What is quartz?
We step on it and stare through it. It is used for building and to make fire proof fabrics. Some of it we make into jewelry which` rivals the sparkling diumond and the crystal colors of precious gems. For quartz comes in many different forms and we have found countless different jobs for it to do for us. Luckily, this beautiful and sturdy mineral is one of the most plentiful substances on earth.
As a mineral, quartz is rated as a silicate, which means that its basic ingredient is the element silicon. The chemical formula of this silicate is one part silicon and two parts oxygen, which means that each molecule contains one atom of silicon and two of oxygen. Quartz is a very sturdy stone, the hardest of all the common minerals. Only the diamond and a few precious stones are harder than everyday quartz.
You cannot walk very far outdoors without stepping on quartz in some form or other. For this plentiful mineral makes up about 12 pert. cent of the rocks of the earth's crust, These rocks were formed slowly, often through violent upheavals. For this reason, we often find quartz mixed with other minoral impurities which add to its character. We have a whole family of quartz minerals.
In bulk, we find almost pure quartz in the form of milky white pebbles the hardest pebbles on the beach. We find glittering grains of quartz in certain granites and sand is made mostly from quartz. Sandstone, which is a hardened mixture of sand and silty cement, also contains a lot of quartz. These bulky, quartz bearing rocks are used as building stones. Quartz bearing sand is the main ingredient for making glass.
The more glamorous forms of quartz are tinted crystals and semi¬precious stones that borrow the colors of the rainbow. Rock crystal, clear as glass, is the pure form of cpartz crystal. A trace of mangan¬ese in the crystal gives us violet tinted amethyst, a trace of titan¬ium gives us rose tinted rose quartz. When traces of organic hydro¬carbons are trapped in the crystal we get grey tinted smoky quartz.
The glowing, semi precious stone called catts eye has threads of asbestos imprisoned in a bed of quartz. Jasper, chalcedony, carnelian, aventurine, opal, onyx and banded agate are also semi precious forms of quartz, Each owes its character to traces of some impurity within the durable mineral.
If all the precious gems were to disappear from the world, the jewelers would still have goods for sale. Most of their jewels would be forms of quartz. These so called semi< precious stones are as color¬ful, though not as hard, as the precious gem stones such as ruby, sapphire and diamond.