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Weddellite
Weddellite ( Ca C2 O4·2 H2O) is a mineral form of calcium oxalate named for occurrences of millimeter-sized crystals found in bottom sediments of the Weddell Sea, off Antarctica. Occasionally, weddellite partially dehydrates to whewellite, forming excellent pseudomorphs of grainy whewellite after weddellite's short tetragonal dipyramids. It was first described in 1936 but only named in 1942. Structural properties Weddellite, or calcium oxalate dihydrate, crystallises in a tetragonal system: the classic crystal shape is the eight-face bipyramid. Using bright field microscopy, the weddellite crystals are recognised easily by their shape, reminiscent of a postal envelope. More complex shapes of weddellite are possible; the dumbbell shape is not rare and has no precise angles or sides. This form is, in reality, a microcrystalline agglomerate that takes the shape of a biconcave disc. Weddellite crystals are poorly birefringent and do not show any interference pattern under polarised li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calcium Oxalate
Calcium oxalate (in archaic terminology, oxalate of lime) is a calcium salt of oxalic acid with the chemical formula or . It forms hydrates , where ''n'' varies from 1 to 3. Anhydrous and all hydrated forms are colorless or white. The monohydrate occurs naturally as the mineral whewellite, forming envelope-shaped crystals, known in plants as raphides. The two rarer hydrates are dihydrate , which occurs naturally as the mineral weddellite, and trihydrate , which occurs naturally as the mineral caoxite, are also recognized. Some foods have high quantities of calcium oxalates and can produce sores and numbing on ingestion and may even be fatal. Cultural groups with diets that depend highly on fruits and vegetables high in calcium oxalate, such as those in Micronesia, reduce the level of it by boiling and cooking them. They are a constituent in 76% of human kidney stones. Calcium oxalate is also found in beerstone, a scale that forms on containers used in breweries. Occurrence ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxalate Minerals
Oxalate (systematic IUPAC name: ethanedioate) is an anion with the chemical formula . This dianion is colorless. It occurs naturally, including in some foods. It forms a variety of salts, for example sodium oxalate (), and several esters such as dimethyl oxalate (). It is a conjugate base of oxalic acid. At neutral pH in aqueous solution, oxalic acid converts completely to oxalate. Relationship to oxalic acid The dissociation of protons from oxalic acid proceeds in a determined order; as for other polyprotic acids, loss of a single proton results in the monovalent hydrogenoxalate anion . A salt with this anion is sometimes called an acid oxalate, monobasic oxalate, or hydrogen oxalate. The equilibrium constant ( ''K''a) for loss of the first proton is ( p''K''a = 1.27). The loss of the second proton, which yields the oxalate ion, has an equilibrium constant of (p''K''a = 4.28). These values imply, in solutions with neutral pH, no oxalic acid and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tetragonal
In crystallography, the tetragonal crystal system is one of the 7 crystal systems. Tetragonal crystal lattices result from stretching a cubic lattice along one of its lattice vectors, so that the Cube (geometry), cube becomes a rectangular Prism (geometry), prism with a square base (''a'' by ''a'') and height (''c'', which is different from ''a''). Bravais lattices There are two tetragonal Bravais lattices: the primitive tetragonal and the body-centered tetragonal. The body-centered tetragonal lattice is equivalent to the primitive tetragonal lattice with a smaller unit cell, while the face-centered tetragonal lattice is equivalent to the body-centered tetragonal lattice with a smaller unit cell. Crystal classes The point groups that fall under this crystal system are listed below, followed by their representations in international notation, Schoenflies notation, orbifold notation, Coxeter notation and mineral examples.Hurlbut, Cornelius S.; Klein, Cornelis, 1985, ''Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dihydrate Minerals
In chemistry, a hydrate is a substance that contains water or its constituent elements. The chemical state of the water varies widely between different classes of hydrates, some of which were so labeled before their chemical structure was understood. Chemical nature Inorganic chemistry Hydrates are not inorganic salts "containing water molecules combined in a definite ratio as an integral part of the crystal" that are either bound to a metal center or that have crystallized with the metal complex. Such hydrates are also said to contain ''water of crystallization'' or ''water of hydration''. If the water is heavy water in which the constituent hydrogen is the isotope deuterium, then the term ''deuterate'' may be used in place of ''hydrate''. A colorful example is cobalt(II) chloride, which turns from blue to red upon hydration, and can therefore be used as a water indicator. The notation "''hydrated compound''⋅''n''", where ''n'' is the number of water molecules per formu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calcium Minerals
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 its heavier homologues strontium and barium. It is the fifth most abundant element in Earth's crust, and the third most abundant metal, after iron and aluminium. The most common calcium compound on Earth is calcium carbonate, found in limestone and the fossils of early sea life; gypsum, anhydrite, fluorite, and apatite are also sources of calcium. The name comes from Latin ''calx'' " lime", which was obtained from heating limestone. Some calcium compounds were known to the ancients, though their chemistry was unknown until the seventeenth century. Pure calcium was isolated in 1808 via electrolysis of its oxide by Humphry Davy, who named the element. Calcium compounds are widely used in many industries: in foods and pharmaceuticals for calci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxalic Acid
Oxalic acid is an organic acid with the systematic name ethanedioic acid and chemical formula , also written as or or . It is the simplest dicarboxylic acid. It is a white crystalline solid that forms a colorless solution in water. Its name is derived from early investigators who isolated oxalic acid from flowering plants of the genus '' Oxalis'', commonly known as wood-sorrels. It occurs naturally in many foods. Excessive ingestion of oxalic acid or prolonged skin contact can be dangerous. Oxalic acid is a much stronger acid than acetic acid. It is a reducing agent and its conjugate bases hydrogen oxalate () and oxalate () are chelating agents for metal cations. It is used as a cleaning agent, especially for the removal of rust, because it forms a water-soluble ferric iron complex, the ferrioxalate ion. Oxalic acid typically occurs as the dihydrate with the formula . History The preparation of salts of oxalic acid from plants had been known since at least 1745, when ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aphthitalite
Aphthitalite is a potassium sulfate mineral with the chemical formula: (K,Na)3Na(SO4)2. It was first described in 1835 for an occurrence on Mount Vesuvius, Italy. The name is from the Greek άφθητος, "unalterable", and άλας, "salt", for its stability in air. It occurs as fumarolic incrustations in volcanic environments, as small crystals and masses in evaporite deposits and in guano deposits. It occurs associated with thenardite, jarosite, sylvite and hematite in fumaroles; with blödite, syngenite, mirabilite, picromerite, borax and halite in evaporites; and with syngenite, whitlockite, monetite, niter and gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate Hydrate, dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, drywall and blackboard or sidewalk ... in guano deposits. References Sulfate minerals Potassium minerals Sodium minerals Trigonal minerals ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urea
Urea, also called carbamide (because it is a diamide of carbonic acid), is an organic compound with chemical formula . This amide has two Amine, amino groups (–) joined by a carbonyl functional group (–C(=O)–). It is thus the simplest amide of carbamic acid. Urea serves an important role in the cellular metabolism of nitrogen-containing compounds by animals and is the main nitrogen-containing substance in the urine of mammals. ''Urea'' is Neo-Latin, , , itself from Proto-Indo-European ''*h₂worsom''. It is a colorless, odorless solid, highly soluble in water, and practically non-toxic ( is 15 g/kg for rats). Dissolved in water, it is neither acidic nor base (chemistry), alkaline. The body uses it in many processes, most notably metabolic waste#Nitrogen wastes, nitrogen excretion. The liver forms it by combining two ammonia molecules () with a carbon dioxide () molecule in the urea cycle. Urea is widely used in fertilizers as a source of nitrogen (N) and is an important ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most common components in peat, although many other plants can contribute. The biological features of sphagnum mosses act to create a habitat aiding peat formation, a phenomenon termed 'habitat manipulation'. Soils consisting primarily of peat are known as histosols. Peat forms in wetland conditions, where flooding or stagnant water obstructs the flow of oxygen from the atmosphere, slowing the rate of decomposition. Peat properties such as organic matter content and saturated hydraulic conductivity can exhibit high spatial heterogeneity. Peatlands, particularly bogs, are the primary source of peat; although less common, other wetlands, including fens, pocosins and peat swamp forests, also deposit peat. Landscapes covered in peat are home to sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Authigenic
Authigenesis is the process whereby a mineral or sedimentary rock deposit is generated where it is found or observed. Such deposits are described as authigenic. Authigenic sedimentary Mineral, minerals form during or after sedimentation by Precipitation (chemistry), precipitation or Recrystallization (geology), recrystallization as opposed to detrital minerals, which are weathered by water or wind and transported to the depositional location. Authigenic sediments are the main constituents of deep sea sedimentation, compared to shallow waters or land where detrital sediments are more common. Authigenesis process The authigenesis process is driven by particles of sediment that are not in thermodynamic equilibrium with the conditions surrounding it. This often occurs in the ocean where changing conditions due to biological processes is common. In water, changing oxygen content or changing saturation causes Precipitation (chemistry), precipitation of minerals into the sediments, chang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
