calcite

[ kal-sahyt ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

one of the commonest minerals, calcium carbonate, CaCO 3 , found in a great variety of crystalline forms: a major constituent of limestone, marble, and chalk; calc-spar.

calcite

/ ˈkælsaɪt; kælˈsɪtɪk /

a colourless or white mineral (occasionally tinged with impurities), found in sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, in veins, in limestone, and in stalagmites and stalactites. It is used in the manufacture of cement, plaster, paint, glass, and fertilizer. Composition: calcium carbonate. Formula: CaCO 3 . Crystal structure: hexagonal (rhombohedral)

calcite

/ kăl′sīt′ /

A usually white, clear, pale-yellow or blue orthorhombic mineral. Calcite occurs in many different forms and is the main component of chalk, limestone, and marble. It is a polymorph of aragonite. Chemical formula: CaCO 3 .

Origin of calcite¹

First recorded in 1840–50; calc- + -ite ¹

Her bones stick up from the ground, and water has sealed them with a sparkling calcite coating.

Aragonite, a mineral formed of calcium carbonate crystallized in the rhombic system; specific gravity 2.94 (compare Calcite).

Sandstone mortar, eye in green glaze , the other objects as in N. 1, but with the addition of tablets of calcite and lead.

In the first class 74 are included sulphur and ammonium nitrate; monotropy is exhibited by aragonite and calcite.

The emerald occurs in nests of calcite in a black bituminous limestone containing ammonites of Lower Cretaceous age.

These cave formations are all composed of the mineral calcite, which forms all lime rock.

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