Halite Mineral Data

[Minerals] [Gems] [Sale Items] [Gold Rings] [Big Stuff] [Main Page]
Shop early for Holiday Season and get the best stuff.
You can put it on layaway for up to six weeks!

General Halite Information

Chemical Formula:

NaCl

Composition:

Molecular Weight = 58.44 gm

Sodium 39.34 % Na 53.03 % Na₂O

Chlorine 60.66 % Cl 60.66 % Cl

- % Cl -13.69 % -O=Cl₂

______ ______

100.00 % 100.00 % = TOTAL OXIDE

Empirical Formula:

NaCl

Environment:

Marine or continental evaporite deposits.

IMA Status:

Valid Species (Pre-IMA) Prehistoric

Locality:

World wide in sedimentary basins. Link to MinDat.org Location Data.

Name Origin:

From the Greek halos, meaning "salt" and lithos meaning "rock."

Name Pronunciation:

Halite

Synonym:

ICSD 18189

Murate of Sota

PDF 5-628

Rock Salt

Sodium Chloride

Halite Image

Images:

Halite

Comments: Hoppered pink halite crystals from the evaporation ponds. The pink color is due to the organism Halo bacterium that lives in the concentrated brine.
Location: Searles Lake, Trona, San Bernadino County, California, USA. Scale: Crystal size 2 cm.
© John Veevaert

Halite Crystallography

Cell Dimensions:

a = 5.6402, Z = 4; V = 179.43 Den(Calc)= 2.16

Crystal System:

Isometric - HexoctahedralH-M Symbol (4/m 3 2/m) Space Group: F m3m

$Help on X Ray Diffraction:$ X Ray Diffraction:

By Intensity(I/I_o): 2.821(1), 1.994(0.55), 1.628(0.15),

Forms:

Mouse
Dbl Clk - Start-Stop Rotation
RMB - Cycle Display Modes
Drag1 - Manipulate Crystal
Drag2 - Resize
Keyboard
S - Stereo
I - Indicies
<space> - Start-Stop Rotation
F - Fit to Screen
M - Menu
Help on Above

Forms: ( 1 0 0)

Warning: this large pop-up is very compute intensive and may not work well with some computers.

Crystal Structure:

Mouse
drag1 - LMB Manipulate Structure
drag2 - RMB Resize/Rotate
Keyboard
S - Stereo Pair on/off
H - Help Screen
I - Data Info
A - Atoms On/Off
P - Polyhedra On/Off
B - Bonds On/Off
Help on Above

Finger L W , King H E , American Mineralogist , 63 (1978) p.337-342, A revised method of operation of the single-crystal diamond cell and refinement, of the structure of NaCl at 32 kbar

View Additional jPOWD Structure files for Halite
[1] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [2] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Physical Properties of Halite

Cleavage:

{100} Perfect, {010} Perfect, {001} Perfect

Color:

White, Clear, Light blue, Dark blue, Pink.

Density:

2.17

Diaphaneity:

Transparent

Fracture:

Brittle - Generally displayed by glasses and most non-metallic minerals.

Habit:

Crystalline - Coarse - Occurs as well-formed coarse sized crystals.

Habit:

Euhedral Crystals - Occurs as well-formed crystals showing good external form.

Habit:

Granular - Generally occurs as anhedral to subhedral crystals in matrix.

Hardness:

2.5 - Finger Nail

Luminescence:

Fluorescent, Short UV=red, green (organic inclusions) orange, Long UV=red, green orange.

Luster:

Vitreous (Glassy)

Magnetism:

Nonmagnetic

Streak:

white

Optical Properties of Halite

Optical Data:

Isotropic, n=1.544.

Calculated Properties of Halite

Electron Density:

Bulk Density (Electron Density)=2.07 gm/cc
note: Specific Gravity of Halite =2.16 gm/cc.

Fermion Index:

Fermion Index = 0
Boson Index = 1

Photoelectric:

PE_Halite= 4.63 barns/electron
U=PE_Halite x rElectron Density= 9.59 barns/cc.

Radioactivity:

GRapi = 0 (Gamma Ray American Petroleum Institute Units)
Halite is Not Radioactive

Halite Classification

Dana Class:

09.01.01.01 (09)Anhydrous and Hydrated Halides

(09.01)where A X

(09.01.01)Halite Group

09.01.01.01 Halite NaCl F m3m 4/m 3 2/m

09.01.01.02 Sylvite KCl F m3m 4/m 3 2/m

09.01.01.03 Villiaumite NaF F m3m 4/m 3 2/m

09.01.01.04 Carobbiite KF F m3m 4/m 3 2/m

09.01.01.05 Griceite LiF F m3m 4/m 3 2/m

Strunz Class:

03.AA.20 03 - HALIDES

03.A - Simple Halides, Without H2O

03.AA -M:X = 1:1, 2:3, 3:5, etc.

03.AA.20 Carobbiite KF F m3m 4/m 3 2/m

03.AA.20 Griceite LiF F m3m 4/m 3 2/m

03.AA.20 Halite NaCl F m3m 4/m 3 2/m

03.AA.20 Sylvite KCl F m3m 4/m 3 2/m

03.AA.20 Villiaumite NaF F m3m 4/m 3 2/m

Other Halite Information

References:

NAME( Duda&Rejl90) PHYS. PROP.(Enc. of Minerals,2nd ed.,1990) OPTIC PROP.(Enc. of Minerals,2nd ed.,1990)

Search for Halite using:

[ALTAVISTA] [AOL] [All-The-Web] [HotBot] [Ixquick] [MAMMA] [MSN.COM] [Netscape] [Scirus] [Teoma] [Wikipedia] [YAHOO]

Visit our Advertisers for Halite :

AA Mineral Specimens

B & L Fine Minerals

Crystalarium.com

Dan Weinrich Fine Minerals

Dan Weinrich Auctions

Dakota Matrix

Desert Winds Gems and Minerals

John Betts Fine Minerals

Mason's Minerals

Mineral News

Mineral of the Month Club

Wrights Rock Shop

Translate Halite Mineral Data :

Ask about Halite here :
Ask-A-Mineralogist from the Mineralogical Society of America
Mindat.org's Discussion Groups
Original Rockhounds Discussion Group
Rockhounds Discussion Group on Yahoo Groups
Mineral Discussion Forum from Fabre Minerals - also available in Español

Print or Cut-and-Paste your Halite Specimen Label here :

Halite

NaCl
Dana No: 09.01.01.01 Strunz No: 03.AA.20
Locality:

Notes: