Sulfur Mineral Data

General Sulfur Information

Chemical Formula:

Composition:

Molecular Weight = 256.53 gm

Sulfur 100.00 % S

______

100.00 %

Empirical Formula:

S₈

Environment:

Volcanic exhalations and bacterial reduction of sulfates in sediments.

IMA Status:

Valid Species (Pre-IMA) Prehistoric

Locality:

Notable localities are in Sicily, Italy and salt domes of the United States Gulf Coast. Link to MinDat.org Location Data.

Name Origin:

Sanskrit, sulvere = "sulfur;" Latin sulphurium.

Name Pronunciation:

Sulfur

Synonym:

ICSD 63082

PDF 8-247

Schwefel

Soufre

Sulfur Image

Images:

Coccinite Sulfur

Comments: Orange-red coccinite on sulfur. Due to the volatility of the mineral at room temperature, the sample is preserved in a closed vial. The photo was made through the vial, therefore the sharpness is reduced.
Location: Lichtenberg Mine, Ronneburg U Deposit, Gera district, Thuringia, Germany. Scale: Picture size 1 mm.
© Thomas Witzke / Abraxas-Verlag

Images:

Sulfur

Comments: Single complex crystal of sulfur on white, sucrosic aragonite.
Location: Girgenti, Sicily, Italy. Scale: Crystal size 4.5.
© John Veevaert

Images:

Metastibnite Sulfur

Comments: Red coatings of metastibnite with yellow sulfur.
Location: Steamboat Springs, Washoe County, Nevada, USA. Scale: See Photo.
© Jeff Weissman / Photographic Guide to Mineral Species

Sulfur Crystallography

Axial Ratios:

a:b:c =0.8135:1:1.9042

Cell Dimensions:

a = 10.45, b = 12.845, c = 24.46, Z = 16; V = 3,283.27 Den(Calc)= 2.08

Crystal System:

Orthorhombic - Dipyramidal H-M Symbol (2/m 2/m 2/m) Space Group: F ddd

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

By Intensity(I/I_o): 3.85(1), 3.21(0.6), 3.44(0.4),

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: ( 1 1 1) ( 1 1 2)

Warning: this java applet does not work in some browsers because of security restrictions.

Physical Properties of Sulfur

Cleavage:

{???} Imperfect, {???} Imperfect

Color:

Yellow, Yellowish brown, Yellowish gray, Reddish, Greenish.

Density:

2.05 - 2.09, Average = 2.06

Diaphaneity:

Transparent to translucent

Fracture:

Sectile - Curved shavings or scrapings produced by a knife blade, (e.g. graphite).

Habit:

Massive - Uniformly indistinguishable crystals forming large masses.

Habit:

Reniform - "Kidney like" in shape (e.g.. hematite).

Habit:

Stalactitic - Shaped like pendant columns as stalactites or stalagmites (e.g. calcite).

Hardness:

1.5-2.5 - Hardness very near Gypsum

Luminescence:

Non-fluorescent.

Luster:

Resinous

Streak:

white

Optical Properties of Sulfur

Optical Data:

Biaxial (+), a=1.9579, b=2.0377, g=2.2452, bire=0.2873, 2V(Calc)=70, 2V(Meas)=68.967. Dispersion relatively weak.

Calculated Properties of Sulfur

Electron Density:

Bulk Density (Electron Density)=2.08 gm/cc
note: Specific Gravity of Sulfur =2.08 gm/cc.

Fermion Index:

Fermion Index = 0.0075
Boson Index = 0.9925

Photoelectric:

PE_Sulfur= 5.40 barns/electron
U=PE_Sulfur x rElectron Density= 11.22 barns/cc.

Radioactivity:

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

Sulfur Classification

Dana Class:

01.03.05.01 (01)Native Elements

(01.03)with semi-metallic and non-metallic elements

(01.03.05)Sulfur Polymorph group

01.03.05.01 Sulfur S8 F ddd 2/m 2/m 2/m

01.03.05.02 Rosickyite S P 2/c 2/m

Strunz Class:

01.CC.05 01 - ELEMENTS (Metals and intermetallic alloys; metalloids and nonmetals; carbides, silicides, nitrides, phosphides)

01.C - Metalloids and Nonmetals

01.CC -Sulfur-selenium-iodine

01.CC.05 Sulfur S8 F ddd 2/m 2/m 2/m

01.CC.05 Rosickyite S P 2/c 2/m

Other Sulfur Information

References:

NAME( Emsley91) PHYS. PROP.(Enc. of Minerals,2nd ed.,1990) OPTIC PROP.(Enc. of Minerals,2nd ed.,1990)

See Also:

Links to other databases for Sulfur :
1 - Alkali-Nuts(English)
2 - Am. Min. Crystal Structure Database
3 - Amethyst Galleries' Mineral Gallery
4 - Athena
5 - Franklin Minerals(Dunn)
6 - GeoScienceWorld
7 - Glendale Community College
8 - Google Images
9 - Google Scholar
10 - HyperPhysics
11 - HyperPhysics
12 - MinDAT
13 - Mineral and Gemstone Kingdom
14 - Mineralienatlas (Deutsch)
15 - NSDL Reciprocal Net (JAVA)
16 - Online Mineral Museum
17 - Philatelic Mineralogy
18 - QUT Mineral Atlas
19 - Ruff.Info
20 - WWW-MINCRYST
21 - YupRocks
22 - theimage

Search for Sulfur using:

[AOL] [Bing] [Dog Pile] [GeoScienceWorld] [HotBot] [Ixquick] [Lycos] [MAMMA] [Scirus] [Teoma] [WebCrawler] [Wikipedia] [YAHOO]

Visit our Advertisers for Sulfur :

Ask about Sulfur 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 Sulfur Specimen Label here :

Sulfur

S8
Dana No: 01.03.05.01 Strunz No: 01.CC.05
Locality:

Notes:

Dakota Matrix
Excalibur Minerals
Exceptional Minerals
Hudson Insitute
John Betts Fine Minerals
Mc Dougall Minerals
Mineral News
Rock and Mineral Shows
Weinrich Minerals, Inc.