New mineral discovered at the University of Florence: ferrofettelite
There is a new mineral in nature. was discovered by a researcher at the University of Florence: ferrofettelite, a sulphosal of silver (a subtype of the already known fettelite), and to identify it was Luca Bindi, professor of Mineralogy at the Florentine University. a record mineral: in fact the penny discovered by Bindi, who in the course of his career has about 2% of the 5,700 minerals known in nature. Most of the new materials were discovered in the patrimony of the collections of the Museum System of the Florentine University, which collects about 50 thousand specimens. The researcher is responsible for a further action: among the 100 minerals he described, 13 are extraterrestrials (almost 3% of the 470 discovered), identified in meteorite fragments. Among them are also unique the two natural quasicrystals documented in nature, icosahedrite and decagonite.
The ferrofettelite was found in a rock sample extracted in the Odenwald mine in Germany and deposited in the mineralogical collections of the University of Arizona Gem and Mineral Museum: hence the sample sent to Florence to be studied by Bindi, the Italian scientist who identified the highest number of new minerals and among the top ten researchers in the world who they have described new mineralogical species. The discovery was then certified by the special commission of the International Mineralogical Association, which approved it, so that it was included in the official list of natural materials known to man.
When a material with a previously unknown composition and a new arrangement of the atoms in its structure is discovered then, we are faced with a new mineral – explains Bindi -. Ferrofettelite is obviously a very rare mineral and as always in these cases it will be studied to understand its characteristics and understand if its artificial synthesis could lead to future applications.
If you want to stay updated on the news from Florence, subscribe to the Corriere Fiorentino newsletter for free. It arrives every day straight to your inbox at 12 noon. Just click here
January 19, 2022 | 15:03
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED