Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the formula CaCO3, found in limestone, calcite, aragonite, gypsum, and marble. It is used in various industries and forms caves and speleothems. It has optical properties such as double refraction and unusual properties like fluorescence and triboluminescence.
Calcium carbonate is an important chemical compound consisting of a calcium atom bonded to a carbon atom and three oxygen atoms. Its molecular formula is CaCO3. Common names for this compound include limestone, calcite, aragonite, gypsum, and marble, and while they all contain the same substance, each has different processes behind its formation. Calcium carbonate is used in cement and mortar, lime production, steel industry, glass industry and as an ornamental stone.
This compound usually looks like a white powder or stone. It will fizz and release carbon dioxide when in contact with a strong acid, such as hydrochloric acid. After the carbon dioxide has been released, the remainder is calcium oxide (CaO), commonly called quicklime.
When calcium carbonate comes into contact with water saturated with carbon dioxide, it forms a soluble compound, calcium bicarbonate. Underground, this often leads to the formation of caves. The reaction is as follows: CaCO3 + CO2 + H2O → Ca(HCO3)2
Calcium carbonate becomes marble when it is highly compressed and heated deep beneath the earth’s surface. In caves, when dissolved by the aforementioned chemical mechanism, it creates magnificent speleothems: cave formations such as stalagmites, stalagmites, curtain walls, and dozens more. There are many mineral formations characteristic of this compound, but one of the most common forms is the scalenohedron, or “dogtooth spar”, due to its resemblance to a dog’s canine tooth.
In the form of calcite, this material has an interesting optical property: double refraction. This occurs when a ray of light enters the crystal and splits into distinct fast and slow beams. When an observer looks through the crystal, he sees two images of whatever is behind it.
Calcium carbonate has other unusual properties, such as fluorescence and triboluminescence. This means that when combined with a small amount of manganese and placed under a UV light, it glows a bright red. Under some conditions, the glow persists even when the UV light is removed. Triboluminescence, the property of showing light when crystal pieces are struck against each other, is more difficult to demonstrate, but it has been noticed.
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