Monthly Archives: October 2019

Tetrahedrite

Tetrahedrite

  • named after its common outer shape – a tetrahedron
  • because of its relative high copper content it is also a (minor) ore of copper
  • Formula: Cu12[S|(SbS3)4]
  • Space group: I-43m (No. 217)
  • Crystal system: cubic
  • Crystal class: -43m
  • Lattice parameters: a = bc = 10.448 Å, α = β = γ  = 90°

Picture: Carles Millan – http://www.mindat.org/photo-176605.html  | CC BY-SA-3.0


Crystal structure (click on the picture to download the VESTA file):

(K. Momma and F. Izumi, “VESTA 3 for three-dimensional visualization of crystal, volumetric and morphology data,”J. Appl. Crystallogr., 44, 1272-1276 (2011).)

  • SbS3 pyramids (purple)
  • CuS3 trigonal planar coordination (cyan)
  • CuStetrahedra (blue)
  • Copper (blue)
  • Sulfur (yellow)
  • Antimony (purple)

For a 3D interactive version on sketchfab, see here:

https://skfb.ly/6Or6R

Advertisement