Mesolite on Apophyllite
Mesolite
– Na2Ca2(Si9Al6)O30·8H2O
Apatite
Talc (1)Diamond (10)
About as hard as a steel knife blade.
Did you know?
Mesolite forms airy white tufts that look as soft as cotton, but the touch deceives. They are bundles of hair-fine glassy needles so brittle that a single breath can shatter a specimen.
Apophyllite is named from the Greek for to flake off in leaves, and heat makes it do exactly that. The water bound inside the crystal escapes and the surface peels apart into thin white sheets.
