Gemstones Codexery

Quartz

A hard, abundant mineral used in jewelry and technology.

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Quartz is a mineral composed of silicon dioxide that forms in two distinct polymorphs, α-quartz and β-quartz, depending on temperature and pressure.[1] Pure quartz, known as rock crystal, is colorless and transparent, while colored varieties such as amethyst and citrine arise from impurities.[2] Feldspar minerals make up 41% of the Earth's lithosphere by mass, while quartz accounts for 12%, placing it second in abundance after the feldspar group.[3]

Key facts and history

The word "quartz" derives from the German word Quarz, which came from a Polish dialect term meaning "hard".[4] Ancient Greeks called quartz κρύσταλλος, meaning "crystal," because some philosophers thought it was supercooled ice.[5] J.J. Berzelius decomposed quartz in 1823 and discovered it is a compound of oxygen and silicon.[6] Quartz is extracted from open-pit mines, with miners using bulldozers and hand tools rather than explosives to avoid damage from temperature changes.[7]

Nicolas Steno's 17th-century investigations of quartz led him to formulate the principle that the angles between corresponding crystal faces are constant.[8] The ability of quartz crystals to generate an electrical voltage when mechanically stressed was identified in 1880 by the brothers Jacques and Pierre Curie.[9] A single quartz crystal discovered near Itapore, Brazil, is the largest on record, with a weight exceeding 88,000 pounds.[10]

What the cited sources add

The Quartz Page notes that quartz varieties were not systematically grouped together before the 19th century.[6] The same source explains that macrocrystalline quartz grows by adding molecules layer by layer, while cryptocrystalline quartz forms from a colloidal silica solution.[6] The Common Minerals account states that quartz was the mineral upon which the Stone Ages were based, with early stone tools fashioned from it.[11] The GemSelect source reports that quartz varietal names often stem from color, but scientifically classification is based on microstructure.[12]

The sciencing.com article describes that Arkansas holds the World Championship Quartz Crystal Dig every October.[13] The Common Minerals account notes that quartz is weakly soluble, so natural waters contain dissolved silica that can precipitate as quartz.[11] The same source states that microscopic marine plankton like diatoms create shells of quartz from dissolved silica in seawater.[11]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Quartz" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Quartz-beta", mindat.org (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Quartz" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Quartz: The gemstone Quartz information and pictures", www.minerals.net; "Why Minerals Have Different Colors", sandatlas.org, 2025-11-24 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Quartz" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Anderson, "Geomorphology: The Mechanics and Chemistry of Landscapes", Cambridge University Press, 2010, p. 187 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Quartz" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Quartz", Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary; "DWDS – Quarz", www.dwds.de; "Quartz | Definition of quartz by Lexico"; , Queensland University of Technology. Mineralatlas.com. Retrieved 2013-03-07.; Tomkeieff, S.I., "On the origin of the name 'quartz'", Mineralogical Magazine, 1942, p. 172–178 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Quartz" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Tomkeieff, S.I., "On the origin of the name 'quartz'", Mineralogical Magazine, 1942, p. 172–178; Morgado, "The allure of rock crystal in Copper Age southern Iberia: Technical skill and distinguished objects from Valencina de la Concepción (Seville, Spain)", Quaternary International, December 2016, p. 232–249; Nesse, "Introduction to mineralogy", Oxford University Press, 2000 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Akhavan, "Types of Quartz", The Quartz Page, 4 November 2011. facts only, no text reused. quartzpage.de
  7. Wikipedia, "Quartz" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: McMillen, "Quartz Mining", Encyclopedia of Arkansas; Eleanor McKenzie, "How Is Quartz Extracted?", sciencing.com, 25 April 2017 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Quartz" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Nicolaus Steno (Latinized name of Niels Steensen) with John Garrett Winter, trans.. The Prodromus of Nicolaus Steno's Dissertation Concerning a Solid Body Enclo (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Quartz" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Advanced Piezoelectric Materials", Woodhead Publishing, 2017, p. 197–233; Curie, Jacques, "Développement, par pression, de l'électricité polaire dans les cristaux hémièdres à faces inclinées", Comptes rendus, 1880, p. 294–295; Curie, Jacques, "Sur l'électricité polaire dans les cristaux hémièdres à faces inclinées", Comptes rendus, 1880, p. 383–386 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Quartz" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rickwood, P. C., "The largest crystals", American Mineralogist, 1981, p. 885–907 (903) (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. "Common Minerals - Quartz", commonminerals.esci.umn.edu. facts only, no text reused. commonminerals.esci.umn.edu
  12. "Quartz Gemstone and Jewelry Information: Natural Quartz - GemSelect", www.gemselect.com. facts only, no text reused. gemselect.com
  13. Eleanor McKenzie, "How Is Quartz Extracted?", sciencing.com, 25 April 2017. facts only, no text reused. sciencing.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Quartz (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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