Cryolite
CRYOLITE, a mineral discovered in Greenland by the Danes in 1794, and found to be a compound of fluorine, sodium and aluminium. From its general appearance, and from the fact that it melts readily, even in a candle-flame, it was regarded by the Eskimos as a peculiar kind of ice; from this fact it acquired the name of cryolite (from Gr. /epics, frost, and Xtflos, stone). Cryolite occurs in colourless or snow-white cleavable masses, often tinted brown or red with iron oxide, and occasionally passing into a black variety. It is usually translucent, becoming nearly transparent on immersion in water. The mineral cleaves in three rectangular directions, and the crystals occasionally found in the crevices have a cubic habit, but it has been proved, after much discussion, that they belong to the anorthic system. The hardness is 2-5, and the specific gravity 3. Cryolite has the formula Na 3 AlF 6 , or 3NaF-AlF 3 , corresponding to fluorine 54-4, sodium 32-8, and aluminium 12-8%. It colours a flame yellow, through the presence of sodium, and when heated with sulphuric acid it evolves hydrofluoric ac;d.
Cryolite occurs almost exclusively at Ivigtut (sometimes written Evigtok) on the Arksut Fjord in S.W. Greenland. There it forms a large deposit, in a granitic vein running through gneiss, and is accompanied by quartz, siderite, galena, blende, chalcopyrite, etc. It is also associated with a group of kindred minerals, some of which are evidently products of alteration of the cryolite, known as pachnolite, thomsenolite, ralstonite, gearksutite, arksutite, etc. Cryolite likewise occurs, though only to a limited extent, at Miyask, in the Ilmen Mountains; at Pike's Peak, Colorado, and in the Yellowstone Park.
Cryolite is a mineral of much economic importance. It has been extensively used as a source of metallic aluminium, and as a flux in smelting the metal. It is largely employed in the manufacture of certain sodium salts, as suggested by Julius Thomsen, of Copenhagen, in 1840; and it has been used for the production of certain kinds of porcelain and glass, remarkable for its toughness, and for enamelled ware.
Although cryolite is known as " ice-stone " (Eisstein). it is not to be confused with " ice-spar " (Eisspath), which is a vitreous kind of felspar termed " glassy felspar " or rhyacolite. (F. W. R.*)
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
