Arsenic
Mineral As
Also called Native arsenic
Take care.
- Contains arsenic: Wash your hands after handling it, don't make dust, and never heat it.
About it
Usually grey to black kidney-shaped masses with concentric layers; fresh surfaces are tin-white but darken quickly. Gives a garlic smell when struck or heated. Known from Saxony, Bohemia, and Japan.
- Type
- Mineral
- Group
- Native element, arsenic group
- Formula
- As
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 3.5
- Specific gravity
- 5.6–5.8
- Streak
- tin white
- Lustre
- metallic
- Crystal system
- Trigonal
- Colours
- tin white, tarnishing dark grey to black
- Transparency
- opaque
- Cleavage and fracture
- perfect basal; uneven fracture
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.