Talc: a stone with unique properties

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

Among minerals, there are often those whose properties are widely demanded not only in industry, but also in medicine and cosmetics. These include talc. This stone is known not as a mineral, but as a powder for children.

Oddly enough, but in nature it is almost the second most common after quartz rocks. It should be noted that talc is a stone only in its coarse-grained variety, which is more often called steatite.

Its color varies from green to pure white, and regardless of the shade, it is remarkable for its pearly luster. It is very soft and feels oily to the touch. On the Mohs scale, its hardness is rated as "1" (minimum level).

In its usual form, it is an oily coarse-grained powder, which is called "talc". This stone is widespread because the conditions of its formation for geology are quite standard.

Scientifically speaking, its chemical name is acidic magnesium metasilicate H2Mg3(SiO3)4. Its crystallization occurs in a rhombic or monoclinic type. In nature, it occurs in the form of leaf-shaped or granularformations.

From a geological point of view, talc is a secondary mineral, as it is formed after the chemical transformation of non-aluminum magnesium silicates. Often amphibole or pyroxene undergoes such metamorphoses.

Very often in appearance it can be confused with the "parent", as it completely retains its crystalline structure, differing only in chemical composition.

The talc itself, the photo of which is in the article, is valued because of its color: the whiter it is, the more the material is in demand. It should be noted that only the smallest talc is used in industry, ground to a very high quality.

No need to think that this material is found in nature in only one form. There are several varieties of it at once, which differ significantly both in their chemical composition and in physical properties:

• Minnesotaite (it contains up to 50% iron).
• Willemseit (includes nickel).
• Steatite (which is often called a wen), has an extremely dense and massive structure.
• Agalite. Unlike its predecessor, it is very fine-grained.
• Noble Talc: The best variety with a noble white color.

Most of all talc is mined in the USA. This breed is developed in large volumes in Brazil, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

So how is talc used? This stone has found application as a powder, "gasket" between rubber things, asfiller, and is also widely used by perfumers when creating new varieties of powder.

Only he is the most suitable for creating the best samples of this kind of cosmetics. By the way, professional tailors use only “chalk”, which is based on the same talc. In industry, its fine-grained varieties are used in the manufacture of electrical insulators.

By the way, how much does talc cost? Today, its price is about 1,000 rubles per kilogram of quality ground material.