What are the physical properties of quartz

Quartz is a mineral resource with stable physical and chemical properties, and its physical characteristics are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

appearance
Color: Pure quartz is colorless and transparent, appearing in various colors due to the presence of trace pigment ions or finely dispersed inclusions, or the presence of color centers, such as purple transparent or semi transparent amethyst (which can be decolorized by heating), light rose colored and dense semi transparent quartz, etc. Quartz sand comes in various colors, often milky white, colorless, or gray.
Transparency: It can be semi transparent or transparent, and when it contains a small amount of impurities, the transparency will decrease.
Gloss: Glass gloss, with a grease gloss on the fracture surface.
Crystal System: Triangular or Hexagonal, with crystal forms such as equiaxed, columnar, hexagonal bipyramidal, etc., and collective forms such as blocky, coarse-grained, and bell like.
Mechanical property
Hardness: The Mohs hardness is 7, with a hard texture and brittleness. Its surface hardness can reach as high as 7.5 Mohs hardness, which is much higher than the sharp tools used in the kitchen such as knives and shovels. It will not be scratched by it, and quartz crystal is a natural mineral with a hardness second only to diamond in nature.
Cleavage and fracture surface: No cleavage, with a shell like fracture surface.
Specific gravity: The specific gravity is 2.65 grams per cubic centimeter.
optical properties
High transparency: Taking quartz as an example, it is a material with high transparency, allowing light to easily pass through.
Birefringence property: It can divide light into two independent polarization directions. For example, placing a polarizing mirror on a quartz plate can change the polarization direction of the light, thereby altering the intensity of the light passing through the quartz plate.
electrical properties
Piezoelectric effect: Quartz chips are piezoelectric materials, and if an electric field is applied between the two plates of the chip, the crystal will undergo mechanical deformation; On the contrary, if mechanical force is applied between the plates, an electric field will be generated in the corresponding direction. When the frequency of the applied alternating voltage is equal to the natural frequency of the chip, piezoelectric resonance phenomenon will occur. This property is widely used in electronics, such as in quartz resonators, to generate stable oscillation signals.
Insulation: Quartz sheets are excellent insulators that can maintain good electrical insulation under high electric fields, and are therefore widely used in circuit boards and other electronic devices.
thermal properties
Quartz sheet is a highly stable material that can maintain stability at high temperatures. It is also a good thermal conductor that can quickly transfer heat to the surrounding environment, making it widely used in high-temperature environments. For example, in quartz tubes, stable electron beams can be generated by heating quartz sheets.