Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

STEPHANITE

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 880 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

STEPHANITE , a See also:

mineral consisting of See also:silver sulphantimonite, AgsSbS4; containing 68.s % of silver, and sometimes of importance as an ore of this See also:metal. Under the name Schwarzerz it was mentioned by G. See also:Agricola in 1546, and it has been variously known as "See also:black silver ore" (Ger. Schwarzgultigerz), brittle silver-ore (Sprodglanzerz), &c. The name stephanite was proposed by W. See also:Haidinger in 1845 in See also:honour of the See also:archduke See also:Stephan of See also:Austria; See also:French authors use F. S. See also:Beudant's name psalurose (from the See also:Greek i1saOvp6s, fragile). It frequently occurs as well-formed crystals, which are orthorhombic and occasionally show indications of hemimorphism: they have the See also:form of six-sided prisms or See also:flat tables terminated by large basal planes and often modified at the edges by numerous See also:pyramid-planes. Twinning on the See also:prism-planes is of frequent occurrence, giving rise to pseudo-hexagonal See also:groups like those of See also:aragonite. The See also:colour is See also:iron-black, and the lustre metallic and brilliant; on exposure to See also:light, however, the crystals soon become dull. The mineral has a hardness of 21 and is very brittle; the specific gravity is 6.3.

Stephanite occurs with other ores of silver in metalliferous See also:

veins. Localities which have yielded See also:good crystallized specimens are See also:Freiberg and Gersdorf near See also:Rosswein in See also:Saxony, Chanarcillo in See also:Chile, and exceptionally See also:Cornwall. In the Comstock lode in See also:Nevada massive stephanite and See also:argentite are important ores of silver. (L. J.

End of Article: STEPHANITE

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
STEPHAN, HEINRICH VON (1831-1897) 		[next]
STEPHANUS BYZANTINUS (STEPHEN OF BYZANTIUM)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries