Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Gypsum in the form of colorless clear crystals.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun [capitalized] A supposed inhabitant of the moon.
- noun A foliated or crystallized and transparent variety of gypsum, often obtained in large thin plates somewhat resembling mica; also, specifically, a thin plate of this mineral used with the polarizing apparatus of the microscope.
- noun In chem., a salt of selenium.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Chem.) A salt of selenious acid.
- noun (Min.) A variety of gypsum, occuring in transparent crystals or crystalline masses.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun mineralogy A
soft ,glassy form ofgypsum (chemical formulaCa S O 4·2H2O). - noun inorganic chemistry The
anion Se O32− derived fromselenous acid ; anysalt orester of selenous acid.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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There is a mineral called selenite which is also named after the word selene; however, selenite does not contain selenium.
Selenium 2008
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With this view, I will take a representative crystal, one easily dealt with, because it cleaves with great facility -- the crystal gypsum, or selenite, which is crystallized sulphate of lime.
Six Lectures on Light Delivered In The United States In 1872-1873 John Tyndall 1856
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Several typical examples of selenite crystals from this cave, ranging in length from 1.2 to 1.6 meters (4 to 4.25 feet), are displayed in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
Did you know? Chihuahua caves house the world's largest crystals 2009
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The monster crystals, over six meters long, are made of selenite, a crystalline form of the mineral gypsum (the number one ingredient in blackboard chalk!).
Did you know? Chihuahua caves house the world's largest crystals 2009
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Ten years later, super-large sword-shaped crystals of selenite were found in a cavern at a depth of 120 meters.
Did you know? Chihuahua caves house the world's largest crystals 2009
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For its pale translucence, this form of gypsum is known as selenite, named after Selene, the Greek goddess of the moon.
Did you know? Chihuahua caves house the world's largest crystals 2009
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This gypsum was still in solution, but was later precipitated out of solution as these astonishing selenite (hydrated calcium sulfate) crystals when the water containing it seeped into caverns.
Did you know? Chihuahua caves house the world's largest crystals 2009
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In two relatively small chambers, each the size of a small apartment, miners found incredibly large selenite crystals, some over six meters long.
Did you know? Chihuahua caves house the world's largest crystals 2009
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Ten years later, super-large sword-shaped crystals of selenite were found in a cavern at a depth of 120 meters.
Did you know? Chihuahua caves house the world's largest crystals 2009
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The first is that the selenite crystals began to grow in pre-existing steam-filled caverns as a direct result of the same hydrothermal fluids that formed the ore deposits.
Did you know? Chihuahua caves house the world's largest crystals 2009
treeseed commented on the word selenite
Selenite, satin spar, desert rose, and gypsum flower are the four crystalline varieties of gypsum.
_Wikipedia
February 14, 2008