painite
Sign in to savePainite is a rare borate mineral. It was first found in Myanmar by British mineralogist and gem dealer Arthur C.D. Pain who misidentified it as ruby, until it was discovered as a new gemstone in the 1950s. When it was confirmed as a new mineral species, the mineral was named after him.
Key facts
- Mineral.name
- Painite
- Mineral.category
- Borate minerals
- Mineral.image
- Painite2.jpg
- Mineral.caption
- Painite from Myanmar, 2 cm long
- Mineral.formula
- CaZrAl9O15(BO3)
- Mineral.IMAsymbol
- Pai
- Mineral.strunz
- 6.AB.85
- Mineral.dana
- 7.5.2.1
- Mineral.system
- Hexagonal
- Mineral.class
- Dipyramidal (6/m) (same H-M symbol), although earlier reported as hexagonal (6)
- Mineral.symmetry
- P63/m
- Mineral.unit cell
- a = 8.72 Å, c = 8.46 Å; Z = 2
- Mineral.color
- Red, brownish, orange-red
- Mineral.habit
- Elongated crystals, pseudo-orthorhombic
- Mineral.mohs
- 7.5 – 8
- Mineral.luster
- Vitreous
- Mineral.refractive
- no = 1.8159, ne = 1.7875
- Mineral.opticalprop
- Uniaxial (-)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Painite-266170.jpg
Show 7 more facts
- Nickel-Strunz 9th edition (updated 2009)
- 6.AB.85
- Mohs' hardness
- 8
- Nickel-Strunz '10th ed', review of (9th ed/ 2009 update)
- 6.AB.85
- Commons category
- Painite
- IMA Mineral Symbol
- Pai
- chemical formula
- CaZrAl₉(BO₃)O₁₅
- Strunz 8th edition (series ID, updated)
- VIII/A’.13
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
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Article
4 sectionsContents
- Discovery and occurrence
- See also
- References
- External links
Painite is a rare borate mineral. It was first found in Myanmar by British mineralogist and gem dealer Arthur C.D. Pain who misidentified it as ruby, until it was discovered as a new gemstone in the 1950s. When it was confirmed as a new mineral species, the mineral was named after him.
The chemical makeup of painite contains calcium, zirconium, boron, aluminium, and oxygen (CaZrAl9O15(BO3)). The mineral also contains trace amounts of chromium and vanadium, which are responsible for Painite's typically orange-red to brownish-red color, similar to topaz. The mineral's rarity is due to zirconium and boron rarely interacting with each other in nature. The crystals are naturally hexagonal, but may also be euhedral or orthorhombic. They also may have no crystalline structure, but usually are accompanied by a crystalline structure. Until late 2004, only two had been cut into faceted gemstones.