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Ulexite
Ulexite (/juːˈlɛksaɪt/), sometimes called TV rock or TV stone due to its unusual optical properties, is a hydrous borate hydroxide of sodium and calcium with the chemical formula NaCaB5O6(OH)6·5H2O. The mineral occurs as silky white rounded crystalline masses or in parallel fibers. Ulexite was named for the German chemist Georg Ludwig Ulex (1811–1883), who first discovered it.
The natural fibers of ulexite act as optical fibers, transmitting light along their long axes by internal reflection. When a piece of ulexite is cut with flat polished faces perpendicular to the orientation of the fibers, a good-quality specimen will display an image of whatever surface is adjacent to its other side. The fiber-optic effect is the result of the polarization of light into slow and fast rays within each fiber, the internal reflection of the slow ray and the refraction of the fast ray into the slow ray of an adjacent fiber.[citation needed] An interesting consequence is the generation of three cones, two of which are polarized, when a laser beam obliquely illuminates the fibers. These cones can be seen when viewing a light source through the mineral.[citation needed]
Ulexite is found in evaporite deposits and the precipitated ulexite commonly forms a "cotton ball" tuft of acicular crystals. Ulexite is frequently found associated with colemanite, borax, meyerhofferite, hydroboracite, probertite, glauberite, trona, mirabilite, calcite, gypsum and halite. It is found principally in California and Nevada, US; Tarapacá Region in Chile, and Kazakhstan. Ulexite is also found in a vein-like bedding habit composed of closely packed fibrous crystals.
Ulexite has been recognized as a valid mineral since 1840, after George Ludwig Ulex, for whom the mineral was named, provided the first chemical analysis of the mineral. In a footnote on p. 51, the editor claimed that Ulex's mineral actually was the same mineral that the American chemist Augustus Allen Hayes had found in Chile in 1844:
"Es kann wohl keinem Zweifel unterworfen seyn, … Boronatrocalcit umgeändert werden."
— It can surely be subject to no doubt that the mineral that was analyzed by the author is actually the hydroborocalcite of Hayes. One thus owes to Mr. Ulex knowledge of the true composition of this mineral. — The name "hydroborocalcite" could then perhaps be switched to the somewhat more correct "boronatrocalcite".,
In 1857, Henry How, a professor at King's College in Windsor, Nova Scotia, discovered borate minerals in the gypsum deposits of the Lower Carboniferous evaporate deposits in the Atlantic Provinces of Canada where he noted the presence of a fibrous borate that he termed natro-boro-calcite, which was actually ulexite (Papezik and Fong, 1975).
Murdoch examined the crystallography of ulexite in 1940. The crystallography was reworked in 1959 by Clark and Christ and their study also provided the first powder x-ray diffraction analysis of ulexite. In 1963 ulexite's remarkable fiber optics qualities were explained by Weichel-Moore and Potter. Their study highlighted the existence in nature of mineral structures exhibiting technologically required characteristics. Lastly, Clark and Appleman described the structure of ulexite correctly in 1964.
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Ulexite
Ulexite (/juːˈlɛksaɪt/), sometimes called TV rock or TV stone due to its unusual optical properties, is a hydrous borate hydroxide of sodium and calcium with the chemical formula NaCaB5O6(OH)6·5H2O. The mineral occurs as silky white rounded crystalline masses or in parallel fibers. Ulexite was named for the German chemist Georg Ludwig Ulex (1811–1883), who first discovered it.
The natural fibers of ulexite act as optical fibers, transmitting light along their long axes by internal reflection. When a piece of ulexite is cut with flat polished faces perpendicular to the orientation of the fibers, a good-quality specimen will display an image of whatever surface is adjacent to its other side. The fiber-optic effect is the result of the polarization of light into slow and fast rays within each fiber, the internal reflection of the slow ray and the refraction of the fast ray into the slow ray of an adjacent fiber.[citation needed] An interesting consequence is the generation of three cones, two of which are polarized, when a laser beam obliquely illuminates the fibers. These cones can be seen when viewing a light source through the mineral.[citation needed]
Ulexite is found in evaporite deposits and the precipitated ulexite commonly forms a "cotton ball" tuft of acicular crystals. Ulexite is frequently found associated with colemanite, borax, meyerhofferite, hydroboracite, probertite, glauberite, trona, mirabilite, calcite, gypsum and halite. It is found principally in California and Nevada, US; Tarapacá Region in Chile, and Kazakhstan. Ulexite is also found in a vein-like bedding habit composed of closely packed fibrous crystals.
Ulexite has been recognized as a valid mineral since 1840, after George Ludwig Ulex, for whom the mineral was named, provided the first chemical analysis of the mineral. In a footnote on p. 51, the editor claimed that Ulex's mineral actually was the same mineral that the American chemist Augustus Allen Hayes had found in Chile in 1844:
"Es kann wohl keinem Zweifel unterworfen seyn, … Boronatrocalcit umgeändert werden."
— It can surely be subject to no doubt that the mineral that was analyzed by the author is actually the hydroborocalcite of Hayes. One thus owes to Mr. Ulex knowledge of the true composition of this mineral. — The name "hydroborocalcite" could then perhaps be switched to the somewhat more correct "boronatrocalcite".,
In 1857, Henry How, a professor at King's College in Windsor, Nova Scotia, discovered borate minerals in the gypsum deposits of the Lower Carboniferous evaporate deposits in the Atlantic Provinces of Canada where he noted the presence of a fibrous borate that he termed natro-boro-calcite, which was actually ulexite (Papezik and Fong, 1975).
Murdoch examined the crystallography of ulexite in 1940. The crystallography was reworked in 1959 by Clark and Christ and their study also provided the first powder x-ray diffraction analysis of ulexite. In 1963 ulexite's remarkable fiber optics qualities were explained by Weichel-Moore and Potter. Their study highlighted the existence in nature of mineral structures exhibiting technologically required characteristics. Lastly, Clark and Appleman described the structure of ulexite correctly in 1964.