Herbertsmithsite


According to MINDAT, this mineral gained broad scientific attention in March 2007 when it was reported that it has very specific and unusual physical properties that make it behave as a new type of matter (as defined by an emerging physics theories): For the New Scientist article– click here . This is fascinating reading I had known nothing about until I stumbled into this! An excerpt: Herbertsmithite (pictured) is unusual because its electrons are arranged in a triangular lattice. Normally, electrons prefer to line up so that their spins are in the opposite direction to that of their immediate neighbours, but in a triangle this is impossible - there will always be neighbouring electrons spinning in the same direction. Wen and his colleagues propose that such a system would be a string-net liquid. Although herbertsmithite exists in nature, the mineral contains impurities that disrupt any string-net signatures, says Lee. So Lee's team made a pure sample in the lab. "It was painstaking," says Lee. "It took us a full year to prepare it and another year to analyse it.” The team measured the degree of magnetisation in the material, in response to an applied magnetic field. If herbertsmithite behaves like ordinary matter, they argue, then below about 26 °C the spins of its electrons should stop fluctuating - a condition called magnetic order. But the team found no such transition, even down to just a fraction above absolute zero.

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herb01 - Herbertsmithite - $1250
Dump Area west of Caracoles, Sierra Gorda District, Tocopilla Province, Antofagasta Region, Chile
small cabinet, 6.3 x 4.2 x 3.2 cm
CLICK HERE FOR LARGER IMAGE:

This very rare copper mineral is here present as beautiful sparkling crystals to about 1 mm, like broken green glass sprinkled on a white matrix! Hundreds of crystals are present and this specimen is one of the two largest and richest in the find, that I saw among the material shown me at Munich 2007. This particular specimen has many very sharp, eye-visible crystals. MUCH BETTER IN PERSON!


herb02 - Herbertsmithite - $200 SOLD
Dump Area west of Caracoles, Sierra Gorda District, Tocopilla Province, Antofagasta Region, Chile
miniature, 4.5 x 4.4 x 2.7 cm
CLICK HERE FOR LARGER IMAGE:

This very rare copper mineral is here present as beautiful sparkling crystals to about .2 mm, like broken green glass sprinkled on a white matrix! Associated with turquoise? MUCH BETTER IN PERSON!


herb03 - Herbertsmithite - $300 SOLD
Dump Area west of Caracoles, Sierra Gorda District, Tocopilla Province, Antofagasta Region, Chile
small cabinet, 6.2 x 4.3 x 2.3 cm
CLICK HERE FOR LARGER IMAGE:

This very rare copper mineral is here present as beautiful sparkling microcrystals (though most are smaller than 0.2mm, some few are larger), like broken green glass sprinkled on a white matrix! Hundreds of crystals are present in several depositional layers in the top of this specimen.


herb04 - Herbertsmithite - $1000
Dump Area west of Caracoles, Sierra Gorda District, Tocopilla Province, Antofagasta Region, Chile
small cabinet, 6.3 x 4.3 x 3.2 cm
CLICK HERE FOR LARGER IMAGE:

This very rare copper mineral is here present as beautiful sparkling crystals to about 1 mm, like broken green glass sprinkled on a white matrix! Hundreds of crystals are present and this specimen is one of the two largest and richest in the find, that I saw among the material shown me at Munich 2007. This particular specimen has many very sharp, eye-visible crystals. Some damaged spots but many crystals are well-protected in crevasses. Aside from its rarity, the sheer overall impact of color and sparkle is extremely impressive! MUCH BETTER IN PERSON!


herb05 - Herbertsmithite - $750
Dump Area west of Caracoles, Sierra Gorda District, Tocopilla Province, Antofagasta Region, Chile
miniature, 5.6 x 5.2 x 2.5 cm
CLICK HERE FOR LARGER IMAGE:

This very rare copper mineral is here present as beautiful sparkling crystals to about 1mm at largest (though most are smaller), like broken green glass sprinkled on a white matrix! MUCH BETTER IN PERSON!


herb06 - Herbertsmithite - $450
Dump Area west of Caracoles, Sierra Gorda District, Tocopilla Province, Antofagasta Region, Chile
miniature, 4.0 x 2.4 x 1.6 cm
CLICK HERE FOR LARGER IMAGE:

This very rare copper mineral is here present as beautiful sparkling crystals to about 1mm at largest (though most are smaller), like broken green glass sprinkled on a white matrix! This is a very rich miniature that is quite 3-dimensional in person. MUCH BETTER IN PERSON!


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Rob Lavinsky, rob@irocks.com

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