Cryolite

Cryolite (Na3AlF6, sodium hexafluoroaluminate.) is an uncommon mineral of very limited natural distribution. Mostly considered a one locality mineral, for although there are a few other minor It was used as a solvent of the aluminium rich ore, bauxite, which is a combination of aluminium oxides such as gibbsite, boehmite and diaspore. It is very difficult to remove atoms of aluminium from atoms of oxygen which is necessary in order to produce aluminium metal. Cryolite made an excellent flux to make the process less expensive. Now natural cryolite is too rare to be used for this purpose and artificial sodium hexafluoroaluminate is produced to fill the void.

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A curious note about cryolite is the fact that it has a low index of refraction close to that of water. This means that if immersed in water, a perfectly clear colorless crystal of cryolite or powdered cryolite will essentially disappear. Even a specimen of cloudy cryolite will become more transparent and its edges will be less distinct, an effect similar to ice in water except that the ice floats.

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Sodium: Sodium is the chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Na (Natrium in Latin) and atomic number 11. Sodium is a soft, waxy, silvery reactive metal belonging to the alkali metals that is abundant in natural compounds (especially halite)....

Mineral: This article is about minerals in the geologic sense; for nutrient minerals see dietary mineral; for the band see Mineral (band)....

Aluminium: x...