General Information:
Chemical Formula:
SnO2
Composition:
(Molecular Weight = 150.71 gm)
Tin 78.77 % Sn
Oxygen 21.23 % O
Empirical Formula:
SnO2
Environment:
Granite pegmatites and alluvial placer deposits.
Locality:
Cronwall, Great Britain.
Name Origin:
From the Greek kassiteros - "tin."
Physical Properties:
Cleavage:
[100] Perfect, [110] Indistinct
Color:
brown, brownish black, colorless, green, or gray.
Density:
6.8 - 7, Average = 6.9
Diaphaniety:
Transparent to translucent to opaque
Habits:
Prismatic - Crystals Shaped like Slender Prisms (e.g. tourmaline)., Massive - Uniformly indistinguishable crystals forming large masses., Botryoidal - "Grape-like" rounded forms (e.g. . malachite).
Hardness:
6-7 - Orthoclase-Quartz
Luminescence:
None.
Luster:
Adamantine
Streak:
brownish white
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