Cahnite

Cahnite (Cahnit in German, Cahnita in Spanish, Канит in Russian[2]) 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.[3][4] Cahnite was discovered in the year 1921.[2] It was named Cahnite to honor Lazard Cahn (1865–1940), who was a mineral collector and dealer.[3] It is usually found in the Franklin Mine, in Franklin, New Jersey.[4][3] Until the year 2002, when a sample of cahnite was found in Japan, that was the only known place that cahnite was located.[5] The geological environment that it occurs in is in pegmatites cutting a changed zinc orebody.[2][3][4] The chemical formula for cahnite is Ca2B[AsO4](OH)4.[4][6][7] 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.[4] Cahnite is not radioactive.[3] Cahnite is associated with these other minerals: willemite, rhodonite, pyrochroite, hedyphane, datolite, and baryte.[2]

Cahnite
Cahnite on rhodonite
General
CategoryBorate minerals
Formula
(repeating unit)		Ca2B[AsO4](OH)4
Strunz classification6.AC.70
Crystal systemTetragonal
Crystal classDisphenoidal (4)
(same H-M symbol)
Space groupI4
Identification
ColorColorless to white
CleavagePerfect
On {110}
TenacityBrittle
Mohs scale hardness3
LusterVitreous
DiaphaneityTransparent
Density3.156 g/cm3
References[1]

References
  1. Mineralienatlas
  2. Mindat data sheet for Cahnite.
  3. Mineral Data sheet for Cahnite.
  4. Database entry from Mineral Collecting.
  5. Article stating that veins of cahnite were found in Okayama Prefecture. Archived 2012-02-17 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Database entry for Cahnite from Mincryst.
  7. Database entry for Cahnite from Japanese database.
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