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Mohs Hardness:
6.5-7
Specific Gravity:
3.30 - 3.38
Reflective Index:
1.66
Jadeite is a member of the pyroxene group of
minerals, and nephrite,
a mineral related to actinolite and tremolite.
Pyroxene jade consists
wholly or largely of microscopic, crystalline,
commonly "blocky"
grains of jadeite. The size and arrangement of the
grains appears to
account for the unusual toughness of this
jade and also its relatively
common grainy or "dimpled" appearance,
which is evident when fractured
surfaces are viewed with a handlens or simple microscope.
Some jadeitic jade -- e.g. that from the famous
Myanmar (formerly Burma
) localities -- contains noteworthy amounts of other
minerals such as
acmite, actinolite, albite, analcime, edenite,
diopside, enstatite,
kosmochlor, muscovite, natrolite, nepheline,
prehnite, richterite,
tremolite and wollastonite. Geologists, in
particular, refer to these
impure jades by special names -- e.g., those with
noteworthy amounts of
diopside and/or acmite, which are typically
dark green or nearly black,
are often termed chloromelanite. Jadeite: H. 6?- 7
(typically slightly
harder than nephrite); S.G. 3.3-3.5; many jade
boulders have reddish,
yellowish, orangy or brownish rinds.
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