Quartz
By Dillon B
Have you ever wondered what that familiar clear crystal is? That clear crystal with a hardness of seven? The one with a streak color of white, with multiple variations of itself, with the chemical composition of S2O? That is quartz. There are certainly going to be facts on this page you probably didn't know about quartz. Like the fact that it has the streak color of white. Or how it is S2O. You will know all of that by the time you are done reading this page.
There are multiple variations of quartz's color. There is amethyst, smoky quartz, milky quartz, citrine, and many others. Amethyst usually comes in small merged crystals on a decently flat or round surface. It usually shows a significant purple, though it may not. Citrine is the same way. Citrine can be a deep orange or an observable yellow. The same goes with smoky quartz, which is a thick gray or a transparent black. In quartz, though mainly smoky quartz, there can be smaller crystals inside crystals called phantoms. These look best in smoky quartz because the white against the black can really change your perspective on geology.
The chemical composition of quartz is S2O. Now I bet you're saying, “OK, English please.” Well, the chemical composition is basically what a mineral is made out of. Think of it this way: S2O is a name for a quartz molecule. It stands for Silicon2 Oxygen. What that means is that there are two silicon atoms in structure with another oxygen atom. Those three atoms form a molecule.
The streak color of quartz is white. Again, you want English. Now I'm sure you know what quartz and the color white is. But streak color is the color powder you get when you scratch a mineral on a tile. It is often used to identify minerals as for professional geologists. I'm pretty sure you don’t have an easy to reach tile to do this with. I don't (though I would like one).
Quartz is a very unique mineral. It can be easily identified though. I mean, with its hardness of seven, S2O, variations, etc. That's a lot of information to take in!
By Dillon B
Have you ever wondered what that familiar clear crystal is? That clear crystal with a hardness of seven? The one with a streak color of white, with multiple variations of itself, with the chemical composition of S2O? That is quartz. There are certainly going to be facts on this page you probably didn't know about quartz. Like the fact that it has the streak color of white. Or how it is S2O. You will know all of that by the time you are done reading this page.
There are multiple variations of quartz's color. There is amethyst, smoky quartz, milky quartz, citrine, and many others. Amethyst usually comes in small merged crystals on a decently flat or round surface. It usually shows a significant purple, though it may not. Citrine is the same way. Citrine can be a deep orange or an observable yellow. The same goes with smoky quartz, which is a thick gray or a transparent black. In quartz, though mainly smoky quartz, there can be smaller crystals inside crystals called phantoms. These look best in smoky quartz because the white against the black can really change your perspective on geology.
The chemical composition of quartz is S2O. Now I bet you're saying, “OK, English please.” Well, the chemical composition is basically what a mineral is made out of. Think of it this way: S2O is a name for a quartz molecule. It stands for Silicon2 Oxygen. What that means is that there are two silicon atoms in structure with another oxygen atom. Those three atoms form a molecule.
The streak color of quartz is white. Again, you want English. Now I'm sure you know what quartz and the color white is. But streak color is the color powder you get when you scratch a mineral on a tile. It is often used to identify minerals as for professional geologists. I'm pretty sure you don’t have an easy to reach tile to do this with. I don't (though I would like one).
Quartz is a very unique mineral. It can be easily identified though. I mean, with its hardness of seven, S2O, variations, etc. That's a lot of information to take in!