Science

Bustamite is a calcium manganese inosilicate (chain silicate) and a member of the wollastonite group. It was named after General Anastasio Bustamente (1780-1853), of Mexico.…

Bunsenite is the naturally occurring form of nickel(II) oxide, NiO. It occurs as rare dark green crystal coatings. It crystallizes in the cubic crystal system…

“Trigon” is Greek for the triangle, and “metric” is Greek for measurement. The trigonometric ratios are special measurements of a right triangle (a triangle with…

Bultfonteinite, originally dutoitspanite, is pink to the colorless mineral with chemical formula Ca2SiO2(OH, F)4. It was named after the type locality at Bultfontein in the…

Bukovskyite (also known as “clay of Kutná Hora”) is an iron arsenate sulfate mineral with formula: Fe2(AsO4)(SO4)(OH)·7H2O which forms nodules with a reniform (kidney-shaped) surface.…

Bukovite is a rare selenide mineral with formula Tl2Cu3FeSe4. It is a brown to black metallic mineral which crystallizes in the tetragonal system. It was…

Buddingtonite is ammonium feldspar with the formula: NH4AlSi3O8 (note: some sources add 0.5H2O to the formula). It is the ammonia feldspar originally found at this…

Brushite is a phosphate mineral with the chemical formula CaHPO4·2H2O. It was named after Professor George Jarvis Brush (1831–1912), an American mineralogist associated with Yale…

Brucite is the mineral form of magnesium hydroxide, with the chemical formula Mg(OH)2. It is the mineral form of magnesium hydroxide, first discovered in 1824…

Brownmillerite is a rare oxide mineral with chemical formula Ca2(Al, Fe)2O5. It is named for Lorrin Thomas Brownmiller (1902–1990), chief chemist of the Alpha Portland…

Brookite is the orthorhombic variant of titanium dioxide, TiO2, which occurs in four natural polymorphic forms (minerals with the same composition but different structure). It…

Bronzite is a member of the pyroxene group of minerals, belonging to enstatite and hypersthene to the orthorhombic series of the group. Rather than a…