moissanite

Moissanite () is naturally occurring silicon carbide and its various crystalline polymorphs. It has the chemical formula SiC and is a rare mineral, discovered by the French chemist Henri Moissan in 1893. Silicon carbide or moissanite is useful for commercial and industrial applications due to its hardness, optical properties, and thermal conductivity.

Key facts

Mineral.name: Moissanite
Mineral.category: Mineral species
Mineral.image: Moissanite-USGS-20-1001d-14x-.jpg
Mineral.imagesize: 260px
Mineral.formula: SiC
Mineral.IMAsymbol: Moi
Mineral.strunz: 1.DA.05
Mineral.system: 6H polytype, most common: hexagonal
Mineral.class: 6H polytype: dihexagonal pyramidal (6mm) H-M symbol: (6mm)
Mineral.symmetry: 6H polytype: P63mc
Mineral.color: Colorless, green, yellow
Mineral.habit: Generally found as inclusions in other minerals
Mineral.cleavage: (0001) indistinct
Mineral.fracture: Conchoidal – fractures developed in brittle materials characterized by smoothly curving surfaces, e.g., quartz
Mineral.mohs: ~9.5
Mineral.luster: Adamantine to metallic
Mineral.refractive: nω = 2.654 nε = 2.967
Mineral.birefringence: 0.313 (6H form)

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Image: Moissanite-USGS-20-1002b.jpg

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Nickel-Strunz '10th ed', review of (9th ed/ 2009 update): 1.DA.
IMA Mineral Symbol: Moi
Commons category: Moissanite
chemical formula: SiC
Strunz 8th edition (series ID, updated): I/B.02 – Anhang
Nickel-Strunz 9th edition (updated 2009): 1.DA.05
Mohs' hardness: 9.25
native label: Moissanite

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9 sections

Contents

Background
Geological occurrence
Meteorites
Physical properties
Sources
Applications
See also
References
External links

== Background == The mineral moissanite was discovered by Henri Moissan while examining rock samples from what is now called Meteor Crater located near Canyon Diablo, Arizona, US in 1893. At first, he mistakenly identified the crystals as diamonds, but in 1904 he identified the crystals as silicon carbide. Artificial silicon carbide had been synthesized in the lab by Edward G. Acheson in 1891, just two years before Moissan's discovery.