Minerals can be opaque, meaning they block all light from passing through them; translucent, meaning they block some of the light; or transparent, meaning they pass most or all the light. A typical garnet or amethyst crystal is translucent; if you hold it up to a bright light, only a small fraction of the light entering the crystal ever reaches your eye, and you cannot see clear images through the crystal. Mica, a silicate mineral, can be cut into thin sheets so transparent that they serve as panes of a window. One colorless, transparent variety of calcite, dubbed "Iceland spar," exhibits a phenomenon called double refraction, which makes one object look like two. Another mineral, a borate called ulexite, occurs in thin parallel fibers that conduct light through them by total internal reflection, just like manufactured optical fibers. Ulexite seems to project an image onto the polished surface of the mineral, giving it the nickname "television stone."
- Catalog Number:
- 80542
- Specimen Count:
- 1
- Locality:
- US Pacific (CA, OR, WA)
- Collecting Locality:
- North America, United States, California
- Cabinet:
- 07
- Drawer/Shelf:
- 06
Demonstration of double refraction in calcite crystal
Photo courtesy of Gunnar Ries