Wulfenite
From Conservapedia
| Wulfenite | |
|---|---|
| |
| Chemical name | Lead molybdate |
| Chemical formula | Pb(MoO4) |
| Identification | |
| Colors | Orange-yellow, yellow, honey-yellow, reddish-orange, rarely colorless, grey, brown, olive-green and even black. |
| Crystal habit | Crystals commonly thin tabular {001}, square, exhibiting {001}, with flat or rounded vicinal faces, {010}; may be elongated [001], or pyramidal {011}, with the pyramid truncating or replacing {001}; more rarely pseudo-octahedral; and very rarely either cubic or short prismatic pyramidal. |
| Crystal system | Tetragonal |
| Cleavage | Distinct/Good |
| Fracture | Irregular/Uneven, Sub-Conchoidal |
| Hardness | 2.5 - 3 |
| Name origin | After Austrian Jesuit mineralogist, Franz Xavier von Wulfen (1728-1805), who authored a monograph on the lead ores of Bleiberg, Austria |
| Specific gravity | 6.8 (very heavy for translucent minerals) |
| Streak | Yellowish white |
Wulfenite is a "secondary mineral typically found as thin tabular crystals with a bright orange-red to yellow-orange color in the oxidized zones of hydrothermal lead deposits." [1]
