety of forms. Semiprecious gem stones of quartz include amethyst, tigereye, agate, and onyx. Siliceous sinter, …

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Silica mineral | Uses, Properties & Structure | Britannica

Silica mineral, any of the forms of silicon dioxide (SiO2), including quartz, tridymite, cristobalite, coesite, stishovite, lechatelierite, and chalcedony. Various kinds of silica minerals have been produced synthetically; one is keatite. Silica minerals make up approximately 26 percent of Earth's

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Brazil

Brazil - Minerals, Mining, Resources: Brazil contains extremely rich mineral reserves that are only partly exploited, including iron ore, tin, copper, pyrochlore (from which ferroniobium is derived), and bauxite. There are also significant amounts of granite, manganese, asbestos, gold, gemstones, quartz, tantalum, and kaolin (china clay). Most …

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Paragonite | Silicate Mineral, Clay Mineral, …

Paragonite, mica mineral similar to muscovite, a basic silicate of sodium and aluminum; a member of the common mica group. It was thought to be an uncommon mineral, but experiment and investigation have shown …

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Silicon: mining and processing | Britannica

The Tana quarry in Norway, near the North Cape - here quartz is mined. Mineral quartz is 99 percent silicon, one of the most important raw materials of the 21st century. Silicon is in every computer, mobile phone and, of course, in solar cells. ... Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your ...

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Black sand | Volcanic, Minerals, Magnetite | Britannica

Black sand, accumulation of fragments of durable heavy minerals (those with a density greater than that of quartz), usually of a dark colour. These accumulations are found in streambeds or on beaches where stream and wave energy was sufficient to carry away low-density material but not the heavy

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Aventurine | Green Quartz, Healing Properties & Jewelry | Britannica

Aventurine, either of two gem minerals, one a plagioclase feldspar and the other quartz. Both have a sparkling reflection from oriented minute inclusions of mica or hematite. Most aventurine quartz is silvery, yellow, reddish brown, or green. Extensive beds in mica schist occur in the Russian

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Chalcedony | Agate, Quartz & Jasper | Britannica

chalcedony, a very fine-grained (cryptocrystalline) variety of the silica mineral quartz (q.v.).A form of chert, it occurs in concretionary, mammillated, or stalactitic forms of waxy lustre and has a compact fibrous structure, a fine splintery fracture, and a great variety of colours—usually bluishwhite, gray, yellow, or brown.Other physical properties are those …

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Tectosilicate | Structure & Facts | Britannica

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. ... Each tetrahedron, therefore, is linked to four others. Tectosilicates, including quartz and other silica minerals, have chemical formulas ...

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Citrine | Healing, Jewelry, Birthstone | Britannica

citrine, transparent, coarse-grained variety of the silica mineral quartz (q.v.).Citrine is a semiprecious gem that is valued for its yellow to brownish colour and its resemblance to the rarer topaz. Colloidally suspended …

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Mineral

Mineral - Crystal Habit, Aggregation: The external shape (habit) of well-developed crystals can be visually studied and classified according to the various crystal systems that span the 32 crystal classes. The majority of crystal occurrences, however, are not part of well-formed single crystals but are found as crystals grown together in …

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Greasy lustre | mineralogy | Britannica

In mineral: Lustre [Mg 3 Si 4 O 10 (OH) 2] may show pearly lustre); greasy, having the appearance of being covered with a thin layer of oil (such lustre results from the scattering of light by a microscopically rough surface; some nepheline [(Na, K)AlSiO 4] and milky quartz may exhibit this); silky, descriptive of the lustre of a skein of…. Read More

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Authigenic mineral | geology | Britannica

Other articles where authigenic mineral is discussed: sedimentary rock: Mineralogical and geochemical composition: …two principal types—namely, detrital and authigenic. Detrital minerals, such as grains of quartz and feldspar, survive weathering and are transported to the depositional site as clasts. Authigenic minerals, like calcite, halite, and gypsum, …

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Sagenite | mineral | Britannica

Other articles where sagenite is discussed: rutile: …rutile in quartz are called sagenite (from the Greek word for "net"). Hairlike crystals of rutile not included in quartz are rare; the quartz crystals mechanically enclose the rutile during growth. Most fine-quality rutilated quartz comes from Minas Gerais, Brazil; Madagascar; Hanover, New Hampshire; and …

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Metamorphic rock

Metamorphic rock - Zeolite Facies, Minerals, Textures: In the zeolite facies, sediments and volcanic debris show the first major response to burial. Reactions are often not complete, and typical metamorphic fabrics may be poorly developed or not developed at all. This is the facies of burial metamorphism. The zeolite facies was first described from …

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How the chemical properties of zircon help in determining …

And that's where a resilient little mineral called zircon comes in. Zircon is similar to quartz, both in its chemical structure and in its durability. They both stick around a long time after other minerals weather away, but zircon also has two things quartz doesn't-- zirconium, which gives it its name, and small traces of radioactive uranium.

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Smoky quartz | Healing, Metaphysical & Grounding | Britannica

smoky quartz, very common coarse-grained variety of the silica mineral quartz that ranges in colour from nearly black through smoky brown. No distinct boundary exists between smoky and colourless quartz. Its abundance causes it to be worth considerably less than either amethyst or citrine. Heating bleaches the stone, the colour sometimes …

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Limestone | Characteristics, Formation, Texture, Uses, & Facts | Britannica

Limestone, sedimentary rock composed mainly of calcium carbonate, usually in the form of calcite or aragonite. It may contain considerable amounts of magnesium carbonate (dolomite) as well; minor constituents also commonly present include clay, iron carbonate, feldspar, pyrite, and quartz.

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High quartz | mineral | Britannica

characteristics. In silica mineral: High quartz (β-quartz) High quartz, or β-quartz, is the more symmetrical form quartz takes at sufficiently high temperatures (about 573 °C at one …

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Quartz monzonite | Igneous Rock, Plutonic, Granite | Britannica

Quartz monzonite, intrusive igneous rock (solidified from a liquid state) that contains plagioclase feldspar, orthoclase feldspar, and quartz. ... mineral. Actions Cite verifiedCite While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. ... Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in ...

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Lechatelierite | Volcanic Glass, Silica, Quartz | Britannica

lechatelierite, a natural silica glass (silicon dioxide, SiO 2) that has the same chemical composition as coesite, cristobalite, stishovite, quartz, and tridymite but has a different crystal structure.Two varieties are included: meteoritic silica glass, produced when terrestrial silica is fused in the intense heat and pressure created by the impact of large …

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Venus's-hairstone | mineral | Britannica

Venus's-hairstone, variety of quartz interspersed with fine crystals of the mineral rutile

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Sandstone | Sedimentary, Clastic, Quartz | Britannica

sandstone, lithified accumulation of sand-sized grains (0.063 to 2 mm [0.0025 to 0.08 inch] in diameter). It is the second most common sedimentary rock after shale, constituting about 10 to 20 percent of the …

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Agate | Varieties, Uses, Formation | Britannica

Agate, common semiprecious silica mineral, a variety of chalcedony that occurs in bands of varying colour and transparency. Agate is essentially quartz, and its physical properties are in general those of …

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Brittanicca™

Brittanicca offers a creamy marbled background of neutral white that provides a stage on which gray islands and peninsulas meander among intertwining ashen veins dotted with veiled charcoal speckles.

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Jade | Properties, Uses & History | Britannica

Over the course of history, jade has been successively cut and shaped with sandstone, slate, and quartz sand (as an abrasive); by tools made of bronze; by tools of iron, using manually operated lathes; and finally, beginning in the 19th century, by machine-powered lathes, steel saws, and diamond-pointed drills. Carborundum and diamond dust …

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