Sylvite
Mineral KCl
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
Like halite but lighter, with a sharper, bitter taste; the main source of potash. Mined from evaporite beds in Saskatchewan, around Carlsbad, New Mexico, and at Stassfurt, Germany.
- Type
- Mineral
- Group
- Halide, halite group
- Formula
- KCl
- Hardness (Mohs)
- 2–2.5
- Specific gravity
- 1.99
- Streak
- white
- Lustre
- vitreous (glassy)
- Crystal system
- Isometric (cubic)
- Colours
- colourless, white, red, pink, blue
- Transparency
- transparent, translucent
- Cleavage and fracture
- perfect cubic
Typical values: real specimens vary. For more, see mindat.org.