English
Image:Leucite in rock w- nepheline Potassium aluminum silicate Albano Hills Italy 1927.jpg|thumb|Leucite crystals in a rock
Pronunciation
Lew' site
Noun
leucite
- mineralogy A mineral of silica-poor igneous, plutonic and volcanic rocks. Chemically, Leucite is a potassium feldspar with insufficient silica to satisfy the chemical bonds. Because of the unfilled bonds, Leucite weathers rapidly and can only be seen as inclusions in freshly broken rock.
Chemical composition: Potassium aluminum subsilicate, <math>KAlSi?_2O_6</math>
Physical properties:
*Moh's Hardness: 5.5-6.0
*Specific gravity: 2.4-2.5
*Color: Gray to white to colorless
*Luster: Glassy, but rapidly weathers to a dull surface
*Fracture: Conchoidal
*Cleavage: Imperfect dodecahedral
*Habit: Tetragonal-trapezohedral (pseudo-isometric)
Related terms
rock, feldspar
io:leucite
vi:leucite
zh:leucite
|
