earth science

Lucabindiite

Lucabindiite is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lucabindiite rather than just read about it. In short: Lucabindiite is a mineral discovered in 1998 from the La Fossa crater at Vulcano, the Aeolian islands off the coast of Italy. It has the chemical formula (K,NH4)As4O6(Cl,Br) and is hexagonal.

Key takeaways

Lucabindiite belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lucabindiite to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lucabindiite from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lucabindiite is a mineral discovered in 1998 from the La Fossa crater at Vulcano, the Aeolian islands off the coast of Italy. It has the chemical formula (K,NH4)As4O6(Cl,Br) and is hexagonal. After months of collecting sublimates and encrustations, the researchers discovered lucabindiite which was found on the surface of pyroclastic breccia. The mineral is named after Luca Bindi, who was a professor of mineralogy and former head of the Division of Mineralogy of the Natural History Museum of the University of Florence.

Occurrence and physical properties The researchers discovered a minute amount of crystals of lucabindiite, therefore they could not perform a direct measurement of the refractive index. However, two other methods, Mandarino method (1981) and Korotkov–Atuchin method (2008), were used to estimate the average refractive index. These values are 1.92 and 1.88, respectively. The small amount they obtained made it difficult or impossible to measure other physical properties. The density was calculated at 3.68 g/cm3. The mineral is very brittle, shows no signs of cleavage, parting or fracture patterns, and hardness was not determined. Lucabindiite is formed by the occurrence of steam of hydrogen halogenides, and arsenic. Lucabiindite is also found in conjunction with arsenolite, K and NH4 halides, orpiment, realgar, kirkiite, and vurroite. Lucabindiite has a structure containing (001) layers of neutral As2O3 sheets. Each sheet is formed by pyramids and is connected by a shared interlayer oxygen.

Chemical and spectroscopic studies Lucabindiite has the chemical formula (K,NH4)As4O6(Cl,Br). A quantitative analysis was performed using energy dispersive spectroscopy due to the small sample size of 100 μm smeared on a 30 nm thick film of carbon. The chemical formula obtained from this method is [(K0.51(NH4)0.49]Σ1.00As4.00O5.93(Cl0.48Br0.40F0.19)Σ1.07 on the basis of 7 anions. The presence of ammonium was confirmed using the structure refinement and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. X-ray powder diffraction was performed on lucabindiite and the values calculated are: a = 5.2372(2)Å, c = 9.0085(7)Å, V = 213.98(2)Å3.

See also List of minerals named after people

References

Garavelli, A., Mitolo, D., Pinto, D., Vurro, F. (2013): Lucabindiite, (K,NH4)As4O6(Cl,Br), a new fumarole mineral from the "La Fossa" crater at Vulcano, Aeolian Islands, Italy. American Mineralogist, 98, 470–477. Mandarino, J.A. (1981) The Gladstone-Dale relationship. IV. The compatibility index and its application. Canadian Mineralogist, 19, 441–450. Korotkov, A.S. and Atuchin, V.V. (2008) Prediction of refractive index of inorganic compounds by chemical formula. Optics Communications, 281, 2132–2138.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lucabindiite

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lucabindiite claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lucabindiite before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lucabindiite ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lucabindiite

In research: Lucabindiite appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lucabindiite in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lucabindiite is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Arsenic minerals, Hexagonal minerals, Minerals in space group 191, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lucabindiite outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Lucabindiite in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lucabindiite means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lucabindiite out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lucabindiite in simple terms?

Lucabindiite is a mineral discovered in 1998 from the La Fossa crater at Vulcano, the Aeolian islands off the coast of Italy. It has the chemical formula (K,NH4)As4O6(Cl,Br) and is hexagonal.

Why does Lucabindiite matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lucabindiite?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lucabindiite.