Quartz

Empirical Formula: (SiO2)
Synonyms from webmineral:

  • Agate – banded variety of chaledony
  • Amethyst – purple
  • Avanturine – feebly translucent chalcedony
  • Carnelian – flesh red chalcedony
  • Cat’s Eye – chatoyant
  • Chalcedony – microcrystalline quartz
  • Chert – cryptocrystalline quartz
  • Chrysoprase – apple green chalcedony
  • Citrine – yellow
  • Flint – microcrystalline quartz
  • Hornstone – flint
  • Jasper – red or brown chalcedony
  • Moss Agate – variety of chaledony
  • Plasma – green chalcedony
  • Prase – leek green chalcedony
  • Rock Crystal
  • Rose Quartz – rose colored
  • Sapphire Quartz – blue colored
  • Smoky Quartz – brown to black
  • Tiger Eye – pseudomorph of asbestos

Check out that list! Its going to be a long post this one! First the general information and then I am going to pick it apart one at a time and for metaphysical stuff!

Cleavage: {0110} indistinct
Fracture: conchoidal fracture (characterized by smoothly curving surfaces)
luster: vitreous (glassy)
streak: white
Environment: sedimentary, metamorphic, AND igneous rocks!
crystal habit: crystalline (course and fine), druse (Crystal growth in a cavity which results in numerous crystal tipped surfaces)
color: brown, colorless, violet, gray, yellow, rose, green, orange….
crystal system: tiagonal
hardness: 7
optical properties: uniaxial
Quartz notes: Quartz is the most common mineral found on the surface of the Earth. A significant component of many igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks, this natural form of silicon dioxide is found in an impressive range of varieties and colours. There are many names for different varieties.

Varieties*:
*what I really want to focus on here is what makes something “quartz” vs “chalcedony” vs “agate” for example, and I am going to make a separate post about varieties, there are just too many of them!



References:
Metaphysical: