Main index --- Minerals list --- Hardness index Fluorite Fluorite
Name:Fluorite
Derivation:From "fluere" (Latin) to flow
Formula: CaF2
Description: It is usually purple, but can be green, blue or yellow, or even clear. It is transparent or translucent. It can look a little like amethyst, but the surface is softer with lines from the crystals on it. Also the crystals are cubes, unlike the hexagonal quartz crystals.

Fluorite Fluorite Fluorite is used as a flux in smelting metals. It helps the metal ore to melt. This is where the derivation comes from.

The word "fluorescent" comes from the name of fluorite as it is fluorescent. If you look at it under ultra-violet light, it glows.

The sample on the right is Blue John. This is a type of fluorite from Derbyshire, which has bands of purple and white, and sometimes yellow. The name "Blue John" comes from the French "bleu jeune" or blue yellow. Blue John is a semi-precious stone, which has been used to make vases and ornaments since ancient times.

Larger pictures of Fluorite:

This cluster of crystals shows the uneven surface that you often get with natural fluorite. The white crystals are quartz.

Fluorite

These pale green crystals are cubic.

Fluorite

Here is a single pale blue cystal.

Fluorite

This specimen shows small crystals creating a larger shape.

Fluorite

This is an 'inside-out' crystal, with a cubic outside, and a cubic hole inside.

Fluorite

This specimen is cut and polished to show the pattern of purple and transparent stripes.

Fluorite

This natural specimen shows similar stripes, but also some yellow. It is Blue John (from "bleu jeune").

Fluorite

This cut and polished specimen shows purple and pale green.

Fluorite

This tumbled specimen is blue.

Fluorite

This shows the effect of light through transluscent purple fluorite.

Fluorite

This shows how transparent clear fluorite can be.

Fluorite