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Chemical Composition: SiO2
Group: Silica
System: Hexagonal
Family: Oxides
Hardness: 7
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- Well formed crystals, sometimes enormous, weighing up
to 130 kg (289 lb)
- Colourless when pure (rock crystal)
- Impurities produce a whole range of colours
- Common form is alpha quartz (stable up to 573 c)
- Hexagonal beta quartz is stable up to and above this
- Light-transparent to translucent
- One of the commonest minerals of the earth's crust
(12% by volume)
- Found in: Canada, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan,
Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Uruguay, Zambia
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