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Pure fluorite is colourless and transparent, both in visible and ultraviolet light, but impurities usually make it a colorful mineral and the stone has ornamental and lapidary uses. Industrially, fluorite is used as a flux for smelting, and in the production of certain glasses and enamels.
The main uses of fluoride, in terms of volume, are in the production of cryolite, Na 3 AlF 6. It is used in aluminium smelting. Formerly, it was mined, but now it is derived from hydrogen fluoride. Fluorite is used on a large scale to separate slag in steel-making. Mined fluorite (CaF 2) is a commodity chemical used in steel-making.
The fluorite structure refers to a common motif for compounds with the formula MX 2. [1] [2] The X ions occupy the eight tetrahedral interstitial sites whereas M ions occupy the regular sites of a face-centered cubic (FCC) structure. Many compounds, notably the common mineral fluorite (CaF 2), adopt this structure.
[1]: 53 Pliny describes the mineral as having a "great variety of colours" with "shades of purple and white with a mixture of the two". [1]: 53 Whether this mineral was banded fluorite is uncertain, but it was apparently soft enough (like fluorite) to allow one particular man of consular rank to gnaw at the edges of his cup.
Antozonite with calcite from the Margnac Mine, Compreignac, Haute-Vienne, Limousin, France - (6x5.5cm) Fluorite (antozonite) from Wölsendorf, Oberpfalz, Southern Germany Antozonite (historically known as Stinkspat , Stinkfluss , Stinkstein , Stinkspar [ 1 ] and fetid fluorite [ 2 ] ) is a radioactive fluorite variety first found in Wölsendorf ...
Fluorite of the acidspar grade is used directly as an additive to ceramics and enamels, glass fibers and clouded glass, and cement, as well as in the outer coating of welding rods. [5] Acidspar is primarily used for making hydrofluoric acid, which is a chemical intermediate for most fluorine-containing compounds.
Its use began in the 1940s, following studies of children in a region where water is naturally fluoridated. It is now used widely in public water systems in the United States and some other parts of the world, such that about two-thirds of the U.S. population is exposed to fluoridated water supplies [5] and about 5.7% of people worldwide. [6]
After hydrogen fluoride, KF is the primary source of the fluoride ion for applications in manufacturing and in chemistry. It is an alkali halide salt and occurs naturally as the rare mineral carobbiite. Solutions of KF will etch glass due to the formation of soluble fluorosilicates, although HF is more effective.