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What is it and where
is it formed? Sulfur is a
mineral that is
found in
sedimentary rock. It’s found in places where
there are, or were, volcanoes. It can be found in salt
domes, too. |
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How and where is it
mined? Sulfur is mined using
quarrying and
underground mining. Sometimes it is mined from
volcanoes that aren’t active anymore. Since it melts easily
at low temperatures, very hot salt water is pumped down
through pipes into the mine to melt the sulfur.
Air is pumped in to push the melted sulfur out.
Then the sulfur cools and becomes solid or it is kept hot
and melted before it is sent to whoever wants it.
Whether it is solid or liquid depends on what it will be
used for. This is called the Frasch process because Herman
Frasch invented the process in the 1800s. Sulfur is
mined in: the USA [Michigan, & Ohio], Sicily, Poland, and
Chile. |
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What is it used for?
Sulfur is used in papermaking and for sulfuric acid.
Fertilizers, plastics, drugs, explosives, and matches use
sulfur. |
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Sulfur smells like rotten eggs if it mixes
with water or is burned. |
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Even a little heat—like a person’s hand—is enough to crack this
mineral. |
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Mineral Characteristic |
What the
mineralogists say |
Kid's Guide: What it REALLY
means! |
| Chemical Symbol |
S |
It
is pure Sulfur. It is on the
Periodic Table of the Elements. |
| Color |
Deep
yellow color to pale yellow |
Sulfur is some form of yellow—light or dark but will
change to reddish or greenish yellow if there are
impurities in it. |
| Streak |
White |
When
the stone is rubbed on a white plate, it leaves a white
powder. If the stone was ground up, this is what color
the powder would be. |
| Transparency |
Transparent to opaque |
Sometimes you can see through it clearly, sometimes it
is blurry to look through, and with some stones you
can’t see through them at all. |
| Luster |
Vitreous, waxy |
When
a light shines on it, it looks glassy or waxy. |
| Cleavage |
Very
poor in two directions |
If
broken, it splits unevenly in two directions. |
| Fracture |
Conchoidal |
This
mineral is easily shattered or broken into pieces.
Those pieces will be smooth. |
| Magnetism |
Not
magnetic |
It
will not attract, or be attracted to, a magnet. |
| Hardness |
2 |
It
is brittle and can be broken easily. You could scratch
it with your fingernail. |
| Specific gravity |
2.1 |
This
mineral is very light in weight. |
| Crystal Shape |
Orthorhombic |
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Links:
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Citations:
Fuller, Sue. Rocks
& Minerals. London: Dorling Kindersley, 1995.
“Sulfur.”
21 Oct. 2005.
<http://www.mii.org/Minerals/photosul.html>.
Zim, Herbert S.
Rocks and minerals: a guide to familiar minerals, gems, ores and rocks.
New York: Golden Press, 1957.
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