I come in many colors. Although I have a cubic crystal stucture, I tend to break into octahedrons. It might surprise you that I have weak fluorescence. What am I?
My name stems from the Latin word fluere meaning to flow in reference to my low melting point and use as a flux in the smelting of metals.
My name stems from the Latin word fluere meaning to flow in reference to my low melting point and use as a flux in the smelting of metals.
1 Answer
Aug 20, 2017
"I might be fluorite... if you're British."
~ signed, fluorite
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Fluorite can be colored by impurities.
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Fluorite comes from the latin "fluere", as clearly shown here.
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It is obviously used as a flux in the smelting of iron, added to metal ores [to lower their melting points...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorine)
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At least British fluorites are weakly fluorescent, but in general fluorites with impurities are quite fluorescent...
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[It apparently crystallizes into cubic structures, but can cleave into octahedral structures.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorite#Structure)
