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metacinnabar

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Metacinnabar is the cubic form of mercury sulfide (HgS). It is the high temperature form and trimorphous with cinnabar (trigonal structure) and the higher temperature hypercinnabar (hexagonal structure). It occurs with cinnabar in mercury deposits and is associated with native mercury, wurtzite, stibnite, marcasite, realgar, calcite, barite, chalcedony and hydrocarbons.

Key facts

Mineral.symmetry
F3m
Mineral.boxbgcolor
9c9471
Mineral.name
Metacinnabar
Mineral.boxtextcolor
fff
Mineral.image
Metacinnabar-233443.jpg
Mineral.imagesize
260px
Mineral.category
Sulfide mineral
Mineral.formula
HgS
Mineral.IMAsymbol
Mcin
Mineral.strunz
2.CB.05a
Mineral.system
Cubic
Mineral.class
Hextetrahedral (3m) H-M symbol: ( 3m)
Mineral.unit cell
a = 5.8717(5) Å; Z = 4
Mineral.color
Grayish black
Mineral.habit
Massive, rarely as tetrahedral crystals, as incrustations
Mineral.twinning
Common as lamellae on {111}
Mineral.cleavage
None
Mineral.fracture
Subconchoidal

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Named after
meta-
Image
Metacinnabar-146931.jpg
Show 8 more facts
Strunz 8th edition (series ID, updated)
II/B.01
IMA Mineral Symbol
Mcin
Commons category
Metacinnabar
chemical formula
HgS
Nickel-Strunz 9th edition (updated 2009)
2.CB.05a
Nickel-Strunz '10th ed', review of (9th ed/ 2009 update)
2.CB.05a
streak color
black
crystal system
cubic crystal system

via Wikidata · CC0

~2 min read

Encyclopedic overview

1 sections
Contents
  • References

{{Infobox mineral |boxbgcolor=#9c9471| name = Metacinnabar | boxtextcolor = #fff | image = Metacinnabar-233443.jpg | imagesize = 260px | alt = | caption = | category = Sulfide mineral | formula = HgS | IMAsymbol = Mcin | strunz = 2.CB.05a | dana = | system = Cubic | class = Hextetrahedral (3m) H-M symbol: ( 3m) | symmetry = F3m | unit cell = a = 5.8717(5) Å; Z = 4 | color = Grayish black | habit = Massive, rarely as tetrahedral crystals, as incrustations | twinning = Common as lamellae on {111} | cleavage = None | fracture = Subconchoidal | tenacity = Brittle | mohs = 3 | luster = Metallic | streak = Black | diaphaneity = Opaque | gravity = 7.7–7.8 | density = | polish = | opticalprop = | refractive = | birefringence = | pleochroism = | 2V = | dispersion = | extinction = | length fast/slow = | fluorescence = | absorption = | melt = | fusibility = | diagnostic = | solubility = | impurities = | alteration = | other = | references = | SMILES = [SH+2]12[HgH2-2][SH+2]3[HgH2-2][SH+2]([HgH-2]14)[HgH-2]1[S+2]5([HgH-2]38)[Hg-2]26[SH+2]2[HgH-2]([S+2]4)[SH+2]1[HgH2-2][SH+2]3[HgH-2]2[S+2][HgH-2]([SH+2]6[HgH-2]([SH+2])[SH+2]68)[SH+2]([HgH2-2]6)[HgH-2]35 | Jmol = [SH+2]12[HgH2-2][SH+2]3[HgH2-2][SH+2]([HgH-2]14)[HgH-2]1[S+2]5([HgH-2]38)[Hg-2]26[SH+2]2[HgH-2]([S+2]4)[SH+2]1[HgH2-2][SH+2]3[HgH-2]2[S+2][HgH-2]([SH+2]6[HgH-2]([SH+2])[SH+2]68)[SH+2]([HgH2-2]6)[HgH-2]35

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Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “metacinnabar” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.