Joesmithite

The Joesmithite mineral was named after Joseph Victor Smith. Joseph Victor Smith was born in 1928 and later died in 2007. As a young boy on his parents farm north of England, Joseph Victor Smith often wondered why part of the moon was white and part of it was black. In Dec of 1969 the question that often pondered his mind as a child began to once again trouble him. He reached a conclusion that the black material was basalt, this is no more than solidified lava. Additionally, Smith reached the verdict that the white color in the moon was rock enriched with feldspar. It was Smith determination the feldspar crystals, being lighter than that of basalt, floated to areas of the moon when part of the planet was melted lava. Joseph Victor Smith endured much criticism for his theory but during an interview in 1999 he noted that his theory of the hot moon had much more effect and support over the theory of cooler models.

Smith had an overwhelming concern for our environment and the preservation of the earth. In the 1980’s his concern for threats to the human race presented by the earth (comets, colliding, asteroids and other natural hazards) within a combination of articles and conferences. Smith received the Roebling Medal in 1982 and in 1998 he organized the National Academy of Sciences Colloquium on Geology, Mineralogy, and Human Welfare. Smith documented more than 400 scientific articles that where published in journal such as Science, Nature, Journal of Geology, and Scientific America.

Joesmithite is one of the most unique clinoamphiboles in the process same space group P2/a. P2/a is one of the sub groups that belongs to C2/m and can be generated by the process of suppressing inversion centers in a larger group. It is noted that the long paired-bond interaction by the “A” site in the clinoamphiboles maintain only the inversion centers and later cells translate to P2/a. Rotations and reflections of the Joesmithite can accommodate the stereo active lone pair but inversion cannot. The displacement of the PB -“A” is a typical displacement of Pb^2+. The PB atomic location is well combined and therefore does not split. This leaves the conclusion that the lone pair was stereo chemically active throughout the growth process of the Joesmithite crystals.
Joesmithite is known as a rare clinoamphiboles culled from the only know location in Langban Sweden, Sweden. The composition of Joesmithite is highly peculiar because it is a beryllosilisate with PbcA. It is very important to know that neither the composition of the Joesmithite nor any additional site would degrade the symmetry of a same cell relationship that would be decomposed by suppressing an inversion center. The space group containing P2/a is one of the groups that contains the clinoamphiboles structures which is one of the most uniqueness of all the minerals. The structure of Joesmithite has been classified as a topochemically classic clinoamphiboles without the “A” site at its origin. It is important to know that all moderate to strong intensity distribution and centric morphology requires P2/a to be a part of the chemical equation. Joesmithite is not considered an enigma. The lone pair affiliated with 6s^2+ at purported (0 ½ 0) creates a break in symmetry. Several tested examples have proven that the stereo active lone pair need not break the symmetry at any point thus allowing a degree of freedom such as rotation or reflection but it should either destroy the symmetry or split the PB in 2 symmetrically halves. Since it is a known fact that all other sites in the Josmithite structure incorporate ions that are not stereo active it is accurate to state that most likely the culprit for symmetry breaks. This group-sub group relations was overlooked because the origin shift for C2/m required a translation to the 2nd kind of inversion centers. Joesmithite is only located in Langban Sweden. Langban is one of many mining areas in Varland, belonging to the Filipstad Municipality. The nearest city is Filipstad which is 21 km south. Between the years of 1711 to 1972 the location was systematically mined, but has been traced from the 15th century. Langban is also known as the birth place of John Ericsson, a Swedish American inventor.

Initially, mining was done for manganese ore and iron ore but over 300 minerals have been found. These minerals have been divided into two classes (A) Those that are considered fairly well established plus having been named and place in a determinative system; and (B) those presently known properties limited to the knowledge gain by more or less superficial examination. Those in the class (B) are indicated by numbers in a special collection of types. All the minerals in the class belonging to (B) except Riksmusett have been collected within the last 10 years.

Some of the characteristics of the Joesmithite mineral is its color is black. It has a light brown streak that is found to be transparent to translucent in appearance. It can leave a light brown streak when rubbed on white porcelain. The density of Joesmithite mineral is found 3.83 gm per cubic cm. The Mohs scale method measured the mineral at 5.5 in hardness. Additionally, the mineral Joesmithite is found with a subadamantine luster in reflective light of a microscope which is polarizing.

Reference
Hawthorne, F.C (1983) The Crystal Chemistry of the Amphiboles, Canadian Mineralogist, 21, 173-480

Henry, N.F.M., Lonsdale, K Eds. (1969) International tables for X-ray crystallography, 1, Symmetry groups, p. 95-97. Kynoch Press, Birmingham, England.

Moore, P.B. (1968) Joesmithite, a new amphibole crystal chemistry. Mineralogical Society of America Special paper 2, 111-115.

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