Cahnite

Cahnite (Cahnit in German, Cahnita in Spanish, Канит in Russian [http://www.mindat.org/min-851.html Mindat data sheet for Cahnite.] ] ) is a brittle white or colorless mineral that has perfect cleavage and is usually transparent. It usually forms tetragonal-shaped crystals and it has a hardness of 3 mohs. [http://www.webmineral.com/data/Cahnite.shtml Mineral Data sheet for Cahnite.] ] [http://www.mineralcollecting.org/data/allcategory.cgi?a=Cahnite&m=ww&ex=&a=c&c=&d=&l=&h=&v=&s=&r=&el=&pc=&elt=&pct=&elr=&pcr=&elf=&pcf=&str=&dna=&fml= Database entry from Mineral Collecting.] ] Cahnite was discovered in the year 1921. It was named Cahnite to honor Lazard Cahn, who was a mineral collector and dealer. It is usually found in the Franklin Mine, in Franklin, New Jersey. Until the year 2002, when a sample of cahnite was found in Japan, that was the only known place that cahnite was located. [ [http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/200219/000020021902A0418079.php Article stating that veins of cahnite were found in Okayama Prefecture.] ] The geological environment that it occurs in is in pegmatites cutting a changed zinc orebody.The chemical formula for cahnite is Ca₂B [AsO₄] (OH)₄. [ [http://database.iem.ac.ru/mincryst/s_carta.php?CAHNITE+695 Database entry for Cahnite from Mincryst.] ] [ [http://www.h5.dion.ne.jp/~nspicnic/mine/database/cahnitee.htm Database entry for Cahnite from Japanese database.] ] It is made up of 26.91% calcium, 3.63% boron, 25.15% arsenic, 1.35% hydrogen, and 42.96% oxygen. It has a molecular weight of 297.91 grams. Cahnite is not radioactive. Cahnite is associated with these other minerals: willemite, rhodonite, pyrochroite, hedyphane, datolite, and baryte.

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