Olivine/Peridot

	What is it and where is it formed? Olivine is sometimes called peridot [peary-doe] by jewelers. It is the birthstone for August. It is a gemstone. Olivine is formed in igneous and metamorphic rocks. Olivine has iron and magnesium in it and the amount of iron decides what color the stone will be.
	How and where is it mined? Olivine is mined using underground mining. It is mined in Egypt, Pakistan, Australia, and the United States [Arizona and New Mexico].
	What is it used for? Olivine is used for mineral collections, gemstones, and in industry for products that need to take a lot of heat. Transparent ones are used for jewelry.

Olivine does not cost a
lot of money. Dark green ones cost the most.

Mineral Characteristic	What the mineralogists say	Kid's Guide: What it REALLY means!
Chemical Symbol	Mg₂SiO₄	It has oxygen, magnesium, silicon, and iron in it.
Color	Light olive green to pale yellow-green; colorless	This stone is most often pale yellow but can be found in olive green [olivine] or colorless kinds.
Streak	white	When the stone is used to scratch a white plate, the dust that comes off of it is white. This is the color of the powder if the stone was crushed.
Transparency	Transparent to translucent	You can see through some stones and others are blurry to look through.
Luster	Vitreous	It shines like glass.
Cleavage	Poor in two directions.	If you hit this stone with a hammer, it would not split easily.
Fracture	Conchoidal	When it breaks, the surfaces are smooth and shell like.
Magnetism	None	It is not attracted to, and will not attract, a magnet.
Hardness	6.5 - 7	It can scratch glass which makes it a very hard mineral.
Specific gravity	4.0	It is an average weight.
Crystal Shape	Orthorhombic

How it looks when it's just mined.

Links:

	Wikipedia: Olivine
	About.com Olivine
	Peridot: the Evening Emerald

Mining peridot

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Citations:

Fuller, Sue. Rocks & Minerals. London: Dorling Kindersley, 1995.

Guisewite, Alan. peridot1.jpg. "Peridot and Russian ruby." E-mail to Club Web. 31 Jan 2006.

Norman, Steve. olivine.jpg. Pics4Learning. 29 Dec 2005. <http://pics.tech4learning.com>.

"Olivine." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press., 2003.
Answers.com 3 Nov 2005. <http://www.answers.com/topic/olivine>.

"Olivine." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 2005. Answers.com 3 Nov 2005. <http://www.answers.com/topic/olivine>.

Zim, Herbert S. Rocks and minerals: a guide to familiar minerals, gems, ores and rocks. New York: Golden Press, 1957.