Gerhardtite Mineral Data

[How the Club Works] [Memberships - Junior, Deluxe , and Platinum] [FAQ] [Past Minerals]
Join the Club - Junior, Deluxe and Platinum Memberships Available
High Quality Minerals Sent to Your Home or School Each Month
Mineral of the Month Club - An Inexpensive Way to Enjoy Minerals

General Gerhardtite Information

Chemical Formula:

Cu2(NO3)(OH)3

Composition:

Molecular Weight = 240.12 gm

Copper 52.93 % Cu 66.25 % CuO

Hydrogen 1.26 % H 11.25 % H₂O

Nitrogen 5.83 % N 22.49 % N₂O₅

Oxygen 39.98 % O

______ ______

100.00 % 100.00 % = TOTAL OXIDE

Empirical Formula:

Cu₂(NO₃)(OH)₃

Environment:

Secondary mineral in oxidized portions of copper deposits. Dimorphous with rouaite.

IMA Status:

Valid Species (Pre-IMA) 1885

Locality:

United Verde mine, Jerome, Yavapai Co., Arizona, USA. Link to MinDat.org Location Data.

Name Origin:

Named for Charles Frederic Gerhardt (1816-1856), American chemist who first prepared the artificial compound.

Name Pronunciation:

Gerhardtite + Pronunciation

Gerhardtite Image

Images:

Gerhardtite

Comments: Emerald green crystalline crust of gerhardtite on copper.
Location: Greenland, Ontonagon County, Michigan, USA. Scale: See Photo.
© Jeff Weissman / Photographic Guide to Mineral Species

Gerhardtite Crystallography

Axial Ratios:

a:b:c =0.9204:1:2.2735

Cell Dimensions:

a = 5.592, b = 6.075, c = 13.812, Z = 4; V = 469.21 Den(Calc)= 3.40

Crystal System:

Orthorhombic - DisphenoidalH-M Symbol (2 2 2) Space Group: P 2₁2₁2₁

$Help on X Ray Diffraction:$ X Ray Diffraction:

By Intensity(I/I_o): 6.91(1), 2.31(0.8), 2.624(0.8),

Forms:

Mouse
Dbl Clk - Start-Stop Rotation
RMB - Cycle Display Modes
Drag1 - Manipulate Crystal
Drag2 - Resize
Keyboard
S - Stereo
I - Indicies
<space> - Start-Stop Rotation
F - Fit to Screen
M - Menu
Help on Above

Forms: ( 2 0 1) ( 1 1 2) ( 2 2 1) ( 1 1 0) ( 1 1 1) ( 0 0 1)

Warning: this large pop-up is very compute intensive and may not work well with some computers.

Crystal Structure:

Mouse
drag1 - LMB Manipulate Structure
drag2 - RMB Resize/Rotate
Keyboard
S - Stereo Pair on/off
H - Help Screen
I - Data Info
A - Atoms On/Off
P - Polyhedra On/Off
B - Bonds On/Off
Help on Above

Effenberger H , Zeitschrift fur Kristallographie , 165 (1983) p.127-135, Verfeinerung der kristallstruktur des monoklinen, dikupfer(II)-trihydroxi-nitrates Cu2(NO3)(OH)3, Locality: synthetic

Physical Properties of Gerhardtite

Cleavage:

{001} Perfect, {100} Good

Color:

Green, Dark green.

Density:

3.4 - 3.43, Average = 3.41

Diaphaneity:

Transparent

Hardness:

2 - Gypsum

Luster:

Vitreous (Glassy)

Streak:

light green

Optical Properties of Gerhardtite

Gladstone-Dale:

CI meas= -0.016 (Superior) - where the CI = (1-KPDmeas/KC)
CI calc= -0.021 (Excellent) - where the CI = (1-KPDcalc/KC)
KPDcalc= 0.2096,KPDmeas= 0.2087,KC= 0.2053
Ncalc = 1.7

Optical Data:

Biaxial (+), a=1.703, b=1.713, g=1.722, bire=0.0190, 2V(Calc)=86, 2V(Meas)=85.

Calculated Properties of Gerhardtite

Electron Density:

Bulk Density (Electron Density)=3.30 gm/cc
note: Specific Gravity of Gerhardtite =3.42 gm/cc.

Fermion Index:

Fermion Index = 0.05
Boson Index = 0.95

Photoelectric:

PE_Gerhardtite= 23.19 barns/electron
U=PE_Gerhardtite x rElectron Density= 76.52 barns/cc.

Radioactivity:

GRapi = 0 (Gamma Ray American Petroleum Institute Units)
Gerhardtite is Not Radioactive

Gerhardtite Classification

Dana Class:

19.01.01.01 (19)Nitrates - Hydroxyl or Halogen

(19.01)with miscellaneous formulae

(19.01.01)Dana Group

19.01.01.01 Gerhardtite Cu2(NO3)(OH)3 P 2₁2₁2₁ 2 2 2

19.01.01.02 Rouaite! Cu2(NO3)(OH)3 P 2₁ 2

Strunz Class:

05.NB.05 05 - CARBONATES (NITRATES)

05.N - NITRATES

05.NB -With OH

05.NB.05 Gerhardtite Cu2(NO3)(OH)3 P 2₁2₁2₁ 2 2 2

05.NB.05 Rouaite! Cu2(NO3)(OH)3 P 2₁ 2

Other Gerhardtite Information

References:

NAME( AntBidBlaNic3) PHYS. PROP.(Enc. of Minerals,2nd ed.,1990) OPTIC PROP.(Enc. of Minerals,2nd ed.,1990)

See Also:

Links to other databases for Gerhardtite :
1 - Am. Min. Crystal Structure Database
2 - Athena
3 - EUROmin Project
4 - Ecole des Mines de Paris
5 - Google Images
6 - Google Scholar
7 - Handbook of Mineralogy (MinSocAm)
8 - Handbook of Mineralogy (UofA)
9 - MinDAT
10 - MinMax(Deutsch)
11 - MinMax(English)
12 - Mineralienatlas (Deutsch)
13 - QUT Mineral Atlas
14 - Ruff.Info
15 - WWW-MINCRYST

Search for Gerhardtite using:

[ALTAVISTA] [AOL] [All-The-Web] [HotBot] [Ixquick] [MAMMA] [MSN.COM] [Netscape] [Scirus] [Teoma] [Wikipedia] [YAHOO]

Visit our Advertisers for Gerhardtite :

AA Mineral Specimens

B & L Fine Minerals

Crystalarium.com

Dan Weinrich Fine Minerals

Dan Weinrich Auctions

John Betts Fine Minerals

Mason's Minerals

Mineral News

Mineral of the Month Club

Wrights Rock Shop

Translate Gerhardtite Mineral Data :

Ask about Gerhardtite here :
Ask-A-Mineralogist from the Mineralogical Society of America
Mindat.org's Discussion Groups
Original Rockhounds Discussion Group
Rockhounds Discussion Group on Yahoo Groups
Mineral Discussion Forum from Fabre Minerals - also available in Español

Print or Cut-and-Paste your Gerhardtite Specimen Label here :

Gerhardtite

Cu2(NO3)(OH)3
Dana No: 19.01.01.01 Strunz No: 05.NB.05
Locality:

Notes: