Cahnite (Cahnit in German, Cahnita in Spanish, Канит in Russian
/ref>) is a brittle white or colorless

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...

that has perfect cleavage and is usually transparent. It usually forms tetragonal-shaped crystals and it has a hardness of 3 mohs.Mineral Data sheet for Cahnite.
/ref>Database entry from Mineral Collecting.
/ref> Cahnite was discovered in the year 1921. It was named Cahnite to honor Lazard Cahn (1865–1940), who was a mineral collector and dealer. It is usually found in the Franklin Mine, in Franklin, New Jersey, but has also been found in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

as well as in the Vallerano quarries in Rome, Italy. The geological environment that it occurs in is in pegmatites cutting a changed zinc orebody. The

chemical formula A chemical formula is a way of presenting information about the chemical proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound or molecule, using chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, such as pare ...

for cahnite is Ca₂B sO₄OH)₄.Database entry for Cahnite from Japanese database.
/ref> It is made up of 26.91%

calcium Calcium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to it ...

, 3.63%

boron Boron is a chemical element; it has symbol B and atomic number 5. In its crystalline form it is a brittle, dark, lustrous metalloid; in its amorphous form it is a brown powder. As the lightest element of the boron group it has three ...

, 25.15%

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...

, 1.35%

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

, and 42.96%

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

. It has a molecular weight of 297.91 grams. Cahnite is not radioactive. Cahnite is associated with these other minerals: willemite, rhodonite, pyrochroite, hedyphane, datolite, and

baryte Baryte, barite or barytes ( or ) is a mineral consisting of barium sulfate (Ba S O4). Baryte is generally white or colorless, and is the main source of the element barium. The ''baryte group'' consists of baryte, celestine (strontium sulfate), ...

References

Arsenate minerals Calcium minerals Borate minerals Tetragonal minerals Minerals in space group 82 Minerals described in 1921 {{mineral-stub