Feldspar

Definition: Feldspar

Feldspar

Noun

1. Any of a group of hard crystalline minerals that consist of aluminum silicates of potassium or sodium or calcium or barium.

Date "feldspar" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1864. (references)

Specialty Definitions: Feldspar

Domain	Definitions
Chemistry	Any of a group of usu. white or nearly white, flesh-red, bluish, or greenish minerals that are closely related in crystalline form, that are all aluminum silicates with potassium, sodium, calcium, or barium. Source: European Union. (references)
Geological	Family of silicate minerals containing varying amounts of potassium, sodium and calcium along with aluminum, silicon and oxygen. Potassium feldspars contain considerable potassium. Plagioclase feldspars contain considerable sodium and calcium. Feldspar crystals are stubby prisms, generally white, gray, or pink. (references)
Mining	A. A monoclinic or triclinic mineral with the general formula XZ4 O 8 where (X= Ba,Ca,K,Na,NH4 ) and (Z= Al,B,Si); a group containing two high-temperature series, plagioclase and alkali feldspar; colorless or white and clear to translucent where pure; commonly twinned; 90 degrees or near 90 degrees prismatic cleavage; Mohs hardness, 6. Constituting 60% of the Earth's crust, feldspar occurs in all rock types and decomposes to form much of the clay in soil, including kaolinite. Also spelled felspar, feldspath. CF:sanidine b. The mineral group albite, andesine, anorthite, anorthoclase, banalsite, buddingtonite, bytownite, celsian, hyalophane, labradorite, microcline, oligoclase, orthoclase, paracelsian, plagioclase, reedmergnerite,sanidine, and slawsonite. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Feldspar

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Feldspar\ (from the German Feld, field, and Spat, a rock that does not contain ore) is the name of an important group of rock-forming minerals which make up perhaps as much as 60% of the Earth's crust. They crystallize from magma in both intrusive and extrusive rocks; they occur as compact minerals, as veins, and are developed in many types of metamorphic rock. They may also be found in many types of sedimentary rock.

This group of minerals consists of three silicates: a potassium-aluminium silicate (the orthoclase feldspars), a sodium-aluminium silicate, and a calcium-aluminium silicate (the plagioclase feldspars) and their isomorphous mixtures.

Orthoclase feldspars

Orthoclase (KAlSi₃O₈) is named based on the Greek for "straight fracture," because its two cleavages are at right angles to each other. It has a hardness of 6, a specific gravity of 2.56-2.58, and a vitreous to pearly lustre. It can be colored white, gray, yellow or red; rarely green. Twin crystals are not uncommon. Orthoclase is a common constituent of many igneous rocks and is often found in huge masses in pegmatite veins. Orthoclase is used in the manufacture of porcelain and as a constituent of scouring powder. Adularia (from Adular) is essentially pure potassium silicate; when pearly and opalescent it is called moonstone and is used in jewelry. These opalescent varieties are known to be an intergrowth of orthoclase and albite. A glassy kind of orthoclase, called sanidine, is found in the trachytes of the Drachenfels, Germany.

Microcline (KAlSi₃O₈) is chemically the same as orthoclase, but belongs to the triclinic system, the prism angle being slightly less than right angles; hence the name "microcline" from the Greek "small slope." Microcline is identical to orthoclase in all physical properties and can be distinguished only by optical examination; under a polarizing microscope microcline exhibits a minute multiple twinning which results from a grating-like structure that is unmistakeable. It is probable that much orthoclase is actually microcline. Amazon stone, or amazonite, is a beautiful green variety of microcline. It is not found anywhere in the Amazon basin, however, Spanish explorers who named it apparently confused it with another green mineral from that region.

A soda microcline named anorthoclase is known, which is an isomorphous mixture of KAlSi₃O₈ and NaAlSi₃O₈, the sodium-aluminium silicate being in larger proportion. The sodium feldspar albite (NaAlSi₃O₈) and the calcium feldspar anorthite (CaAl₂Si₂O₈) form an isomorphous series from pure albite at one end and pure anthorite at the other, the molecules being completely miscible with each other. The members of this series are known as the soda-lime (or lime-soda) feldspars, and as a group are called the plagioclase feldspars (from the Greek meaning "oblique fracture," in reference to the two not-quite-right-angle cleavages). Always present are striations, fine parallel lines, resulting from minute multiple twinning which is never seen on orthoclase or microcline.

Plagioclase feldspars

More or less arbitrarily, four intermediate plagioclase feldspars are recognized between albite and anorthite.

Plagioclases
Name % NaAlSi₃O₈ % CaAl₂Si₂O₈

Albite 100-90 0-10

Oligoclase 90-70 10-30

Andesine 70-50 30-50

Labradorite 50-30 50-70

Bytownite 30-10 70-90

Anorthite 10-0 90-100

Plagioclases
Name	% NaAlSi₃O₈	% CaAl₂Si₂O₈
Albite	100-90	0-10
Oligoclase	90-70	10-30
Andesine	70-50	30-50
Labradorite	50-30	50-70
Bytownite	30-10	70-90
Anorthite	10-0	90-100

Albite is named from the Latin albus, in reference to its unusually pure white color. It is a relatively common and important rock-making mineral associated with the more acid rock types and in pegmatite dikes, often with rarer minerals like tourmaline and beryl.

Anorthite was named by Rose in 1823 from the Greek meaning oblique, referring to its triclinic crystallization. Anorthite is characeristic of the basic igneous rocks such as gabbro and basalt.

The intermediate members of the plagioclase group are very similar to each other and cannot be distinguished except by optical means.

Oligoclase is common in granite, syenite, diorite and gneiss. It is a frequent associate of orthoclase. The name oligoclase is derived from the Greek for little and fracture, in reference to the fact that its cleavage angle differs significantly from 90°. Sunstone is mainly oligoclase (sometimes albite) with flakes of hematite.

Andesine is a characteristic mineral of rocks such as diorite which contain a moderate amount of silica and related extrusives such as andesite.

Labradorite is the characteristic feldspar of the more basic rock types such as diorite, gabbro, andesite or basalt and is usually associated with one of the pyroxenes or amphiboles. Labradorite frequently shows an iridescent display of colors due to minute inclusions of another mineral. It is named after Labrador, where it is a constituent of anorthosite.

Bytownite, named after the former name for Ottawa, Canada (Bytown), is a rare mineral occasionally found in more basic rocks.

Synonym: Feldspar

Synonym: felspar (n). (additional references)

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Crosswords: Feldspar

English words defined with "feldspar": Adularia, albite, albitic, Amazon stone, Andesine, anorthite, atomic number 14, Aventurine feldspar ♦ basalt ♦ Chesterlite, china clay, china stone ♦ Diabase, Dolerite ♦ Feldspathose, Felsite, Felspath ♦ Granulite, Graphic granite, Gtraystone ♦ Hornblende slate, Hyalophane ♦ Ice spar ♦ kaolin, kaoline, Kaolinization ♦ Labrador feldspar, Labradorite, Lath-shaped ♦ Miascite, Microcline, moonstone ♦ Necronite, Norite ♦ orthoclase ♦ Perthite, porcelain clay, Porphyritic granite ♦ Sanidine, Saussurite, SI, silicon, spar, Stinkstone, Syenite ♦ terra alba, Trachyte ♦ white feldspar. (references)

Specialty definitions using "feldspar": adularescence, alkali feldspar, alkali granite, alkalic feldspar, alpha celsian, antiperthite, arkosite, aventurescence ♦ banakite, barium feldspar, BATCH-AND-FURNACE OPERATOR, bostonitic ♦ calcium feldspar, capel lode, cascadite, chesterite, china-clay rock, chlorophaeite, common feldspar, Cornish stone, cornubianite, crush border ♦ derivative structure ♦ essexite, eutectic texture, expansion fissure ♦ feldspar conventio, feldspar jig, feldspar sunstone, feldspar-type washbox, feldspathic emery, feldspathization, felty, fenite, Fersman's law, flake mica, flaser gabbro, frit maker, furnace attendant ♦ glassy feldspar, glassy feld-spar, GLAZE MAKER, granitic rock, granodiorite, greisenization ♦ haelleflinta, heterotomous, highwoodite ♦ jadeitite ♦ K-feldspar, K-spar ♦ Labrador spar, Labrador stone, larvikite, lead feldspar, leelite, leptynolite, leucophyre, lime feldspar, lithic arenite, lithospar ♦ mortar structure ♦ nephelinite, nonmetallic mineral ♦ orthophyric, orthose ♦ perthorite, potash feldspar, potash syenite, pottery spar ♦ quarfeloids, quartz index, quartz latite ♦ rhombic quartz, rhyacolite, rhyodacite, runic texture ♦ sand seam, shonkinite, shoshonite, simple mineral, soda feldspar, soda spar, sodalitite, sodium feldspar, sodium-calcium feldspar, spilite, subarkose, subgraywacke, subophitic, syenogabbro, synneusis ♦ tank-and-batch operator, tonalite, trachyandesite, trachybasalt ♦ ulrichite ♦ vermicular quartz, vogesite ♦ washbox. (references)

Etymologies containing "feldspar": Anorthosite ♦ Felsite ♦ Pegmatite. (references)

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Commercial Usage: Feldspar

Domain	Title
Books	Feldspar Diagenesis in Cambrian Clastic Rocks of the Southern Ozark Mountains and Reelfoot Rift, Southeastern Missouri and Northeastern Arkasas (reference) Feldspar Mineralogy (Reviews in Mineralogy: Vol 2) (reference) Feldspar minerals (reference) Feldspar Minerals: Crystal Structures, Physical, Chemical, and Microtextural Properties (reference) Feldspar prize stories (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Feldspar

Subject	Topic	Quote
Economic History	Hong Kong	Natural resources: Outstanding deepwater harbor, feldspar. (references)
	Uzbekistan	In addition to these minerals, Uzbekistan produces natural gas, silver, zinc, wolfram, lead, sulfuric acid, feldspar, cadmium, molybdenum concentrate, kaolin, and others. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Feldspar

"Feldspar" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 82.14% of the time. "Feldspar" is used about 28 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	82.14%	23	72,767
Lexical Verb (base form)	14.29%	4	175,879
Noun (proper)	3.57%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	28	N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expressions: Feldspar

Expressions using "feldspar": Aventurine feldspar ♦ Glassy feldspar ♦ Labrador feldspar ♦ white feldspar. Additional references.
Hypenated Usage
	Ending with "feldspar": potash-feldspar, quartz-feldspar.
	Containing "feldspar": quartz-feldspar-mica, quartz-feldspar-rock.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Feldspar

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day
feldspar	43
feldspar twinning	33
feldspar potassium	7
feldspar sodium	4
feldspar india	3
feldspar weathering	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Feldspar

Language		Translations for "feldspar"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaan		veldspaat (felspar). (various references)

Albanian		feldspat (felspar), shpat fushor. (various references)

Arabic		‏الفلسبار سليكات الألمونيوم. (various references)

Bulgarian		фелдшпат (felspar), полски шпат. (various references)

Chinese		长石 (Felspar). (various references)

Danish		feldspat (feldspath). (various references)

Dutch		veldspaat (feldspath, felspar). (various references)

Finnish		maasälpä. (various references)

French		feldspath (feldspath, felspar). (various references)

German		Feldspat (feldspath, felspar). (various references)

Greek		αστριόσ. (various references)

Hungarian		földpát (felspar). (various references)

Italian		feldspato, feldspati (feldspath). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		長石 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ちょうせき (constantly, from morning until night, morning and evening, tide). (various references)

Korean		장석 (Felspar). (various references)

Pig Latin		eldsparfay

Portuguese		simular (affect, assume, camouflage, counterfeit, feign, feigned, make believe, palter, play actor, pretend, purport, put on, sham, simulate). (various references)

Romanian		feldspat. (various references)

Russian		полевой шпат (felspar). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		feldspat (felspar). (various references)

Spanish		feldespato (felspar). (various references)

Swedish		fältspat (felspar). (various references)

Thai		แร่หิน� ูเขาไฟ. (various references)

Turkish		feldispat (felspar). (various references)

Ukranian		польовий шпат (felspar). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Feldspar

Derivations
	Words beginning with "feldspar": feldspars. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Feldspar" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: feldespar, feldspaer, felspar, Fjeldstad. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Feldspar"

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "feldspar" (pronounced fe"ldspÄ'r)
4	-s p Ä' r	fluorspar.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Feldspar

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-d-e-f-l-p-r-s"
	-1 letter: fardels, felspar, pedlars.
	-2 letters: alders, drapes, faders, falser, fardel, farles, flared, flares, laders, lapsed, lapser, padles, padres, parled, parles, parsed, pearls, pedals, pedlar, pleads, rasped, spader, spared, spread.
	-3 letters: alder, alefs, apers, apres, arles, asper, dales, dares, deals, dears, delfs, drape, earls, fader, fades, false, fards, fared, fares, farle, farls, fears, feral, flaps.
	Words containing the letters "a-d-e-f-l-p-r-s"
	+1 letter: feldspars, pedalfers.
	+4 letters: frankpledges.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.