Physical Properties |
|
| Chemical formula | CaF2 |
| Class | Halide |
| Crystal system | Cubic |
| Habit | Cubic Octahedral Massive Granular |
| Color | Colorless Light green Blue-green Yellow Purple White (rare) Brown (rare) Rose (rare) |
| Hardness | 4 |
| Specific gravity | 3.18 |
| Cleavage | Perfect octahedral {1111} |
| Fracture | Conchoidal Splintery |
| Luster | Vitreous Resinous Dull |
| Transparency | Transparent to translucent |
| Streak | White |
Optical Properties |
|
| PPL | Usually colorless May be light purple or green Low relief May display octahedral cleavage |
| XPL | Isotropic |
| δ | None |
| Twinning | Penetration twins common |
Special Properties |
May fluoresce under UV light |
| after Perkins, 368-369 |
Fluorite in Hand Sample
Fluorite
Subhedral to euhedral light green fluorite
Purple and white fluorite
Scanning electron micrograph of fluorite
Fluorite in Thin Section
Thin section photos courtesy of Alessandro Da Mommio of alexstrekeisen.net.
