What you will receive

One 5ml glass vial of the mineral iron Pyrite in a granular like form as seen in pictures.


•Pyrite, or iron pyrite, more commonly known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula FeS2. Pyrite is considered the most common of the sulfide minerals.

•Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue give it a superficial resemblance to gold. The stark is the weight. Pyrite is 5g/cm3 while gold is 19.3g/cm3

•Pyrite is 6–6.5 on the Mohs hardness scale

• Iron pyrite is unstable in the natural environment: in nature it is always being created or being destroyed. Iron pyrite exposed to air and water decomposes into iron oxides and sulfate. This process is hastened by the action of Acidithiobacillus bacteria which oxidize the pyrite to produce ferrous iron and sulfate. These reactions occur more rapidly when the pyrite is in fine crystals and dust, which is the form it takes in most mining operations.

• Sulfate released from decomposing pyrite combines with water, producing sulfuric acid, leading to acid rock drainage. An example of acid rock drainage caused by pyrite is the 2015 Gold King Mine waste water spill.

• Pyrite oxidation is sufficiently exothermic that underground coal mines in high-sulfur coal seams have occasionally had serious problems with spontaneous combustion in the mined-out areas of the mine. The solution is to hermetically seal the mined-out areas to exclude oxygen.

•In modern coal mines, limestone dust is sprayed onto the exposed coal surfaces to reduce the hazard of dust explosions. This has the secondary benefit of neutralizing the acid released by pyrite oxidation and therefore slowing the oxidation cycle described above, thus reducing the likelihood of spontaneous combustion. In the long term, however, oxidation continues, and the hydrated sulfates formed may exert crystallization pressure that can expand cracks in the rock and lead eventually to roof fall.

• Pyrite enjoyed brief popularity in the 16th and 17th centuries as a source of ignition in early firearms, most notably the wheellock, where the cock held a lump of pyrite against a circular file to strike the sparks needed to fire the gun.

• Iron pyrite was heaped up and allowed to weather (an example of an early form of heap leaching). The acidic runoff from the heap was then boiled with iron to produce iron sulfate. In the 15th century, such leaching began to replace the burning of sulfur as a source of sulfuric acid. By the 19th century, it had become the dominant method.

• During the early years of the 20th century, pyrite was used as a mineral detector in radio receivers, and is still used by 'crystal radio' hobbyists. Until the vacuum tube matured, the crystal detector was the most sensitive and dependable detector available – with considerable variation between mineral types and even individual samples within a particular type of mineral. Pyrite detectors occupied a midway point between galena detectors and the more mechanically complicated perikon mineral pairs. Pyrite detectors can be as sensitive as a modern 1N34A germanium diode detector.

• Pyrite has been proposed as an abundant, inexpensive material in low-cost photovoltaic solar panels. Synthetic iron sulfide was used with copper sulfide to create the photovoltaic material.

• Pyrite is used to make marcasite jewelry. Marcasite jewelry, made from small faceted pieces of pyrite, often set in silver, was known since ancient times and was popular in the Victorian era. At the time when the term became common in jewelry making, "marcasite" referred to all iron sulfides including pyrite, and not to the orthorhombic FeS2 mineral marcasite which is lighter in color, brittle and chemically unstable, and thus not suitable for jewelry making. (Marcasite jewelry does not actually contain the mineral marcasite.)

• A newer commercial use for pyrite is as the cathode material in Energizer brand non-rechargeable lithium batteries.

• Pyrite and marcasite commonly occur as replacement pseudomorphs after fossils in black shale and other sedimentary rocks formed under reducing environmental conditions. However, pyrite dollars or pyrite suns which have an appearance similar to sand dollars are pseudofossils and lack the pentagonal symmetry of the animal.

Safety / Caution

•Keep out of reach from children!

•Do not ingest

• Pyrite is considered safe to mildly toxic depending on the type of exposure. (I.e dust created by pyrite is the mildly toxic form) Please do proper research before working with any new materials. 


Shipping

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International is additional