Litharge
Mineral PbO
Take care.
- Contains lead: Wash your hands after handling it, keep it away from children, and don't make dust.
About it
Rare red scales and crusts of lead oxide, very heavy, often coating or mixed with yellow massicot on weathering lead ores. Much 'litharge' seen is a smelter or furnace product rather than a natural mineral.
- Type
- Mineral
- Group
- Oxide
- Formula
- PbO
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 2
- Specific gravity
- 9.1–9.4
- Streak
- red
- Lustre
- greasy, dull
- Crystal system
- Tetragonal
- Colours
- red
- Transparency
- transparent, translucent
- Cleavage and fracture
- distinct in one direction
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.