Abstract
SPECIMENS of natural rocksalt are frequently coloured, the more usual colours being blue, violet and pink. Blue halite from Stassfurt in particular has received much attention, and many suggestions have been offered to account for the tint. Siedentopf's1theory that the colour is due to colloidal sodium was regarded generally as satisfactory until Spezia2 pointed out that its solution should then be more alkaline than that of the colourless form—which it is not. Doelter3 regards the colour as caused by foreign inclusions, colloidal or otherwise, and favours a mixture of iron and manganese, though sulphur and organic substances are not ruled out.
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References
Siedentopf, Phys. Z., 6, 855 (1905).
Spezia, Zentr. Min., 398 (1909).
Doelter, Monatsh., 52, 241 (1929).
Kennard, and others, Amer. Min., 22, 65 (1937).
Notably Przibram, Guthrie, Phipps and Brode .
See "Spectrum Analysis" by Strock (Hilger, 1936).
Friend and Allchin, NATURE, 144, 633 (1939).
Przibram, Chem. Zentr., 2, 753 (1936).
Based on Pollard, Analyst, 62, 597 (1937), and Jamieson and Watson ibid., 63, 702 (1938).
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FRIEND, J., ALLCHIN, J. Blue Rocksalt. Nature 145, 266–267 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/145266c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/145266c0
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