Zinc: An abundant,
lustrous, bluish-white,
metallic
element of the
magnesium-cadmium
group. Zinc is brittle at room temperature but malleable when heated. It is
used to form a wide variety of alloys
including Brass,
Britannia,
Bronze, various
solders, and
Nickel Silver. Because zinc is not easily
oxidized in moist air it is used for
sheeting, coating galvanized iron (and other
metals), for electric fuses, anodes, meter
cases, in roofing, gutters, and is also largely consumed in electric
batteries.
Zircon: A common
mineral occurring in small crystals which
is heated, cut, and
polished to form a brilliant blue-white
gem used as a refractory when
opaque and as a
gemstone when
transparent.. They are not man made
stones like cubic zirconia are (see Cubic Zirconia Rings ). Although
they are frequently color-treated, zircons occur naturally in clear, yellow,
orange, brown and red. They are a chief source of zirconium. See
Hyacinth.
Zoisite: Named after the man who discovered
it, Von Zois, an Austrian mineralogist, Zoisite is
opaque grayish or whitish
mineral with green or black streaks
occurring in rhombohedral crystals
or columnar masses. It is a silicate of
alumina and
lime, similar to epidote, and is
often found included with opaque
ruby (corundum).
Zoisite is found in Kenya, Norway, Austria, Western Australia, Italy, and
North Carolina. There is a purple-blue variant of it discovered in Tanzania in
1967 called Tanzanite. Zoisite has a
hardness of 6.5 on the Mohs scale.
