Good day dear hive friends, first of all I would like to welcome you to my contribution and hope you are all well! Here I would like to introduce a mineral a little more closely and hope you can learn something new.
Here you can see the mineral Strontianite which belongs to the mineral class of nitrates and carbonates and was first discovered in Scotland in Strontian. It was named by the naturalist Friedrich Gabriel Sulzer (1749 − 1830) who described it in 1771 and the element strontium was also named after this mineral. The appearance of the crystals can vary depending on the location and usually it forms coniferous crystals which often have the property of being fused together and often tend to form triplets and the color varies from colorless, yellow to green. The formation of strontianite can be traced back to volcanic activity and the most important places of discovery include Scotland, Switzerland, Germany, USA or France and it is often found together with other minerals such as celestine, calcite or baryte. The field of application is diverse and it is often used as an ore for the extraction of strontium and together with coelestin it was one of the most important minerals for the extraction of this element but nowadays mainly Celestine is used for these purposes.
Also from the defence industry, strontium was of great importance for the processing of steel and in the 19th century, a chemist managed to extract sugar beets into sugar for the first time with the help of strontianite, which made it more profitable for the production of molasses. Shortly afterwards, it became more and more popular and in the middle of the 19th Century hundreds of mines were built to boost production. Strontium is also used by the pharmaceutical industry in the production of X-ray machines and theoretically small quantities of this element occur in the human body and it is also of great importance as a fluorescent or for pyrotechnics. Strontianit is also used for the production of jewelry and is often associated with vitality, strength or self-confidence from a symbolic point of view and it can also have a positive effect on the psychic abilities or the chakra system. Sometimes it is also sold as a healing stone, but you should know that it is alternative medicine and you should ask your doctor for the right medicine!
Many thanks for stopping by and I hope you like my new contribution! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens!