Quartz

Cristian Cortez

Physical Properties :
Quartz is known for its unique glassy texture and hardness
. it comes in a variety of colors ranging from clear to an
almost black color . it also comes in different sheens such
as glassy , milky and almost translucent . Quartz is also
very durable and ranks a seven on The Mohs Hardness
Scale . It has a rough jagged texture and is trigonal in
shape . Despite its many ranges in color , quartz has a
streak color of powder white .

Chemical Features :
Quartz has a melting point of 1670 C . Its
chemical composition is tetrahedral and SiO2
. Which means it's primarily made up of silicon
and oxygen . Its chemical classification is
silicate . Quartz`s crystal system is hexagonal .,

Usage and Previous Usages :

Quartz`s initial use was for jewelry , set alongside semi
precious stones and for flint or arrowheads because it was
strong and not very heavy . Though it is still used today in
jewelry , its more commonly used for glass making ,
foundry sand , and in architecture , because aesthetically
pleasing . It is also used around the world in sculpting ,
especially for religious figurines .

Where is it found ?
Quartz is a relatively easy mineral to find . its quite
common in the southwest of the United states and found in
large deposits in Argentina . Despite it being commonly
found , it usually needs very powerful explosives to derive
the quartz from their deposits . It was originally found in
Europe and its name translated to hard . The Europeans
first found it by digging in the earth and used to create
pieces of jewelry .

Cost per Pound :

Due to the fact that quartz is a very commonly found
mineral the price range per pound falls usually
between 10 and 20 dollars . But , the more pureer
forms and harder to find types can surpass 50
dollars . These are usually the quartz that are buried
further underground are usually more pleasing to the
eye . You can buy quartz pretty easily online , since
it has such a high availability .

How To Identify Quartz :

Quartz is very oftenl mistaken for feldspar , this is due to
their shared glassy textures and variation in color . The way
to distinguish quartz from similar minerals is to test its
hardness , which should fall between a 7 and an 8 .
Whileas feldspar usually falls on a low six . Another way to
see its difference magnifying glass to look at the crystal
size ,which will vary from other minerals .

How the Mining of Quartz Affects

Our Environment
Since quartz is usually found in larger deposits and is a
very strong mineral , the mining of it takes powerful
explosives . In the 1800`s in the southwest miners would
often have to blow up areas that contained a lot of wildlife
to compensate for the demand of quartz . Many animals
suffered and died, and miners often were hurt because of
unsafety and lack of safety laws in the workforce . luckily ,
modern day mining is easier , since we have stronger and
better technology less of our wildlife is suffering from the
mining of quartz .

Sources
http://www.mineralseducationcoalition.org/minerals/quartz
http://www.minerals.net/mineral/quartz.aspx
http://geology.com/minerals/quartz.shtml
http://www.mindat.org/min-3337.html