Nitratine
Mineral NaNO3
Also called Nitratite, Soda niter, and Chile saltpetre
Take care.
- Damaged by water: Keep it dry: don't wash it, and keep it out of damp places.
- Breaks down in damp air: Keep it dry and in steady humidity; some crumble or rot as they take on moisture.
About it
Colourless crusts that cleave into rhombs like soft calcite, dissolve readily, and draw water from damp air. Huge beds in Chile's Atacama Desert were mined as Chile saltpetre for fertilizer and explosives.
- Type
- Mineral
- Group
- Nitrate
- Formula
- NaNO3
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 1.5–2
- Specific gravity
- 2.24–2.29
- Streak
- white
- Lustre
- vitreous (glassy)
- Crystal system
- Trigonal
- Colours
- colourless, white, grey, yellowish, reddish brown
- Transparency
- transparent
- Cleavage and fracture
- perfect rhombohedral
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.